WASHINGTON — After studying Dugway Proving Ground records, Pentagon officials said Tuesday that at-sea tests of chemical and biological weapons designed by Army scientists in Utah in the '60s and '70s were not reckless and sought to protect sailors.
But they conceded in a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that sailors working around the deadly agents "may not have known all of the details of the tests."
And Veterans Affairs Department officials said they have awarded disability compensation to dozens of sailors who blame cancer and other ills on the tests and are trying to contact thousands more about potential dangers.
That information emerges about Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense) and its parent series of tests, called Project 112. Both were designed between 1962 and 1973 by scientists at the now-defunct Deseret Test Center, originally housed at Salt Lake City's Fort Douglas and later moved to Dugway.
The Deseret News first revealed problematic Project SHAD tests, based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, seven years ago. It told how sailors were then being denied VA benefits because the Defense Department denied that such tests ever occurred, despite documents obtained by the Deseret News.
After national media stories and a push in Congress for more information by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., the Pentagon last May finally acknowledged that the tests occurred and that live nerve agent and other chemical and germ agents were used in some of them.
However, William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said Tuesday that a review since then of records at Dugway shows that most tests did not use live agents but safer materials that simulate their effects.
"Our investigation has confirmed that Deseret Test Center tests were primarily conducted using simulants believed to be safe in place of chemical or biological warfare agents," he told the Veterans Affairs Committee.
"In those instances when potentially harmful substances were used, there is no evidence that any of the service members involved were exposed to them without proper protection. Service members were vaccinated before testing that involved live biological agents," he said.
He added, "If actual chemical agents were used, they (sailors) were confined to airtight sections of their ship. When appropriate, protective clothing was also worn," he said.
But Winkenwerder conceded that sailors were not necessarily warned they were working with some of the most deadly substances known to man, such as nerve agent VX, a tiny drop of which may kill.
"While some service members may not have known all of the details of these tests, it is likely they knew that they were participating in testing due to the use of precautionary measures," he said.
Winkenwerder said the review of records so far shows that the Deseret Test Center planned 134 SHAD-related tests. He said records have confirmed that 46 tests were conducted and 62 were canceled. He said research is ongoing about the other 26.
He noted that the Pentagon has posted information sheets about each test, when available, on its Web site, (DeploymentLINK.mil). The Pentagon released more information about Project 112 tests Tuesday, including some that used chemical and germ weapons on the ground in Alaska and Hawaii.
Of note, the Deseret News through the years has revealed that the military conducted more than 1,700 open-air trials of germ and chemical weapons and simulants in Utah.
Army documents say that spread at least 494,700 pounds of nerve agent to the winds there. One accidentally killed more than 6,000 sheep in Skull Valley in 1968, and many Utahns blame such testing for ills they suffer.
Winkenwerder said the Army does not need such open-air tests as much today.
"With modern technology we can determine the effectiveness of defensive measures by using mannequins. The military services do still use simulants during operational testing and training. We are reviewing all policies governing the use of simulants during testing and training," he said.
Winkenwerder added, "Our objective is to ensure that concerns like those surrounding the Deseret Test Center tests do not arise in the future."
Meanwhile, Jonathan Perlin, deputy undersecretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, testified that 5,000 veterans have been identified as Project 112 participants so far.
He said 53 have been compensated for disabilities deemed as caused by the testing. He said about a third of the Project 112 veterans it has contacted already were receiving treatment through the VA, so no new treatment programs for them was needed.
He said over the next three years the VA will conduct a study to compare the health of Project 112 veterans and other veterans who served elsewhere in the same time period.
The VA has a SHAD help line for veterans, 1-800-749-8387. It also has a Web site at ( www.va.gov/shad).