Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
dependent confirmation. This lack of evidence makes it difficult to take
most of the allegations seriously.
Following a thorough review of eight of these allegations, Raymond
Zilinskas has concluded that natural routes of disease introduction are
plausible for all the outbreaks considered, and that all the allegations are
probably incorrect. 61 However, the two earliest allegations, both alleging
biological attack on domestic animals, are supported by some indepen-
dent evidence, and in our view warrant more serious consideration.
Context of the 1962 and 1971 Allegations
Following the failure of the CIA-trained and supported Cuban Expedi-
tionary Force landings at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, the CIA proposed
a program of covert action designed to weaken the Castro government. 62
The proposal included a number of elements, one of which was expanded
sabotage against selected targets; sugar refineries were mentioned, but no
other agricultural targets were listed. On 3 November 1961 President
Kennedy established a new program targeting Cuba, named Operation
Mongoose, overseen by the “Special Group (Augmented)” (SGA). The
SGA consisted of an expansion of the existing National Security Coun-
cil 5412 Special Group, which oversaw all covert operations. 63 Briga-
dier General Edward Lansdale was appointed chief of operations, with
instructions to conduct activities through existing agencies of the gov-
ernment—the CIA, DOD, US Information Agency (USIA), and the State
Department—each of which appointed a full-time operational represen-
tative to assist him. 64 By the middle of 1962 Operation Mongoose had a
budget of more than $10 million, employed nearly 500 CIA staff full-time
(and many more part-time), and had about 90 intelligence agents and
more than 10 operational teams inside Cuba. 65
If a US biological attack on Cuban agriculture did take place in this pe-
riod, it would almost certainly have been part of Operation Mongoose.
Fortunately, thousands of documents relating to this operation were de-
classified in 1998 by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB).
By 1971, the year of the second alleged attack, Operation Mongoose
had long since ceased, and any covert actions involving biological agents
would have been conducted directly by the CIA. Unfortunately, the doc-
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