[NukeNet] FW: [biodefense] FW: STOP BIOWARFARE AT FT.DETRICK!

Thu Jan 25 15:40:57 CST 2007

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (Voice)
217-244-1478 (Fax)
(personal comments only)

________________________________

From: Boyle, Francis [mailto:FBOYLE at LAW.UIUC.EDU] 
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 2:49 PM
To: biodefense at lists.sunshine-project.org
Subject: [biodefense] FW: STOP BIOWARFARE AT FT.DETRICK!

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (Voice)
217-244-1478 (Fax)
(personal comments only)

________________________________

From: Boyle, Francis 
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 2:48 PM
To: nyt at blythe.org
Subject: STOP BIOWARFARE AT FT.DETRICK!

FRANCIS A. BOYLE

Law Building

504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.

Champaign, IL 61820 USA

217-333-7954 (Voice)

217-244-1478 (Fax)

Email: fboyle at law.uiuc.edu <mailto:fboyle at law.uiuc.edu>  

January 25, 2007

To : Caree Vander Linden

USAMRIID Public Affairs

1425 Porter Street

Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5011

By Email to: Caree.Vanderlinden at us.army.mil
<mailto:Caree.Vanderlinden at us.army.mil> 

            1. I am submitting this comment upon the Final Environmental
Impact Statement dated December 29, 2006, for the Construction and
Operation of New USAMRIID Facilities at Fort Detrick (FEIS).

2.  I am and have been since 1984 a full Professor of International Law
at the University of Illinois College of Law. My educational background
consists of University of Chicago, A.B. (1971) in Political Science,
Harvard Law School, J.D. Magna Cum Laude (1976), Harvard Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences, Department of Government, A.M. (1978) and Ph.D.
(1983) in Political Science. My teaching career includes Teaching
Fellow, Harvard University Department of Government (1976-78), and
Lecturer, Nuclear Weapons and International Law, 21st Senior Conference
on Nuclear Deterrence, U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1983).

I am licensed to practice law in Massachusetts (from 1977), before the
U.S. Tax Court (from 1977), the U. S. Supreme Court (from 1984), and in
several other U.S. Federal Courts. My legal career includes serving as
Legal Adviser to the Republic of Lithuania (1991-92), Legal Adviser to
the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations
(1991-93), Legal Adviser to the Syrian Delegation to the Middle East
Peace Negotiations (1991), Counsel to Libya (1992), General Agent for
the Republic of Bosnia before the International Court of Justice
(1993-1994) where I secured two Orders against Yugoslavia for violations
of the 1948 Genocide Convention, Attorney of Record for the Chechen
Republic of Ichkeria (2000 to present), and as Chechen Ambassador to
Norway (2004-2005).

I have written nine books, including Biowarfare and Terrorism (Clarity
Press: 2005). I am the author of numerous articles including
"International Law as a Basis for Conducting American Foreign Policy," 8
Yale J. World Pub. Ord. 103 (1981), republished at U.S. Department of
Defense, Current News: Special Edition, No. 979 (Mar. 23, 1983);
"Nuclear Weapons and International Law: The Arms Control Dimension," 21
U.S.M.A. West Point Senior Conference Proceedings: The Nuclear Debate
147 (1983); "The Legal Distortions Behind the Reagan Administration's
Chemical and Biological Warfare Buildup," 30 St. Louis Univ. L.J. 1175
(1986), reprinted in U.S. Department of Defense, Current News: Special
Edition: Chemical Weapons, No. 1586 (28 May 1987); "Preserving the Rule
of Law in the War Against International Terrorism," 8 Whittier L. Rev.
735 (1986); "The U.S. Invasion of Panama: Implications for International
Law and Politics," 1 East African J. Peace & Human Rights 80 (Uganda:
1993); "The Nuremberg Defense in Courts," in International Peace Bureau,
The Right to Refuse Military Orders 73 (1994); and "Rendition of Foreign
Criminals from Foreign Soil," 21 Mich. J. Int'l L. 673, 680-85 et seq.
(2000).

I have been on the Advisory Board of The Council for Responsible
Genetics since 1985. 

