http://www.drudgereport.com/matt.htm

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2000 21:27:34 ET XXXXX

U.S. AID WENT TO TOP RUSSIAN GERM WARFARE DEVELOPER...

According to Russian scientists, American aid to private Russian biological research has been diverted to Biopreparat, "a shadowy organization that once directed the Soviet Union's germ warfare program", the NEW YORK TIMES is reporting Tuesday.

NYT scribe Judith Miller reports that since the end of the Cold War Biopreparat has been redeveloped into a state-run drug company, and since then have received grants from NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"Clinton administration officials acknowledged that the United States had been less than meticulous in the mid-1990s in enforcing its ban on aid to Biopreparat."

NASA tells the TIMES that it is holding back $1.6 million in funds until Russia accounts for past aid.

Miller cites Russian scientists familiar with the aid that Biopreparat's director Gen. Yuri T. Kalinin has at least diverted 10% of NASA funds to his organization.

"Kalinin has headed Biopreparat since its inception in 1973. Western officials say he is the focal point of concern among U.S. and British intelligence analysts about whether Moscow has fully given up research into germ warfare and what Acting President Vladimir Putin will decide on the matter."

Says a Clinton admistration official:

"The Russian government is facing a key test. Either Putin will support the old guard of biological cold warriors, exemplified by Kalinin and his cronies, or scientists who want to put their biological warfare knowledge to peaceful use."

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000

Answers

From same link: more dirt on NASA:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2000 19:55:13 ET XXXXX

LA TIMES: NASA AND ARMY IN JOINT TECH ADVENTURES

According to publishing sources, the LOS ANGELES TIMES will report in Wednesday cycles that NASA and the U.S. Army will announce a partnership "to develop simulation technologies that can be used to develop weapons systems to train soldiers and astronauts and to design space probes."

The TIMES' Karen Kaplan reports that the official announcemnt will come at a press conference at the Wyndham Los Angeles Airport Hotel on Wednesday.

"By working with NASA and its other partners, the Army hopes to reduce its development cycle from 12 years to only three or four years for simulators to develop new weapons and to train personnel, said Army Secretary Louis Caldera. That way, 'when you put it in the soldier's hands, it is state-of-the-art equipment.'"

No new funds are set for this new arrangement, which will use existing funds budgeted for Army and NASA development.

Caldera explains:

"We're spending millions of dollars on modeling and simulation, and here's another agency spending millions of dollars on modeling and simulation.... certainly it would be smarter for us to learn from each other and not have to reinvent the wheel."

DEVELOPING...

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.

http://archives.nytimes.com/archives/

New York Times

January 25, 2000, Tuesday

U.S. Aid Is Diverted to Germ Warfare, Russian Scientists Say

Some of the American money awarded to support Russia's civilian biological research was secretly shifted to Biopreparat, a shadowy organization that once directed the Soviet Union's germ warfare program, several Russian scientists say.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.

If anyone's really interested in what Yuri Kalinin has been up to over the years check out Ken Alibek's book "Biohazard". Ken was the director of research at Biopreparat under Kalinin for many years. Kalinin is one sneaky and nasty dude. He made his rep in Russia with the successful development of bioweaponry.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), January 26, 2000.