WASHINGTON — After congressional researchers last week said the military conducted hundreds more secret chemical and germ arms tests — many in Utah — than previously reported, a House member is calling for a full-scale investigation.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., says he will soon introduce legislation to create a panel of independent investigators "to ensure information regarding all chemical and biological tests are brought to light," including identifying the civilians and soldiers who may have been exposed.
Thompson led a drive in Congress in recent years that eventually ordered the Pentagon to investigate one series of experiments, called Project 112 or Project SHAD. It concluded last year that nearly 6,000 soldiers were exposed through 50 tests in the '60s and '70s designed by Army scientists based in Utah.
The Deseret Morning News had first reported the Project SHAD and Project 112 tests after sailors who participated sought the newspaper's help. They blamed cancer and other illnesses on some at-sea tests, but the Veterans Administration had denied claims because the Pentagon insisted the tests never occurred.
Despite the newspaper obtaining reports of some tests — through the Freedom of Information Act — the Pentagon continued to deny they occurred. That changed amid pressure from the national media and members of Congress led by Thompson, who has several constituents who believe they were harmed by the tests.
Thompson and others also asked the General Accounting Office, a research arm of Congress, to review how adequate the Pentagon's study was last year into Project SHAD and Project 112.
The GAO said the Pentagon generally did a good job but had not exhausted all possible sources of information to identify all soldiers exposed — and had not tried at all to identify civilians exposed.
Worse, the GAO said it found signs that hundreds more tests besides Project 112 had occurred — and no one has tried to identify people exposed through them.
For example, the GAO said, "A former Deseret Test Center scientist estimated that the number of chemical and biological tests conducted at just one location — Dugway Proving Ground, Utah — was over 100, or more than double the number of tests conducted under Project 112."
It said hundreds more secret tests were conducted in the 48 contiguous states.
The Deseret Morning News has through the years, using Freedom of Information Act requests, identified thousands of open-air trials in Utah of chemical, germ and radiological weapons, often conducted upwind from populated areas.
The GAO said that during its review, the Pentagon in February "began preparing a plan to identify tests outside Project 112 that might have exposed service members" and civilians. It said such plans are not yet completed, and GAO called for them to be finalized and implemented.
Thompson issued a press release this week announcing plans to seek an independent panel to investigate the military testing. He also lamented that the Pentagon did not do a better job with its research on Project 112 and Project SHAD.
"The report shows that the Defense Department continues to keep life-or-death information from veterans who may have been the subject of these tests," Thompson said. "These veterans have the right to know what agents they were exposed to," Thompson said.
E-mail: lee@desnews.com