Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
A major consequence of the then recent availability of overhead imag-
ery (the first U-2 overflight was carried out in 1957) appears to have been
a renewed focus on Vozrozdeniye Island, which had been identified as a
BW facility in the 1951 Hirsch Report on the basis of information devel-
oped by the German military before and during World War II. Partly for
this reason, the island was the “foremost suspect as a biological warfare
center.” 68
Several factors drew attention to the question of Soviet compliance
with the BWC starting in the 1970s, in particular a suspicious anthrax
outbreak in Sverdlovsk in April and May 1979 that resulted in the deaths
of at least 64 people, allegations made primarily by the US that the Soviet
Union was using mycotoxins (“yellow rain”) in Afghanistan and South-
east Asia (see Chapter 13), the 1989 defection of Pasechnik to the UK,
and the information provided by Alibek to the US starting in 1992.
Almost immediately after the signing of the BWC, the CIA and Defense
Intelligence Agency reportedly concluded that satellite imagery indicated
that the Soviets were not dismantling their offensive BW program. 69 Ac-
cording to former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, the US did not raise
the issue with the Soviets, in part because nuclear arms control issues
were seen as more important. Apparently there was also disagreement
among US government officials as to the degree of certainty necessary
before a perceived noncompliance issue should be raised and whether
broader national interests were not better served through a more gradual
approach to seeking clarification. 70
Beginning in 1975 Arkady Shevchenko, a senior Soviet diplomat and
member of the Soviet delegation to the UN in New York City, began
providing information to the US, including information that the Soviet
Union was violating the BWC. 71
The names of many of the major Soviet BW facilities were correctly
identified between World War II and the mid-1970s. For example, Voz-
rozdeniye Island, Gorodomlya (located at Seliger Lake), and Sverdlovsk
were identified in the Hirsch Report as having known or likely BW facili-
ties. In August 1975 the CIA reportedly leaked information that “ques-
tionable activities” were occurring at Kirov, Zagorsk, and Sverdlovsk. The
identities of three then recently established sites—Berdsk, Omutninsk,
and Pokrov—were also disclosed. 72
Partly on the basis of satellite thermal imaging that showed the war-
Search WWH ::




Custom Search