I am the author of the "Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989,"
Pub. L. No. 101-298 (1990) (adopted unanimously by both Houses of U.S.
Congress and signed into law by President George Bush Sr.).    

            3.  The proposed construction and operation of new U.S. Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) facilities
at Fort Detrick is an integral part of the program that is referred to
as "Biodefense for the 21st Century" in Homeland Security Presidential
Directive - HSPD-10, released on April 28, 2004. In my expert opinion,
said program constitutes clear violations of the international arms
control treaty named "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and on Their Destruction," which treaty is referred to as the
"Biological Weapons Convention" or "BWC."  The BWC was ratified by the
United States in 1975. 

            I would further submit that the BWC is appropriately
construed in light of its preamble, which states in pertinent part:

                "The States Parties to this Convention,  

Determined to act with a view to achieving effective progress towards
general and complete disarmament, including the prohibition and
elimination of all types of weapons of mass destruction, and convinced
that the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of
chemical and bacteriological (biological) weapons and their elimination,
through effective measures, will facilitate the achievement of general
and complete disarmament under strict and effective international
control . . .

Desiring to contribute to the strengthening of confidence between
peoples and the general improvement of the international atmosphere . .
. 

Convinced of the importance and urgency of eliminating from the arsenals
of States, through effective measures, such dangerous weapons of mass
destruction as those using chemical or bacteriological (biological)
agents . . . 

Determined, for the sake of all mankind, to exclude completely the
possibility of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins being used
as weapons,  

Convinced that such use would be repugnant to the conscience of mankind
and that no effort should be spared to minimize this risk,  

Have agreed as follows:"

            3. Article IV of the BWC requires each State Party to the
BWC to enact domestic implementing legislation. As reflected in
Paragraph #1 above, I personally drafted such legislation, which was
adopted unanimously by both Houses of Congress, and was signed into law
by President George Herbert Walker Bush on May 22, 1990, under the
official title of the "Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989."
Said Act is now codified at 18 U.S.C. Sections 175 to 178. 

            Section 175 (a) states in pertinent part:

            "Whoever knowingly develops, produces, stockpiles,
transfers, acquires, retains, or possesses any biological agent, toxin
or delivery system for use as a weapon . . . shall be fined under this
title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both."

            Section 175 (b) states in pertinent part:

            "Whoever knowingly possesses any biological agent, toxin or
delivery system of a type or in a quantity that, under the
circumstances, is not reasonably justified by a prophylactic,
protective, bona fide research, or other peaceful purpose, shall be
fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

In my expert opinion, participants in the so-called "biodefense"
program, with respect to which the proposed new USAMRIID facilities are
an integral part, are subject, at a minimum, to the criminal liability
defined in the above-cited Section 175 (b).

4. It is clear from a variety of sources that the so-called "biodefense"
program, with respect to which the proposed new USAMRIID facilities are
an integral part, will carry out studies in areas that include genetic
engineering, susceptibility to current therapeutics, host-range studies,
environmental stability, aerosol animal-model development, aerosol
dynamics, novel packaging, novel delivery of threat, bioregulators and
immunomodulators, and "Red Teaming," which is to say duplication of
threat scenarios. Task areas will include acquiring, growing, modifying,
storing, stabilizing, packaging, and dispersing classical, emerging, and
genetically engineered pathogens. Aerobiology, aerosol physics, and
environmental stability will be studied in wet-laboratory and
computer-laboratory settings. Computational modeling of feasibility,
methods, and scales of production will also be undertaken. These are
unmistakable hallmarks of an offensive weapons program.

5. The expert opinions expressed herein are further substantiated in my
book, Biowarfare and Terrorism, (Clarity Press: 2005), the entire
contents of which I incorporate herein by reference. An additional
matter addressed in said book which I wish to highlight (please see
pages 91 through 107) pertains to the inadequacy of the Final
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, Chemical and Biological
Defense Program (USAMRMC, 2004), which document is incorporated by
reference in the FEIS under consideration at page 1-8. 

                                                            Respectfully
submitted, 

                                                            Francis A.
Boyle

                                                            Professor of
Law

cc: Barry J.C. Kissin, Esq.

      Terry J. Lodge, Esq.

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (Voice)
217-244-1478 (Fax)
(personal comments only)

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