BY JENNIFER BABSON The Miami Herald
Apr. 12, 2002

KEY WEST - Using a crop-duster as a potential terrorist weapon, a team of U.S. Army researchers will release mock biological and chemical agents next week just off Key West in a test that may determine whether radars such as those used by the National Weather Service could soon become the cornerstone of a new national warning system.

''What we hope to gain from this is to basically provide the country with a chemical and biological detection umbrella across the U.S. It will provide early warning not only for the military but for civilian sectors across the country,'' said Maj. Vince Johnston, deputy product manager for the Army's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Point Detection Systems.

It will be the first time the Pentagon has tested a civilian Doppler radar for possible use in detecting biological and chemical attacks.

Engineers want to know if the long-range radars that are used all the time to compile weather forecasts can distinguish between a cloud toting raindrops and a cloud carrying something more sinister.

'DETECTION UMBRELLA'

If this test is successful, ''We believe we can put something out in 18 to 24 months where we can have a national chemical and biological detection umbrella in the U.S.,'' Johnston said.

“This has enormous potential.''

The $400,000 test is being conducted in consultation with a host of federal, state, and local agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Beginning Monday, a crop-duster flown by an EPA pilot will fly 400 to 900 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, between six and 13 miles off Key West.

The four-day experiment is expected to include 43 hours of flying time. It will gauge the capabilities of four different radars, including a National Weather Service Doppler controlled from Key West, and an Aerostat Radar System operated by the U.S. Air Force and mounted in blimps that hover off Cudjoe Key.

SAFETY FACTOR

The compounds that will be released were selected because of their safety and similarity in size and volatility to weapons-grade versions of deadly agents, the Army said. They include: 1,812 pounds of clay dust; 756 pounds of egg white powder; 40 pounds of irradiated and neutralized Bacillus Subtilis, a vegetable spore; and 1,812 pounds of a water-polyethylene glycol solution, whose thick chemical composition mimics a nerve agent.

Why Key West?

''It's one potential threat where somebody could fly a plane off in international waters and try to disseminate this stuff,'' Johnston says. “This gives us a chance to find out what happens over water.''

WINDS A FACTOR

The Army has pledged to delay the experiment next week if winds are not moving toward the northwest -- away from Key West.

''Nobody really likes to have anything blowing on them,'' Johnston said.

Several months ago, the Army conducted a similar biological and chemical detection test over land with a Doppler radar system currently used by the Special Forces for ground surveillance. The success of that experiment -- and the military's urgent focus on fighting terrorism -- led the Pentagon to accelerate plans to test a civilian Doppler over water.

SUBTLE SYSTEM

Johnston says a system that flags biological and chemical attacks could be attached to current weather forecasting radars without disrupting current operations.

''The nice thing about it is they are already out there. They don't have to be built, they are already collecting all the data,'' Johnston said.

''We'd put in basically a little program and extract the data,'' Johnston said.

It would be invisible to the National Weather Service. It would not affect their mission at all.''