Warning cites limited checks on biological and chemical agents

A warning about procurement said some highly dangerous biological agents and a couple of chemical weapons could be obtained, while the required validation was “bewildering.” Sellers reportedly accepted “we work with the government” when asked whether the buyer knew how to handle the materials. The account said there was no smallpox in the office, but “a bit of monkeypox.”

It described infrastructure to deter biological attacks and stop proliferation as alarming, saying it had not changed in about 20 years. It cited the Pentagon shutting down four months earlier because of a false anthrax alert and assessed that bio-related incidents had grown dramatically.