The US Army is not halting a research program that has developed a new bioweapons grenade in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The Army's patent says that the rifle grenade is for biological agents; but the Army argues that its biowarfare claims were unintended. It is seeking to allay concerns that it is developing illegal weapons by doctoring the patent's text. The Sunshine Project rejects the Army response as cosmetic and is insisting that it address the root of the problem by terminating the research and inviting an investigation.
The grenade patent (#6,523,478) was issued on February 25th, 2003. Titled "Rifle-Launched Non-Lethal Cargo Dispenser", the patent claims that the weapon is designed to deliver payloads including "crowd control agents, biological agents, [and] chemical agents." The grenade was first uncovered in a Sunshine Project news release on May 8th.
The development of bioweapons delivery devices is prohibited - "in any circumstance" - by Article I of the BWC, to which the US is a party. There is no exemption from this prohibition, neither for defensive purposes nor for so-called non-lethal agents.
At least two of the grenade's inventors work at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal north of Baltimore, Maryland. Other inventors work for Engineering Technologies Incorporated (ETI), a military contractor based in Orlando, Florida. The patent is owned by the US government.
Following the May 8th news release, the Army was contacted by reporters from Global Security Newswire and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Army says that overzealous patent lawyers inserted the claim on bioweapons and that the grenade "will not be used in any way that is inconsistent with U.S. law or U.S. treaty obligation." The Army also says that it will change the patent text by inserting the terms "biological materials" and "chemical materials" in lieu of "biological agents" and "chemical agents".
Contacted by the Sunshine Project, the patent attorney of record (an employee of the Army's Soldier Biological Chemical Command - SBCCOM) denies that the claims are improper or inaccurate. According to the attorney, the patent was drafted by lawyers that worked closely with the Edgewood Arsenal inventors. Asked to identify examples of possible biological and chemical payloads that are permitted, the attorney cited oil-eating bacteria as an example of a biological payload and water as a chemical payload, arguing in the latter case that the grenade, fired from an M-16 rifle, could be used to put out fires.
The internal Army blame game is a distraction, however, from the more important issues. While the grenade could be used for legal purposes such as generating smokescreens, the patent explains that it was also designed for prohibited purposes. The claims, which are the most carefully drafted and scrutinized part of a patent, were determined to be technically justified and supported by the patent text by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Altering the patent language is not a remedy because it does not change the grenade's purpose nor the fact that its development has violated biological weapons law.
The Sunshine Project is insisting on the following steps:
1) The Army has violated US and international law, and the weapons program that developed the rifle grenade must be immediately terminated, including activity on any other weapons developed for prohibited purposes;
2) It is not acceptable for any government to develop and claim new biological weapons, therefore, the Army must notify the Patent and Trademark Office that is will abandon the grenade patent in its entirety;
3) The Army must publicly demonstrate that prohibited activities have ceased and that corrective action has been taken by inviting an independent, transparent investigation of the rifle grenade program to identify illegal activities and any negligence (or worse) on the part of commanding officers.
Kept Under Wraps
Months-Long "Security Review" Keeps Videotapes of US UAV Tests Out of Public View
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped to deliver biological and chemical weapons figured prominently in US allegations against Iraq. But three months after the US hunt for Iraq's prohibited weapons began, no such UAVs have been found. Meanwhile, back in the US, the Pentagon is fighting to keep videotapes of its own tests of UAVs outfitted to deliver chemical weapons out of public view.
In January, the Sunshine Project filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for videotapes of Pentagon UAV tests conducted in the late 1990s. Based on written references to the tests found in Marine Corps documents, the Sunshine Project believes that the videotapes show US military UAVs equipped with "non-lethal" chemical weapons systems. The Marine Corps documents suggest that the videotapes include footage depicting the unmanned airplanes' ability to accurately deliver aerosol payloads.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center (Dahlgren, VA) initially moved quickly to process the Project's January 9th request. By early February, the videotapes were located and the Navy acknowledged their existence. Then, the Navy's FOIA office forwarded the tapes to another office for "security review". At that point, the wheels of FOIA ground to a halt. Four months later, no moves toward their release have been made.
The "security review" may be a political one, because the videotapes appear to show the Pentagon engaged in the same activities that senior US officials said justified an invasion of Iraq.
Citing established legal principle, the Project argues that the security review is inappropriate because the tapes were previously distributed at an arms industry conference in 1999. Normally, government documents already freely circulated must be released again on request. The Navy has dismissed the Project's protest, citing "new security regulations".
While the videotapes date from the late 1990s, the US chemical UAV program may continue into the present. In a 2002 interview with the Sunshine Project, the Commander of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) claimed that "the program is dead". Yet a May 2003 article in Jane's Defense Weekly cited JNLWD sources as indicating that UAVs equipped with "tear gas" could be used to stop civil unrest in Iraq.
In 2000, the Navy issued a contract to a University of Maryland engineer to develop a microprocessor control system to deliver "non-lethal" UAV payloads. While there are a variety of possible "non-lethal" payloads, the engineer, Alba Ramaswamy, is an expert in biochemical ones. She holds an October 2002 patent (#6,460,460) on a grenade to deliver chemicals that "leave those affected awake and mobile but without the will or ability to carry out criminal activity" and "compounds that produce incapacitation through immobilization, disorientation or unconsciousness [including] anesthetics, analgesics, sedatives and hypnotics." In December 2002, Ramaswamy filed for another patent on an incapacitating chemical weapon (US application 20020178960).
