THE SMITHSONIAN SECRET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970045-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: May 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30 :CIA-RDP90-008068000200970045-4
LRTI ~ L?'PF.AFtID
0~ P+-GE~-
MAG~iZ~~~
to biological wafare experts at Fort Detrick ? By Ted 6up
WASHINGTON POST
12 *1ay 19th 5
Why ran innocent bird study went strdi~ht
wenty years ago, a
team of Smithso-
Wien researchers
~_ landed on a string
of remote .Pacific
islands to study
-the comings and goings of sea
birds-terns, albatrosses,
i gulls. But there was another
I n.,ason they were there, one
r stamped "Secret" The lead-
era of this scholarly band of
curators and ecologists re-
ported their findings to mdi-
terry scientists whose interest
was not birds but biological
weapons.
Tne Pacific project was
'. two separate missions ezist-
ins side by side: the Smithso-
man's and- the Pentagon's.
The Smithsonian was only
too eager to be given funds to
study bird migratory patterns
and the mditary was eager-to
find "safe" sites for atmos-
pheric testing of . biological
weapons in the Pacific. Such
! sites could be determined
from the Smithsonian- ~re-
i An Army spokesman says
military scientists wanted to
be certain germs would not
be spread beyond the test
sites ~ ~ by migrating birds.
' Other military scientists also
_ wanted to know if sea birds
could be used as carriers of
'biological .weapons, wuiging -
deadly disease across borders.
~ In military terms, birds could
be "avian vectors of disease."
The secret contract was an
odd departure for tbe Smitb-
sonian Institution, beloved
and benign. Although -the
! Smithsonian has for decades
had unclassified research
contracts with the Depart-
ment of Defense, as it has
with other federal depart-
ments and agencies, the Pa?
cific Ocean Bird Project was.
not just another contract.
Smithsonian researchers
burned copies of some project
notes and correspondence
with the mfiitary, but many
of their originals are pre-
served in acid-free bores
deep ~ within the Smithso-
man's own archives, which
are open to tae public. For-
gotten by m:.ay, consulted by
few, the I ~ square feet of
records contain day-by-day
accounts, maps, photos and
correspondence with the m~1i-
terry. All are pieces of a puzzle
that show the Pacific Ocean.
i! Bird Project was one of the
' largest and most mysterious
undertakings in the institu-
tion's 134-year history.
The Smithsonian said at
the time fast no part of the
project was classified "se-
cret." It was. The Smithso-
Wien questioned how its
scientists could know the
military would use its study
for biological weapons re-
search. Some of those in
charge of the project did
lmow. In the end, the bird
study caused a major self-
ezamination within the
Smithsonian that brought
about a rededication to never
i again take on a secret study.
And today, 15 years after the
project ended, a timeless
question remains what re-
' sponsibility do saentists and
institutions have to weigh
how research--even basic re-
search-will be used?
j Z`HE PACIFIC -project
spanned eight years, cosi the
Pentagon $3 million, and in?
volved dozens of Smithsonian
staffers and Def..nse Depart.
meat workers. r r om the first,
tae .Smithsonian knew the
contract was with the contro-
versial Fort Detrick biological
warfare research center in
Frederick, Md. And even that
fact was classified secret. The
Smithsonian was prohibited
r from divulging an-vthing
! about its work without clear-
!I ance from Fort Detrick.
Early letters to Smithso-
Wien contract officers made it
clear the Armys interest
went beyond ornithology. On
;Oct 1, 1963, the Army Bio-
; logical Laboratories at Fort
Detrick wrote to Smithsonian
administrators about "Ma-
terial containing Biological
Weapons System information
which reveals the nondescrip-
tive code designations for
Bw (Biologic weapons)
agents ..." .
Although the pairing of the
Smithsonian and Fort De-
trick seems unlikely, in the
early 1960s there were
numerous ties between the
military and research institu-
tions. Tne Smithsonian's con-
tract was signed in October
1962, .the same month that
President Kennedy an-
nounced that Soviet missiles .
were in ~ Cuba. Military ez-
otica flourished: mind control
through drugs, Porpoises as
animate torpedoes, new con-
c~ctions of chemical and bio-
logical weapons, turning life
against life. It was a macabre
time of Strangelovean fante-
?sies when even one of God's
gentlest creatures, a gull.,
could be considered for a
doomsday assignment. .
' And there was another,
simpler reason the Smithso-
Wien took the contrac`~.
Money. The Smithsonian
wanted more researchfunds.
Tne risks were great. ff
word got out that the revered
Smithsonian was working on
a classified project sponsored
by the Army's biological war-
I'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30 :CIA-RDP90-008068000200970045-4