Report: Four Nations Thought to Have Smallpox Virus

Nov 5, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. intelligence review concludes that Iraq, North Korea, Russia and France have covert stocks of the smallpox virus, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Citing two officials who received classified briefings, the newspaper also reported that documents captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere showed Osama bin Laden spent money pursuing smallpox and other biological weapons.

The CIA gave an assessment on biological agents to a number of senior U.S. government officials during the last six months.

"The assessment has varying degrees of reliability about what various countries might or might not have," a U.S. official told Reuters. It also differentiated between countries that might be using agents as part of a biological warfare effort and those that might be using use pathogens for other purposes, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The official declined to discuss specific countries. But other U.S. officials told the Post they believed the French program is believed to be defensive in nature.

"There is not a clear-cut answer to that question -- whether certain countries have it and have it for the purposes of biological warfare," the official said.

"The potential threat of biological agents is of some concern," the U.S. official said.

Documents obtained in Afghanistan showed bin Laden and his al Qaeda network were "extremely interested in all manner of biological agents, but very little information one way or the other on smallpox," the U.S. official said.

"One should assume they would like to get their hands on anything hazardous," the official said. But the official added there was "no evidence" that al Qaeda had obtained smallpox.

The Post said the intelligence assessment was a huge factor in the U.S. government's move toward the brink of a costly mass vaccination campaign and fueled a homeland security debate over how quickly an inoculation program should be in place.

The White House had no immediate comment on the report.

Smallpox was eradicated from the population in 1978 and vaccination stopped in the United States in 1972. But officials believe the virus, which kills about one-third of patients and causes oozing pustules that leave scars, may be developed into weapon form by extremist groups and some governments.

Washington's anxiety about smallpox and limited intelligence-sharing have prompted urgent requests from allies in the Middle East, including Jordan and Kuwait, for help in obtaining a vaccine before the outbreak of any war with Iraq, the Post reported.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem Abdullah Jaber Sabah acknowledged that his government asked for a vaccine last summer "in readiness for any eventuality," the Post said.

The newspaper said the National Security Council's Deputies Committee, a panel of officials just below Cabinet rank, met last Tuesday to weigh the allies' requests.

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