Se espera que el Senado apruebe el jueves por la noche $229 millones para el Programa de Reducci\u00f3n de Amenazas Biol\u00f3gicas en el a\u00f1o fiscal 2022, justo por encima del nivel actual de gasto de $225 millones, en lugar del recorte del 45 por ciento que hab\u00eda propuesto la administraci\u00f3n Biden. El Congreso se est\u00e1 moviendo esta semana para descartar un recorte propuesto al gasto en el programa de bioseguridad del Pent\u00e1gono que descubri\u00f3 el coronavirus fuera de China y que ahora es el tema de la propaganda rusa sobre Ucrania. El programa ayuda a unos 30 pa\u00edses a prevenir, detectar y responder a brotes de enfermedades o al uso de armas biol\u00f3gicas.\u00a0En enero de 2020, un laboratorio en Tailandia que recibi\u00f3 dinero del programa del Departamento de Defensa fue el primero en descubrir que el coronavirus hab\u00eda migrado fuera de China.<\/p>\n
Congress is moving this week to dismiss a proposed cut to spending on the Pentagon biosecurity program that discovered the coronavirus outside China and that is now the subject of Russian propaganda about Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The defense section of the federal spending package that the Senate is expected to clear as early as\u00a0Thursday night would allocate $229 million for the Biological Threat Reduction Program in fiscal 2022, just above the current $225 million level of spending\u00a0\u2014\u00a0instead of the 45 percent cut the Biden administration had proposed.<\/p>\n
The program helps some 30 countries prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of disease or use of biological weapons. In January 2020, a lab in Thailand that received money from the Defense Department program was the first to find that the coronavirus had migrated outside China.<\/p>\n
In June 2020, as the pandemic raged, CQ Roll Call disclosed that the Trump administration wanted to cut spending on the biological program and reported in 2021 that the Biden administration was following suit. The proposals have triggered outrage from members of Congress in both parties who have rebuffed the attempted cuts, including in the pending spending measure.<\/p>\n
Now the Defense Department\u2019s support for biosafety in one country \u2014\u00a0Ukraine \u2014\u00a0is in headlines around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Russia has long claimed that such U.S.-sponsored programs in Ukraine and elsewhere are actually biological weapons labs.<\/p>\n
But a top United Nations official refuted that claim Wednesday, saying it has no basis in fact. Top Biden administration officials have done the same. And they have suggested that Russia\u2019s false claims about the Pentagon-backed labs may be setting the stage for a Russian attack in Ukraine using chemical or biological weapons.<\/p>\n
Administration officials fear,\u00a0alternatively, that Russia plans a so-called false flag operation, in which Russia would fraudulently claim that Ukraine has used biological or chemical weapons in order to create a pretext for some new military onslaught in Ukraine, perhaps even involving Russian pathogens or toxins.<\/p>\n
Biological preparedness<\/strong><\/p>\n As for the reasons behind the proposed cuts to the biological program, under President Donald\u00a0Trump, Pentagon leaders said they wanted to spend the money on weapons such as hypersonic missiles and nuclear arms instead.<\/p>\n Under President Joe Biden, they offered a different explanation. Last year, a Pentagon official said the biological program\u2019s fiscal 2022 funding request was down from the fiscal 2021 level because Congress had added so much money to the program in fiscal 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In reality, Congress merely resisted Trump’s proposed fiscal 2021 cut and slightly increased the program’s budget. The program\u2019s funding went from $203 million in fiscal 2020 to $225 million in fiscal 2021 as Congress rejected Trump\u2019s proposed $127 million level. For fiscal 2022, Biden proposed dropping the program’s budget to $124 million.<\/p>\n The program provides training and technical support to promote safety and security, disease surveillance and help in preventing the proliferation of biological materials, technology and components.<\/p>\n Andrew Weber, a former Pentagon assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense, applauded Congress for once again this year resisting the reduction in funding.<\/p>\n \u201cThis program is part of our first line of defense against biological weapons attacks and pandemics,\u201d said Weber, now a senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks think tank, in an email.<\/p>\n Russian propaganda<\/strong><\/p>\n In Ukraine, the Pentagon biological program\u2019s priorities are \u201cto consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats,\u201d according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n According to the embassy, the Pentagon program has built a pair of labs in Ukraine at the \u201cbiosafety level 2\u201d of security, the level required to handle diseases such as HIV. And the program has helped upgrade safety levels at other Ukrainian biological facilities and has set up mobile COVID-19 response labs.<\/p>\n Russia has long argued that the U.S.-sponsored labs are actually building biological and chemical agents.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the Kremlin had documents showing the Ukrainian health ministry had ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax and other pathogens before Russia\u2019s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n But spokespeople for the White House, Defense Department and State Department all rejected the Russian claims as bogus in statements on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Moreover, a U.N. spokesman, St\u00e9phane Dujarric, said Wednesday that the World Health Organization is \u201cunaware of any activity on the part of the Ukrainian government which is inconsistent with its international treaty obligations, including on chemical weapons or biological weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee: \u201cNow, let me be clear, we do not assess that Ukraine is pursuing either biological weapons or nuclear weapons,\u201d and she said statements to the contrary are just Russian \u201cpropaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n Marco Rubio<\/a>\u00a0of Florida, the committee\u2019s top Republican, asked Haines to clarify a statement by a State Department official about U.S. concerns about the release of materials from these labs. Rubio said some people might infer that this means biological weapons are stored at the labs. Haines said the concern is about potentially hazardous materials but not about biological weapons.<\/p>\n The Russians are also suggesting Ukrainians might use chemical weapons and blame it on Moscow.<\/p>\n