In 2016, multiple media outlets reported researchers at Dugway Proving Ground accidentally shipped live anthrax bacteria to 194 labs, including facilities in all 50 U.S. states and nine countries. Among those labs was BioFire Diagnostics, a medical company with a location in Research Park at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
A FOIA request submitted by Expanding Frontiers Research to the FBI on BioFire resulted in obtaining a 2015 three-page memo, indicating inactivated biological material was supposed to have been shipped but was revealed after testing to be virulent Bacillus anthracis, or deadly anthrax. The FBI memo further confirmed an investigation was opened on possible violations of prohibitions on biological weapons. Pages one and two of the memo:
Established in 1942, the storied Dugway Proving Ground is a premier science and test facility of the U.S. Army. Situated on nearly 800,000 acres in Northwestern Utah, the facility consistently attracts the attention of peace activists, protesters of weapons research and development, conspiracy theorists, and even UFO buffs.
Considered one of the state's most mysterious places, the Dugway paper trail consists of implications of borderline research ethics and questionable weapons projects. Researchers are at times split over the severity of the Dugway threat to public safety but there is universal agreement classified and controversial activities are ongoing. This has included radiation experiments and the hazard to "Downwinders" in addition to chemical, drug and other types of weapons research. Steve Erickson, a longtime activist recently interviewed by EFR's Erica Lukes, successfully lobbied to prevent construction of a biological aerosol testing facility at Dugway intended to experiment with some of the world's most dangerous pathogens for potential germ warfare use.
After obtaining the above 2015 FBI memo, EFR submitted a follow-up FOIA request to the FBI on its investigation of the Dugway anthrax samples shipped throughout the world and nation. FBI responded in April 2024, advising it identified 359 potentially responsive pages with a projected processing time of 41 months. EFR subsequently reduced the scope of the request to up to no more than the first 50 pages in order to place the compacted request in the most advantageous and simple track.
FBI responded in November 2024 that 49 pages were reviewed and 11 were being released. The 11 pages obtained by EFR consist of 2015 FBI memos (View the master folder on Dugway and BioFire). As the fully withheld 38 of 49 pages might be interpreted to suggest, the 11 pages are heavily redacted. It is clear enough, however, the FBI documented that a Pentagon multi-agency delegation was tasked with assessing the situation. That seemed to include identifying the then-whereabouts of at least some of the anthrax cast to the four winds:
In its November 2024 FOIA response, FBI stated other material was responsive and involved Other Government Agencies, or what they refer to as OGAs, and that FBI was corresponding with OGAs about its potential release. EFR submitted an appeal, still open as of this writing, in which the records involving OGAs were sought immediately. The appeal also sought the release of the 38 withheld pages and the further release of the 11 heavily redacted pages.
EFR challenged the applicability of the FOIA Exemptions cited and argued the public right to know outweighs the spirit of the exemptions even if partially applicable in select instances. That would be because the circumstances involve publicly funded agencies and their activities, EFR contended, potentially reflecting questionable judgment and lack of adherence to applicable laws and safety protocols.
Horrific! Reads as a sci-fi doomsday novel.