More Bio-Terrorism Fearmongering: Al-Qaeda 'making Agent X advances'

Reuters | April 1, 2005

THE al-Qaeda terror group made unexpected advances in developing a virulent biological strain - dubbed "Agent X" - before the September 11, 2001, attacks, a US presidential commission on US intelligence operations said today.
The commission said in its final report that intelligence analysts were "surprised by the intentions and level of research and development" uncovered after the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

The commission, appointed by US President George W. Bush in response to intelligence failures in Iraq, said US intelligence had long held that al-Qaeda members had trained in crude methods for producing biological agents such as botulinum toxin, as well as toxins obtained from venomous animals.

But the commission said intelligence agencies before the Afghanistan invasion had been uncertain whether al-Qaeda had managed to acquire "a far more dangerous strain", which it only identified as Agent X in its unclassified report.

"The (intelligence) community judged that al-Qaeda operatives had 'probably' acquired at least a small quantity of this virulent strain and had plans to assemble devices to disperse the agent," the report said.

After the war, it became clear that al-Qaeda's biological program was "further along, particularly with regard to Agent X, than pre-war intelligence indicated".

"The program was extensive, well-organised, and operated for two years before September 11 (2001), but intelligence insights into the program were limited. The program involved several sites in Afghanistan," the report said.

The commission said two of these sites contained commercial equipment and were operated by people with special training.

It cited documents as indicating that while al-Qaeda's primary interest was Agent X, the group had "considered acquiring a variety of other biological agents".

The commission backed the "hypothesis" that al-Qaeda had acquired several biological agents, possibly as early as 1999, and had the necessary equipment to enable limited, basic production of Agent X.

"Other reporting indicates that al-Qaeda had succeeded in isolating cultures of Agent X," the commission said.

But it said "outstanding questions remain about the extent of biological research and development in pre-war Afghanistan, including about the reliability of the reporting described above".

Security officials have long warned that al-Qaeda could try to use biological weapons such as anthrax, ricin, smallpox, plague or ebola.

Al-Qaeda manuals on preparation of biological warfare agents were discovered at the group's training camps in Afghanistan after the invasion.

<< HOME