Pentagon reveals more Cold War tests in Hawai'i

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has completed an investigation into a series of Cold War-era biological and chemical experiments, revealing that tests of the secret weapons in Hawai'i were more extensive than previously disclosed, but that there is no evidence anyone was harmed.

Among the new disclosures was that a submarine sprayed a biological agent north of Pearl City and near Kane'ohe Marine Corps Air base in the spring of 1968 to mimic biological attacks against an island and a port. The trials, known as "Folded Arrow," were to determine whether a submarine could launch an effective biological attack against an island and to help figure casualty estimates from exposure to Venezuelan equine encephalitis.

Sea tests, involving a submarine and five tugs, were held about 80 nautical miles south of O'ahu to see how a biological agent would travel downwind.

The agent, Bacillus globigii, is considered harmless in healthy people but can cause infections in people with weakened immune systems. But a Hawai'i health expert said yesterday it is unlikely that exposure to the agent would cause long-term health problems.

In "Blue Tango," conducted between January and March 1968, the military released bacteria, including E. coli, during trials in a rain forest east of Kulani Honor Camp on the Big Island. The experiments were staged to study how biological agents decay in a tropical rain forest.

A three-year Defense Department review of Project 112, as the once-classified experiments were known, found that the military conducted 50 sea and land tests in the 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Panama, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Defense Department has identified 5,842 military people that were present during the experiments. The Department of Veterans Affairs prompted the investigation in August 2000 by asking for medical information about the tests so it could notify surviving veterans, some of whom have complained about possible related illnesses.

Overseen by the Deseret Test Center at Fort Douglas, Utah, Project 112 was intended to evaluate the military's chemical and biological warfare capabilities in an era of heightened tension with the Soviet Union. The United States has since ended its biological and chemical weapons programs. The tests were first disclosed to the U.S. Senate in 1977, but details about the location and nature of the experiments were only released over the past few years.

The Honolulu Advertiser, using material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, reported in 1984 that the military had performed biological warfare experiments with live bacteria in Hawai'i during the 1960s. The Defense Department has since acknowledged several separate tests, including the use of the nerve agent sarin in experiments on the Big Island.

The Pentagon has also confirmed that thousands of people on O'ahu were likely unknowingly exposed to Bacillus globigii when it was sprayed on and near the island in May and June 1965.

"It bespeaks the time, the early '60s, when we were in the Cold War, and we were concerned that Russia and perhaps China had chemical and biological capabilities that could be used against American troops and against us in the homeland," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of the Defense Department's Deployment Health Support Directorate.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and state health officials asked the Defense Department to fully disclose as much information as possible about the Hawai'i tests.

Public health officials have said it is doubtful that exposure to Bacillus globigii, which naturally occurs in the environment, would cause long-term health problems. "I think the risks were extremely minimal," said James Marzolf, a physician in disease outbreak control at the state Department of Health. "It's so common, it's in the dust on the floor. If that's going to get you, we'd all be gone."

But Marzolf said the Defense Department should have been more transparent about the tests. He said he also hoped that some of the information learned through the experiments could be shared with health officials worried about responding to a biological or chemical attack.

"I think the problem here was that it was done without our knowledge," Marzolf said.

William Winkenwerder Jr., the assistant defense secretary for health affairs, said yesterday that the government made a significant effort to make information about the tests available. Veterans who believe that they were involved in the experiments are encouraged to contact the Veterans Affairs Department. "That effort reflects our individual and collective commitment to veterans and their families," he said.

Along with "Folded Arrow," and "Blue Note," the Defense Department disclosed information yesterday about "Errand Boy," a test in which bacteria was released as part of a decontamination exercise on the USS George Eastman while it was moored at Pearl Harbor in September 1963.

The Defense Department also updated previous disclosures to note that the submarine USS Carbonero participated in "Big Tom," the 1965 experiment in which bacteria was sprayed over O'ahu. The sub was also used in "Half Note," a 1966 test in which three types of bacteria were released at sea around the USS George Eastman and five Army tugs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.