Did the Pentagon consider using pathogen ticks to infect America’s enemies during the Cold War? And did some of those ticks escape to the United States, bringing Lyme disease with them?
Those are the questions that Rep. Chris Smith has been asking for years, and his colleagues in the House have once again agreed that they deserve answers.
The Democratic-controlled House voted to ask the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to investigate whether the Pentagon conducted an investigation into the use of infected ticks as biological weapons.
Last year, the House also voted for the Defense Department inspector general to investigate whether ticks transmitting Lyme disease escaped from a Pentagon laboratory, but the provision was left out of the final bill after the IG said that the office was too busy to analyze the problem. .
“For years, books and articles have been credibly written claiming that significant research in Ft. Detrick, Plum Island and elsewhere was carried out to turn ticks into biological weapons,” said Smith, R-4th Dist.
“With Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases exploding in the United States, with an estimated 300,000 to 427,000 new cases each year and 10-20% of all patients suffering from chronic Lyme disease, Americans they have a right to know if any of this right? “
The provision was added to the House’s version of the National Defense Authorization Law, which was passed Tuesday and sets out defense policy for the 12 months beginning October 1.
That’s the same bill that includes funding for the Picatinny Arsenal and at the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base, including preventing the Air Force from removing 16 KC-10 refueling tanks now stationed at the base, limiting it to taking only six as it prepares for the eventual deployment of 24 new KC-46 aircraft.
Before GAO begins its investigation, the provision must survive negotiations with the Senate and President Donald Trump must sign the bill. However, Trump has threatened to veto the measure because he also calls for renaming the military bases that are named after the men who took up arms against the United States to defend slavery.
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Jonathan D. Salant can be reached in [email protected].
