DoD to 'augment civilian law' during pandemic or bioterror attack --By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org

Is Bush is getting ready to play the Bioterror Card? The GOP cannot steal an inevitable Democratic landslide in November 2008. Will the Bush regime continue its illegitimate rule and empire by implementing a full-blown police state, in the aftermath of an avian flu pandemic or (Bush-engendered) bioterror attack?
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H.R. 1585
11 May 2007

Section 1615, page 672 (of 794)

(Under TITLE XVI, NATIONAL GUARD ENHANCEMENT) .....

DETERMINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CIVIL SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS

(a) DETERMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS---- The Secretary of Defense shall determine the military-unique capabilities needed to be provided by the Department of Defense to support civil authorities in an incident of national significance or a catastrophic incident.

(b) PLAN FOR FUNDING CAPABILITIES---

(1) PLAN----The Secretary of Defense shall develop and implement a plan, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for providing the funds and resources necessary to develop and maintain the following:

(A) The military-unique capabilities determined under subsection (a).

(B) Any additional capabilities determined by the Secretary to be necessary to support the use of the active components and the reserve components of the armed forces for homeland defense missions, domestic emergency responses, and providing military support to civil authorities.

(2) TERM OF PLAN---- The plan required under paragraph (1) shall cover at least five years.

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DoD to carry out 'military missions' during pandemic, WMD attack By Lori Price 23 Oct 2007 On Thursday, the Bush administration issued a directive which 'establishes a National Strategy for Public Health and Medical Preparedness (Strategy), which builds upon principles set forth in Biodefense for the 21st Century (April 2004) and will transform our national approach to protecting the health of the American people against [with] all disasters.' HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-21 states that within one year of the directive's date, 'the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Defense, in coordination with the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, shall establish an academic Joint Program for Disaster Medicine and Public Health housed at a National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences... Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense authorities will be used to carry out respective civilian and military missions within this joint program.'

From the 'people' who brought you the response to Hurricane Katrina (blown levees): US military begins planning for avian flu pandemic 10 May 2007 The US military has begun to plan for a possible avian flu pandemic that could kill as many as three million people in the United States in as little as six weeks, a Pentagon planning document said. The Defense Department's "Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza," which was posted Wednesday on a Pentagon website, lays out guidelines and planning assumptions for US military services and combatant commands. Possible scenarios include US troops being called in to put down riots, guard pharmaceutical plants and shipments, and help restrict the movement of people inside the country and across its borders. "When directed by the president, DoD will provide support to civil authorities in the event of a civil disturbance," the document said. "DoD will augment civilian law enforcement efforts to restore and maintain order in accordance with existing statutes." The military also may assist civil authorities in "isolating and/or quarantining groups of people in order to minimize [foment] the spread of disease during an influenza pandemic," it said. [Bye bye, Posse Comitatus! And suddenly, the US is going to control its borders? Gag me with a chainsaw! This newfound 'border control' ability is to keep people from *leaving* the US. KBR's $385M detention center contract will be expanded and renewed.]

CDC wants to test 107 air passengers; TB patient stayed in NYC 31 May 2007 Health officials around the world were scrambling Wednesday to find about 80 air passengers who sat near a man who spent three days in a New York City hospital with a form of tuberculosis so dangerous he is under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding said Wednesday that the CDC is working closely with airlines to find passengers who may have been exposed to the rare, dangerous strain. Health officials in France said they have asked Air France-KLM for passenger lists, and the Italian Health Ministry said it is tracing the man's movements. [Did the US allow the TB-infected man to travel so that a media-engendered 'outcry' for safety would 'force all international departures heading to the U.S. to submit information about all the passengers aboard the plane prior to take off?' See: DHS wants early passenger info 14 Jul 2006 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has submitted a proposal that will force all international departures heading to the U.S. to submit information about all the passengers aboard the plane prior to take off. Through the new plan, airlines could send the entire list of information on the flight and the people onboard up to 60 minutes before departure or through a constant relay system as passengers check in... The new proposals may also end the practice of international airlines having to screen their passengers against governmental "no fly" lists during check-in or boarding. Privacy laws in the European Union (EU) have prevented similar legislation being introduced before. In May, the highest court in the EU struck down a proposal to allow airlines to provide the DHS with extensive passenger information, such as fare payment details, phone numbers, and addresses. This directive is currently being redrafted.]

