A regular reader, whom I fondly call Dr. Who, believes my earlier post about the Pentagon selling materials that can be used for making biological warfare agents was incomplete. With this in mind, allow me to elaborate.
Dr. Who notes that the same items the Pentagon was selling at the DoD website are available elsewhere, including private companies. This is true. Part of the problem, which I omitted from my earlier post for space reasons, is that the Pentagon was selling these items cheaper than private companies, effectively offering a deep discount for anyone with $4,000.
For someone who wanted to buy these same materials through a business, the cost would be $46,000 — almost 12 times the discounted cost available through the Defense Department.
This means the Pentagon was making it easier for someone who wanted to purchase these materials for nefarious purposes by offering the items in what was effectively a clearance sale. As the GAO report said, “[W]e certainly don’t need DoD to be a discount shop for potential bioterrorists.”
Yes, there remains a concern that these same materials can be bought elsewhere at 12 times the cost, but that doesn’t mean the Defense Department should be making it so easy for people. As the GAO said, there are “nominal controls” to prevent private purchases of these items, but at least those sales are “not with the U.S. government seal of approval [and] for pennies on the dollar.”
I believe that that the federal government should be improving the safeguards to help prevent these materials from falling into the wrong hands, not making it easier for people to buy the items over the Internet at a deep discount from our government.
Apparently I’m not the only one who finds this disconcerting. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit organization that advocates effective arms control policies, said, “This is a real danger, and it is something we’ve got to close, a loophole that we’ve got to close right now.”
Dr. Who went on to note that some of the protective suits required for the production of biological agents that the Pentagon sold may have been defective. This is also true, but it is not necessarily a detail that makes the story less disconcerting. Some of the protective suits may have been effective, others not. The problem is the Pentagon was selling the suits, as well as evaporators, incubators, and centrifuge equipment that can be used to produce biological warfare agents.
Some of the suits may not adequately protect those who use them, but let’s be clear: The DoD wasn’t selling these outfits as Halloween costumes. People who purchased the materials probably aren’t interesting in playing “dress up”; they probably intended to use them as protective gear. The fact that some who may wish to do us harm may not be entirely safe while using some of the suits is less-than reassuring.
Dr. Who concluded that my reference to the fact that the Pentagon has stopped selling the materials online inferred that the DoD “didn’t know that they were selling this stuff” and “felt they definitely shouldn’t be selling it at all.” Perhaps my earlier post was unclear, so let me clarify. What I meant was the DoD learned of the GAO report and appeared to find the agency’s conclusions worthy of immediate attention and action. Indeed, as soon as the Pentagon learned of the GAO study, the items in question were no longer available for purchase.
It’s important to note that government agencies almost never take these kinds of actions unless they’re embarrassed. If the sale of these materials was completely kosher, the GAO report would generate an explanation and response from the DoD, clarifying why there is no reason to be concerned. The Pentagon did the opposite, pulling the materials so no one else can buy them.
The original CNN report said the practice of selling the items is under “review” by the DoD. This is common federal bureaucratic language for “we’re trying to figure out how and why we screwed this up.”
And lastly, to underpin what I see as one of the most serious problems with this discovery, ABC News is reporting that the GAO, in the course of its investigation of the Pentagon’s sales, found that “some buyers who had recently purchased used equipment from the Pentagon then resold it to countries where terrorists have operated, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Egypt.”
Great. We’re selling centrifuge equipment at a deep discount to anonymous buyers who can make a profit selling it overseas to anyone. Some of you may think this isn’t a big deal, but, call me crazy, this is the kind of thing that makes me nervous.