Top Pentagon official orders probe into anthrax mishap

By News on the Net Fox News —— Bio and Archives May 30, 2015

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The Pentagon’s second-in-command, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, has ordered an investigation into the mishandling of the live anthrax samples sent to facilities in 11 states and abroad, a senior US defense official told Fox News Friday.

"During our initial look into how live anthrax samples were inadvertently shipped to laboratories, the Department identified additional inadvertent live anthrax shipments," Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren said in a statement. The department said 24 laboratories in 11 states and two foreign countries -- South Korea and Australia -- are believed to have received suspect anthrax samples. The broadening scope of the problem suggests more extensive flaws in procedures used by the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah to ensure that anthrax samples were made fully inert before shipping them to labs. More...