• Local Produce
  • Buy Local
  • Local Seafood
  • Local Food
  • Local Music
  • Local Art
  • Local Churches

CAPE CHARLES MIRROR

Reflections on Cape Charles and the Eastern Shore

  • Local Services
  • Local Rentals
  • Local Employment
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
  • PODCAST
  • Pets
  • Contact Us

FBI report describes China’s ‘biosecurity risk’

April 5, 2020 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON (Yahoo News March 30, 2020) — In late November 2018, just over a year before the first coronavirus case was identified in Wuhan, China, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese biologist with three vials labeled “Antibodies” in his luggage. 

The biologist told the agents that a colleague in China had asked him to deliver the vials to a researcher at a U.S. institute.

“Inspection of the writing on the vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) materials,” says an unclassified FBI tactical intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News.

The report, written by the Chemical and Biological Intelligence Unit of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate (WMDD), does not give the name of the Chinese scientist carrying the suspected SARS and MERS samples, or the intended recipient in the U.S. But the FBI concluded that the incident, and two other cases cited in the report, were part of an alarming pattern.

“The Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate assesses foreign scientific researchers who transport undeclared and undocumented biological materials into the United States in their personal carry-on and/or checked luggage almost certainly present a US biosecurity risk,” reads the report. “The WMDD makes this assessment with high confidence based on liaison reporting with direct access.”

The report, which came out more than two months before the World Health Organization learned of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan that turned out to be COVID-19, appears to be part of a larger FBI concern about China’s involvement with scientific research in the U.S. While the report refers broadly to foreign researchers, all three cases cited involve Chinese nationals.

In the case of the suspected SARS and MERS vials, the intelligence report cites another classified document that is marked “FISA,” meaning it contains information collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Another case cited in the report appeared to involve flu strains, and a third was suspected E. coli. 

The FBI does not state precisely what sort of biosecurity risk these cases could present, but Raina MacIntyre, a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the FBI appears to be concerned with dual-use research that would be used for bioterrorism. And if the illicit samples cited in the report were being brought into the U.S., she says, the traffic is likely to be both ways.

“How do you know what they’re bringing in and out unless you have a comprehensive surveillance point?” she asked. “If it’s going one way, it’s going the other way. You’d be very naive to assume otherwise.”

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding, who worked on China issues on the National Security Council under the Trump administration, said “there is a threat” posed by Chinese nationals carrying biological samples but believes it’s “likely the carrier … would be someone who is unwitting,” making it hard to determine the intent. “Some likely could be deliberate, to test our ability to identify and intercept. Others could be opportunistic,” he said.

The FBI report refers to both biosecurity, which typically refers to the intentional misuse of pathogens, such as for bioterrorism, and biosafety, which covers accidental release. The FBI declined to comment on the report. 

Concerns about Chinese biosafety are not new. For example, the SARS outbreak in 2003 was followed by several incidents of infections caused by laboratory accidents, including eight cases that resulted from mishandling at the Chinese Institute of Virology in Beijing.

“There have been cases in the past where a variant of some kind of flu pandemic had escaped from a laboratory because of mismanagement,” said Elsa Kania, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. 

But the problem is not limited to Chinese researchers, even if those cases have been prominent, she continued. “Certainly it is a biosecurity risk when anyone is transporting materials in a manner that is clandestine because … there have been several incidents when this has occurred with researchers of a variety of nationalities.”


Filed Under: Bottom, News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Join the Conversation!

Send letters, opinion, goings on or photos to capecharlesmirror@gmail.com

Mirrors

Recent Comments

  • Paul Plante on Congresswoman Elaine Luria Statement on the Vote to Certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College Victory
  • Paul Plante on 481,550 Virginians Have Received Covid-19 Vax
  • Paul Plante on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Congresswoman Elaine Luria Statement on the Vote to Certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College Victory
  • Mjm on 481,550 Virginians Have Received Covid-19 Vax
  • Scotiagirl on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Scotiagirl on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Paul Plante on Opinion: Making it Up as they Go
  • MJM on History Notes this week of Jan 3rd
  • Matthew Justinak on Check the Code: Dominion Voting system tied to Hugo Chavez voter fraud was used in 2020 swing states
  • Paul Plante on Congresswoman Elaine Luria Statement on the Vote to Certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College Victory
  • Paul Plante on Northam Wants to Accelerate Vaccine Rollout
  • Paul Plante on Northam Wants to Accelerate Vaccine Rollout
  • Paul Plante on 481,550 Virginians Have Received Covid-19 Vax
  • Scotiagirl on Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Louise Trader Johnson on Congresswoman Elaine Luria Statement on the Vote to Certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College Victory

Trending Now

  • List Of Clinton Associates Who Allegedly Died Mysteriously Or Committed Suicide Before Testimony
  • Was the Whole Storming the Bastille Thing was Staged
  • Solarwinds Orion Hack: How compromised are Dominion Voting Systems?
  • Joe Biden: America is Doomed by Increased Minority Presence
  • Check the Code: Dominion Voting system tied to Hugo Chavez voter fraud was used in 2020 swing states
  • 481,550 Virginians Have Received Covid-19 Vax
  • Congresswoman Elaine Luria Statement on the Vote to Certify President-Elect Joe Biden's Electoral College Victory
  • Lot's of Beautiful Pups still need homes
  • Black Lives Matter is a Marxist group that wants to destroy the Nuclear family
  • Town of Cape Charles Seeks Senior Planner

Subscribe to CC Mirror via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in