Project Jefferson

Covert program by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency

Project Jefferson was a covert U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency program designed to determine if the current anthrax vaccine was effective against genetically modified bacteria. The program's legal status under the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is disputed.^{[citation needed]}

History

The operation

Project Jefferson began in 1997^[1] and was designed to reproduce a strain of genetically modified anthrax isolated by Russian scientists during the 1990s.^[2] The goal was to determine whether or not the strain was resistant to the commercially available U.S. anthrax vaccine.^[2]

Reportage

The project was disclosed in a September 4, 2001 article in The New York Times.^[3]^[4] Reporters Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William J. Broad collaborated to write the article.^[3] It is presumed that the reporters had knowledge of the program for at least several months; shortly after the article appeared they published a book that detailed the story further.^[3] The 2001 book, Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, and the article are the only publicly available sources^{[citation needed]} detailing Project Jefferson and its sister projects, Bacchus and Clear Vision.^[3]

Legality

Project Jefferson was operated by the Defense Intelligence Agency and reviewed by lawyers at the Pentagon.^[4] Those lawyers determined that Project Jefferson was in line with the BWC.^[4] Despite assertions from the Clinton and Bush administrations that the project, and its sisters, were legal, several international legal scholars disagreed.^[2]

Notable was the fact that the clandestine program was omitted from BWC confidence-building measure (CBM) declarations.^[2] These measures were introduced to the BWC in 1986 and 1991 to strengthen the treaty, the U.S. had long been a proponent of their value and some asserted^[who?] that these tests damaged American credibility.^[2] U.S. desire to keep such programs secret was, according to Bush administration officials, a "significant reason" that Bush rejected a draft agreement signed by 143 nations to strengthen the BWC.^[4]

References

^ "Pentagon Press Briefing on Biological Weapons Research".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tucker, Jonathan B. "Biological Threat Assessment: Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine", Arms Control Today, October 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Enemark, Christian. Disease and Security: Natural Plagues and Biological Weapons in East Asia, (Google Books), Routledge, 2007, pp. 173-75, (ISBN 0415422345).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Miller, Judith, Engelberg, Stephen and Broad, William J. "U.S. Germ Warfare Research Pushes Treaty Limits", The New York Times, September 4, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2009.

DHS	DHS Chemical and Biological Defense Division DHS Office of Health Affairs (National Biosurvelliance Integration Center, BioWatch) National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility National Bioforensic Analysis Center
DNI	National Counterproliferation Center (Advisory Committee on Bioterrorism)
DHHS	Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Division of Select Agents and Toxins (CDC) National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity
DoD	Assistant SECDEF for NCB Defense Programs Defense Threat Reduction Agency Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System Joint Program Executive Office of Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) National Center for Medical Intelligence

Federal
research

Trans- departmental	National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (National Interagency Biodefense Campus, Fort Detrick) Integrated National Biodefense Medical Countermeasures Portfolio (DHHS/DoD)
Military	U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Edgewood Chemical Biological Center Dugway Proving Ground
Civilian	Galveston National Laboratory (UTMB/NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (HHS/NIAID) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (HHS) Homeland Security Research Program (EPA/DHS) Plum Island Animal Disease Center (USDA) Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit (USDA)

Response

Local	Local Health Departments
State	State Health Departments Nebraska Biocontainment Patient Care Unit
Federal	National Medical Response Team/National Pharmacy Response Team (NDMS, HHS) Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (USMC) Epidemic Intelligence Service (CDC) Aeromedical Biological Containment System (CDC) Bioterror Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory (CDC)

Non-
governmental

Academic centers
and think tanks

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (formerly Center for Biosecurity)
Henry L. Stimson Center
Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment
Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens (Brown University)
Middle-Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
Center for Biodefense Immune Modeling (University of Rochester)
Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies
National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID; George Mason Univ.)

Government
contractors

Programs
and projects

Threat reduction	Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, implemented the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Biological Threat Reduction (DoD) plus Project Bacchus Project Clear Vision Project Jefferson
Biosurveillance	National Biosurveillance Strategy Laboratory Response Network (CDC) BioWatch (EPA, CDC) Global Bio-Surveillance Technology Initiative (GBTI), Bio-Surveillance Management Office (BMO) (part of JPEO-CBD) ESSENCE (DoD) RODS (Civilian)
Biosecurity/Biosurety	Select Agent Program (CDC) Personnel Reliability Program (DoD)
Medical intelligence	National Intelligence Assessments on Infectious Diseases
Disaster response	National Response Framework of the National Strategy for Homeland Security (DHS; including NIMS and ICS) National Disaster Medical System (DHHS) Strategic National Stockpile (CDC, DHS)

Technology
and equipment

Protection	MOPP NBC suit Respirators
Detection	Cell CANARY Biological Materials MASINT Autonomous Pathogen Detection System Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS)
Biocontainment	Biosafety level Biosafety cabinet Positive pressure personnel suit

Law

Treaties	Geneva Protocol (1925, 1975) Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs (1969) Biological Weapons Convention (1972)
Legislation	Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991 Executive Order 13139 (1999) Patriot Act (2001) Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act (2002) Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002 Project Bioshield Act (2004) Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (2005) Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (2006) Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013

Treaties

Geneva Protocol (1925, 1975)
Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs (1969)
Biological Weapons Convention (1972)

Legislation

Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989
Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991
Executive Order 13139 (1999)
Patriot Act (2001)
Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act (2002)
Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002
Project Bioshield Act (2004)
Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (2005)
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (2006)
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013

International
representation

History

Past biological incidents	1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack 1989 California medfly attack 2001 anthrax attacks Wood Green ricin plot (2002) 2003 ricin letters 2013 ricin letters
Defunct organizations and programs	United States Army Medical Unit United States biological weapons program Sunshine Project Aeromedical Isolation Team (DoD)