Project Bacchus
Project Bacchus was a covert investigation by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to determine whether it is possible to construct a bioweapons production facility with off-the-shelf equipment.
History
=The project=
Project Bacchus operated from 1999 to 2000 to investigate whether would-be terrorists could build an anthrax production facility and remain undetected. During the two-year simulation, the facility was constructed, and successfully produced an anthrax-like bacterium. The participating scientists were able to make about {{convert|1|kg}} of highly refined bacterial particles.MacKenzie, Debora. [https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1449 Anthrax in Florida and New York "the same strain"]", New Scientist, October 18, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
=Reportage=
The secret Project Bacchus was disclosed in a September 2001 article in The New York Times. Reporters Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William J. Broad collaborated on the article. Shortly after it appeared, they published a book containing further details. The book, Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, and the article are the only publicly available sources{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} concerning Project Bacchus and its sister projects, Clear Vision and Jefferson.Enemark, Christian. Disease and Security: Natural Plagues and Biological Weapons in East Asia, ([https://books.google.com/books?id=bT9j6lhPHHUC&dq=%22Project+Clear+Vision%22&pg=PA174 Google Books]), Routledge, 2007, pp. 173-75, ({{ISBN|0415422345}}).
References
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Further reading
- Tucker, Jonathan B. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080517115818/http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_10/Tucker.asp Biological Threat Assessment: Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease?]", Arms Control Today, October 2004, accessed January 6, 2009.
- Miller, Judith, Engelberg, Stephen and Broad, William J. Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, ([https://books.google.com/books?id=RBb8ss3GG1MC&dq=nixon+biological+weapons+ban&pg=PA63 Google Books]), Simon & Schuster, 2002, ({{ISBN|0684871599}}).
- -- "[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/04/world/us-germ-warfare-research-pushes-treaty-limits.html U.S. Germ Warfare Research Pushes Treaty Limits]", The New York Times, September 4, 2001, accessed January 6, 2009.
{{U.S. biological defense}}
{{U.S. biological weapons}}