Related Resources:
List of NBAF bidders with comments & documents

The Sunshine Project
News Release
18 September 2006

NBAF: Transparency Urged for Homeland Security BSL-4 Biolab

At a site to be determined late this year or early next, the US Department of Homeland Security proposes to construct one of the largest labs for the study of biological weapons agents in the world. Called the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), the main lab building of NBAF is planned to be over 500,000 square feet (46,500 m2) - the size of more than five Wal-Mart stores. NBAF will cover a tract of land of up to 100 acres (40 ha) and include biosafety level four (BSL-4) labs for work with incurable disease agents.

The cloak of secrecy being wrapped around its biodefense programs has brought controversy and criticism to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). To shine light on the Agency's plans, the Sunshine Project is working to obtain and publicize the 18 written bids (called "Expressions of Interest") submitted by twelve consortia seeking to host the NBAF facility. Public distribution of these bid documents will help stimulate discussion of the NBAF facility and build public awareness of the activities and risks of the DHS biodefense program.

Until now, only two of the eighteen expressions of interest under consideration by DHS have been made available to the public. Using freedom of information requests, the Sunshine Project has acquired five more, including three from Texas and two from Georgia. These join bids from Kentucky and Missouri, already made available online. The bids make interesting and informative reading. For example, the Texas documents discuss classified research on biological weapons agents by the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio.

Four bidders have refused to share their NBAF expression of interest with the public. The Sunshine Project has objected to the denials. Those opposed to disclosure and debate are the University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of California / Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Texas A&M University, and Oklahoma State University. Each of the four secretive lab bidders has been asked to reconsider its decision.

"This is an undesirable facility for which the federal government has not made a compelling case," says Sunshine Project Director Edward Hammond, "NBAF's negative implications are large and insufficiently recognized. Public debate is necessary and will help dispel DHS secrecy."

"Do we want university biology departments to be consumed by top secret research?" asks Hammond, adding "Are communities near the proposed sites comfortable with life under threat of a BSL-4 accident?"

"It is not good government to keep these bids secret," Hammond adds, "The allegiance of the bidding institutions should be to the citizens they serve, not to handouts from a troubled federal agency with too much money and a bioresearch agenda with insufficient respect for international law."

In the coming months the Sunshine Project will be seeking the remaining bids and will prepare transparency reports on the NBAF bidders and the Department of Homeland Security's award process. The seven NBAF Expressions of Interest and a table summarizing the bids is available on the Sunshine Project website at the following URL: http://www.sunshine-project.org/biodefense/NBAF/