The Defense Department has withheld $104 Million from Research Labs at Fort Detrick and Aberdeen Proving Ground, a Decision that has Maryland Lawmakers scratching their heads, given the Expanding Threat of the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Maryland’s Congressional Delegation sent a Letter Wednesday to Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressing Concern that Funds have been withheld from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), and the the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), also at Aberdeen.
The Facilities, the Lawmakers said, provide Critical Contributions to our Natural Security. “As our nation prepares to confront the coronavirus global health emergency … we were alarmed to learn that the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense For Acquisition and Sustainment has withheld payment for laboratory research since September 2019,” they wrote.
USAMRICD conducts Research on Medical Chemical Countermeasures and Treatments for those Exposed to Chemical Warfare Agents and is the Defense Department’s Lead Research Facility on Biological Defense, famous for having DoD’s Only High-Level Lab for Studying Highly Lethal Pathogens such as Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa.
Last summer, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Ordered the Facility to Stop Conducting Research after finding that the Research Labs handling the Most Dangerous Microbes or Viruses, known as Level 3 and 4 Laboratories, did Not meet Biosafety Standards.
At the time of their Closure, the Labs were Conducting Research on Tularemia, Plague, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis and Ebola. They were Approved to Resume Research on Dec. 19th, 2019.
The Withholding of Funds seems to Corresponds with the Period of the Labs’ Closure while it Resolved their Biosafety Standards. But the DoD did not say why it has Not Disbursed the Funds. In general, however, DoD Public Affairs Officials do Not Comment on Congressional Letters until after the Recipient Responds.
But Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who Signed the Letter along with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Reps. David Trone (D-MD, 6th District), Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD, 2nd District), Jamie Raskin (D-MD, 8th District), and Anthony Brown (D-MD, 4th District), said he received Assurances from Gen. John Murray, Commanding General of Army Futures Command, and Brig. Gen. Michael Talley, USAMRDC Commanding General, that the Funds will be Released.
Cardin and Van Hollen met with the Generals on Friday to discuss the Issue. “The generals pointed out that they are very confident that they will have enough funds to continue the mission and will work out the accounting issues ... but it was very disturbing that it got this close to where they would have had to notify people they were being laid off.”
Still, Cardin added, the Letter was necessary because the Generals “are not the ones withholding the money. They are very confident that the money will be flowing so that the mission can continue. It’s not their decision but they are very much in the loop,” Cardin told Military Times.
The Money is needed to Ensure that the Highly Specialized Federal Employees who work at the Labs stay put.
Cardin said he is concerned about the possible Transfer of some Army Capabilities to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). “I want to make sure that the command for medical research within the Department of Defense is maintained with the priority in recognizing how important this is to our fighting force. I am concerned about the transfer,” Cardin said.
In their Letter, the Lawmakers urged DoD to “promptly release the funds necessary for continued operations” of the facilities and admonished officials to be “more transparent with its budgeting decisions in the future. We should know about these things,” Cardin said. “I don’t want to see the bureaucracy of accounting affect the mission that’s done in the lab.”
The DoD is expected to house roughly 1,000 Americans Evacuated from China at Six Installations.
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