THE SMITHSONIAN SECRET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100700003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 2011
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/26: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100700003-3
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WASHINGTON POST
12 May 19135
TAE SMITHSONIAN
Why an innocent bird study went straight
to biological warfare experts at Fort Detrick ? By Ted 6up
T wenty years ago, a
team of Smithso-
nian 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
Treason they were there, one
stamped "Secret" The lead-
could be used as carriers of
biological weapons, winging -
deadly disease across borders.
i In military terms, birds could
be "avian vectors of disease."
The secret contract was an
odd departure for the Smith-
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 military, but many
of their originals are pre-
served in acid-free boxes
deep - within the Smithso-
nian's own archives, which
are open to the public. For-
gotten by m:ny, consulted by
few, the 17 square feet of
records contain day-by-day
accounts, maps, photos and
correspondence with the mili-
tary. All are pieces of a puzzle
that show the Pacific Ocean.
Bird Project was one of the
largest and most mysterious
undertalings in the institu-
tion's 139-year history.
The Smithsonian said at
the time that no part of the
project was classified "se-
cret." It was. The Smithso-
ers of this scholarly band of
curators and ecologists re-
ported their findings to mili-
tary scientists whose interest
was not birds but biological
weapons.
The Pacific project was
two separate missions exist-
ing side by side: the Smithso-
nian's and the Pentagon's.
The Smithsonian was only
too eager to be given funds to
study bird migratory patterns
and the military was ewer -to
find "safe" sites for atmos-
pheric testing of biological
weapons in the Pacific. Such
sites could be determined
from the Smithsonian 're-
search.
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
than questioned how its Detrick wrote to Smithsonian
scientists could know the , administrators about "Ma-
military would use its study
for biological weapons re-
search. Some of those in
charge of the project did
know. In the end, the bird
.study caused a major self-
examination within the
Smithsonian that brought
about a rededication to never
again take on a secret study.
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
15 after the i numerous ties between the
d
d
A
n
o
a
y , Y 1 military and research institu-
proj tect ended, a - timeless 'lions. The Smithsonian's con.
question remains: What re-
sponsibility do scientists and
institutions have to weigh
how research-even basic re-
search-will be used?
i THE PACIFIC - project
spanned eight years, cost the
Pentagon $3 million, and in-
volved dozens of Smithsonian
staffers and Defense Depart-
ment workers. From the first,
the Smithsonian knew the
contract was with the contro-
versial Fort Detrick biological
warfare research center in
Frederick, Md. And even that j doomsday assignment.
fact was classified secret The
Smithsonian was prohibited
from divulging anything
about its work without clear-
ance from Fort Detrick.
Early letters to Smithso-
nian contract officers made it
clear the Army's interest
went beyond ornithology. On
Oct 1, 1963, the Army Bio-
1 logical Laboratories at Fort
tract was signed in October
1962, .the same month that
President Kennedy an-
nounced that Soviet missiles.
were in -Cuba. _ Military ex-
otica flourished: mind control
through drugs, porpoises as
animate torpedoes, new con-
coctions of chemical and bio-
logical weapons, turning life
against life. It was a macabre
time of Strangelovean fanta-
sies when even one of God's
gentlest creatures, a gull,
And there was another,
simpler reason the Smithso-
nian took the contract.
Money. The Smithsonian
wanted more researcUinds.
The risks were great If
word got out that the revered
Smithsonian was working on
a classified project sponsored
by the Army's biological war-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/26: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100700003-3