Report Says TSA Violated Privacy Law --Passengers Weren't Told That Brokers Provided Data to Screening Program in '04 22 Dec 2006 Secure Flight, the U.S. government's stalled program to screen domestic air passengers against terrorism watch lists, violated federal law during a crucial test phase, according to a report to be issued today by the Homeland Security Department's privacy office... TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said that he supports the use of Secure Flight and that his agency is working closely with other government officials to ensure it protects privacy. "We are working in a transparent way," Hawley said, adding that the agency's "challenging" goal is to roll out the program in 2008.

Secret DHS Agreement to Share Passenger Data in Violation of Agreements Is Confirmed (ACLU) 25 Apr 2006 The text of a secret agreement that the Department of Homeland Security executed with the Centers for Disease Control to share airline passenger data confirms...that the U.S. government is distributing information that it explicitly promised it would not share... In 2003, the United States and the European Union reached an agreement under which the EU would share Passenger Name Record (PNR) data with the U.S., despite the lack of privacy laws in the United States adequate to ensure Europeans' privacy. In return, DHS agreed that the passenger data would not be used for any purpose other than preventing acts of terrorism or other serious crimes. It is now clear that DHS did not abide by that agreement.]

Canadian authorities locate 16 of 28 passengers sought from TB exposure flight 30 May 2007 Public health officials in the United States and Canada revealed Wednesday they have narrowed down to roughly 70 to 80 the number of people on two recent transatlantic flights who were seated in close proximity to a man infected with a rare and potentially deadly form of tuberculosis. Canadian health authorities are trying to find anyone who sat in Row 12 - plus the two rows ahead and behind - of Czech Airline flight 0104 to Montreal from Prague on May 24. The man, who is infected with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis or XDR-TB, was seated in 12 C.

TB patient's father-in-law works at CDC lab --Infected man ID'd, taken to Denver hospital; others on 2 flights sought 31 May 2007 The father-in-law of the tuberculosis patient under the first federal quarantine since 1963 works as a microbiologist at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory that studies TB and other bacterial infections. Bob Cooksey said he gave his 31-year-old son-in-law, attorney Andrew Speaker, "fatherly advice" [!] when he learned he contracted the disease.

Authorities seeking those on flight 29 May 2007 A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine by the U.S. government [!] after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month, health officials said Tuesday. The infected man flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. He returned to North America on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 104 from Prague to Montreal. The man then drove into the United States. He cooperated with authorities after learning he had an unusually dangerous form of TB. He voluntarily went to a hospital and is not facing prosecution, officials said.

U.S. Government Issues a Quarantine Order --CDC Order is First Since 1963 29 May 2007 A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine by the U.S. government after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month, health officials said Tuesday. This marks the first time since 1963 that the government issued a quarantine order. The last such order was to quarantine a patient with smallpox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Report: National Guard May Be Needed to Enforce Quarantine in Flu Pandemic 09 May 2007 Military and civilian health facilities will be overwhelmed if a nationwide flu pandemic hits the United States, and the National Guard may have to be called out to provide medical help and even enforce a quarantine, the Defense Department warned in a report released Wednesday. ...The 86-page report report is dated August 2006 and titled "The Department of Defense Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza." According to the report, in the event of a pandemic or a [Bush-engendred] bioterror attack, the Defense Department may be called by the president to assist civilian authorities in minimizing the spread of disease by placing restrictions on interstate transportation.

Scientists Recreate 1918 Flu and See Parallels to Bird Flu --In 2005, U.S. Army scientists reconstructed Spanish flu virus by extracting genetic fragments from the bodies of victims exhumed from the Alaskan permafrost. 18 Jan 2007 Scientists infected monkeys with a virus that caused the 1918-19 influenza pandemic and said in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Nature that it caused an illness like that suffered by patients with the bird flu now spreading in Asia.

Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 UK Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions. A US team added two genes from a sample of the 1918 virus to a modern strain known to have no effect on mice. Animals exposed to this composite were dying within days of symptoms similar to those found in human victims of the 1918 pandemic.

KBR awarded $385M Homeland Security contract for U.S. detention centers 24 Jan 2006 KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.

KBR Awarded U.S. Department of Homeland Security Contingency Support for Emergency Support Services 24 Jan 2006 (halliburton.com) "The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities... to support the rapid development of new programs."

Originally published 11 May 2007

Flu 'Oddities'

To facilitate Bush's quarantines and to fill KBR's detention centers: STMicroelectronics introduces flu detection laboratory on a chip 25 Mar 2008 The top European maker of semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, on Monday introduced a portable chip to detect influenza viruses, including avian flu, in humans. The device, which functions as a mini-laboratory on a chip, can screen and identify - in a single diagnostic and in two hours - multiple classes of pathogens and genes.