For additional information, please visit the website of The Sunshine Project:
http://www.sunshine-project.org
The grenade patent (#6,523,478) was issued on February 25th, 2003. Titled "Rifle-Launched Non-Lethal Cargo Dispenser", the patent claims that the weapon is designed to deliver payloads including "crowd control agents, biological agents, [and] chemical agents." The grenade was first uncovered in a Sunshine Project news release on May 8th.
The development of bioweapons delivery devices is prohibited - "in any circumstance" - by Article I of the BWC, to which the US is a party. There is no exemption from this prohibition, neither for defensive purposes nor for so-called non-lethal agents.
At least two of the grenade's inventors work at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal north of Baltimore, Maryland. Other inventors work for Engineering Technologies Incorporated (ETI), a military contractor based in Orlando, Florida. The patent is owned by the US government.
Following the May 8th news release, the Army was contacted by reporters from Global Security Newswire and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Army says that overzealous patent lawyers inserted the claim on bioweapons and that the grenade "will not be used in any way that is inconsistent with U.S. law or U.S. treaty obligation." The Army also says that it will change the patent text by inserting the terms "biological materials" and "chemical materials" in lieu of "biological agents" and "chemical agents".
Contacted by the Sunshine Project, the patent attorney of record (an employee of the Army's Soldier Biological Chemical Command - SBCCOM) denies that the claims are improper or inaccurate. According to the attorney, the patent was drafted by lawyers that worked closely with the Edgewood Arsenal inventors. Asked to identify examples of possible biological and chemical payloads that are permitted, the attorney cited oil-eating bacteria as an example of a biological payload and water as a chemical payload, arguing in the latter case that the grenade, fired from an M-16 rifle, could be used to put out fires.
The internal Army blame game is a distraction, however, from the more important issues. While the grenade could be used for legal purposes such as generating smokescreens, the patent explains that it was also designed for prohibited purposes. The claims, which are the most carefully drafted and scrutinized part of a patent, were determined to be technically justified and supported by the patent text by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Altering the patent language is not a remedy because it does not change the grenade's purpose nor the fact that its development has violated biological weapons law.
The Sunshine Project is insisting on the following steps:
1) The Army has violated US and international law, and the weapons program that developed the rifle grenade must be immediately terminated, including activity on any other weapons developed for prohibited purposes;
2) It is not acceptable for any government to develop and claim new biological weapons, therefore, the Army must notify the Patent and Trademark Office that is will abandon the grenade patent in its entirety;
3) The Army must publicly demonstrate that prohibited activities have ceased and that corrective action has been taken by inviting an independent, transparent investigation of the rifle grenade program to identify illegal activities and any negligence (or worse) on the part of commanding officers.
Kept Under Wraps
Months-Long "Security Review" Keeps Videotapes of US UAV Tests Out of Public View
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped to deliver biological and chemical weapons figured prominently in US allegations against Iraq. But three months after the US hunt for Iraq's prohibited weapons began, no such UAVs have been found. Meanwhile, back in the US, the Pentagon is fighting to keep videotapes of its own tests of UAVs outfitted to deliver chemical weapons out of public view.
In January, the Sunshine Project filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for videotapes of Pentagon UAV tests conducted in the late 1990s. Based on written references to the tests found in Marine Corps documents, the Sunshine Project believes that the videotapes show US military UAVs equipped with "non-lethal" chemical weapons systems. The Marine Corps documents suggest that the videotapes include footage depicting the unmanned airplanes' ability to accurately deliver aerosol payloads.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center (Dahlgren, VA) initially moved quickly to process the Project's January 9th request. By early February, the videotapes were located and the Navy acknowledged their existence. Then, the Navy's FOIA office forwarded the tapes to another office for "security review". At that point, the wheels of FOIA ground to a halt. Four months later, no moves toward their release have been made.
The "security review" may be a political one, because the videotapes appear to show the Pentagon engaged in the same activities that senior US officials said justified an invasion of Iraq.
Citing established legal principle, the Project argues that the security review is inappropriate because the tapes were previously distributed at an arms industry conference in 1999. Normally, government documents already freely circulated must be released again on request. The Navy has dismissed the Project's protest, citing "new security regulations".
While the videotapes date from the late 1990s, the US chemical UAV program may continue into the present. In a 2002 interview with the Sunshine Project, the Commander of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) claimed that "the program is dead". Yet a May 2003 article in Jane's Defense Weekly cited JNLWD sources as indicating that UAVs equipped with "tear gas" could be used to stop civil unrest in Iraq.
In 2000, the Navy issued a contract to a University of Maryland engineer to develop a microprocessor control system to deliver "non-lethal" UAV payloads. While there are a variety of possible "non-lethal" payloads, the engineer, Alba Ramaswamy, is an expert in biochemical ones. She holds an October 2002 patent (#6,460,460) on a grenade to deliver chemicals that "leave those affected awake and mobile but without the will or ability to carry out criminal activity" and "compounds that produce incapacitation through immobilization, disorientation or unconsciousness [including] anesthetics, analgesics, sedatives and hypnotics." In December 2002, Ramaswamy filed for another patent on an incapacitating chemical weapon (US application 20020178960).
For additional information, please visit the website of The Sunshine Project:
http://www.sunshine-project.org