- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
panel of outside experts told the CIA that advances in technology due to
genomic research could produce the worst known diseases and the "most
frightening" biological weapons, a CIA report said on Friday.
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- "The effects of some of these engineered biological
agents could be worse than any disease known to man," the panel told
the CIA.
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- The unclassified two-page CIA report dated Nov. 3, 2003,
and titled "The Darker Bioweapons Future," was posted on the
Federation of American Scientists Web site at http:/www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/bw1103.pdf.
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- It summed up a January workshop of a panel of non-government
science experts who discussed with the CIA the potential threat from new
biological weapons.
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- Growth in biotechnology and a knowledge explosion due
to the genomic revolution which provided an understanding of genes and
how they work could be used in unpredictable ways, the panel warned.
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- "The same science that may cure some of our worst
diseases could be used to create the world's most frightening weapons,"
the report said.
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- In the next decade or beyond, some of the unconventional
pathogens that could arise included binary biological warfare agents that
only become effective when two components are combined, such as a mild
pathogen and its antidote, the panel of experts said.
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- There could be development of "designer" biological
warfare agents created to be antibiotic-resistant or evade an immune response,
weaponized gene therapy vectors that cause permanent change in the victim's
genetic makeup, or a "stealth" virus which could lie dormant
inside the victim for an extended period before being triggered, the report
said.
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- STEALTH VIRUS ATTACK
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- One panelist gave as an example the possibility of a
stealth virus attack that could cripple a large portion of people in their
forties with severe arthritis, leaving a country with massive health and
economic problems.
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- "The resulting diversity of new BW (biological warfare)
agents could enable such a broad range of attack scenarios that it would
be virtually impossible to anticipate and defend against," the report
said. "As a result, there could be a considerable lag time in developing
effective biodefense measures."
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- Traditional intelligence methods for monitoring development
of weapons of mass destruction "could prove inadequate" in dealing
with the threat from advanced biological weapons, the report said.
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- Detecting the development of novel bioengineered pathogens
will increasingly depend on human intelligence and require a closer working
relationship between the intelligence and biological sciences community,
the report said.
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- One panelist proposed that the bioscience community help
government by acting as a "living sensor web" at international
conferences, in university labs and through informal networks, to identify
and alert about new technical advances with weaponization potential, the
report said.
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- "The quality of intelligence can only improve from
the rough and tumble of peer review and outside input," said Steven
Aftergood, director of the government secrecy project at the Federation
of American Scientists.
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- "In the past, CIA has been completely insular, they
have been unwilling to engage with outside experts," he said, "and
so this is a welcome departure from that norm."
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