Mk naomi

[Jan Klimkowski]

CH::EMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES p. 334-335-336

The terrible wounds inflicted by chemical weapons, such as chlorine and mustard gas, in World War I spawned international attempts to ban their use in warfare. The 1925 Geneva Convention succeeded only in banning the first use in war of chemical and biological weapons. The United States signed this Convention but Congress failed to ratify it; thus, the United States was not bound by its prohibitions. Nevertheless, there was widespread belief that the United States would comply with the Convention….the United States had intensified its biological research efforts (in March, 1943) with the construction of a facility for drug research at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
…the United States program on research and development on such agents continued to maintain a weapons capability sufficient to deter first use by hostile powers. The Army’s facility at Fort Detrick remained the center of biological weapons research and development.

1. Chemical and Biological Activities

Against this background, the Central Intelligence Agency entered into a specific agreement with the Army on a project which the CIA codenamed MKNAOMI. The original purpose of MKNAOMI is difficult to determine. Few written records were prepared during its 18-year existence; most of the documents relating to it have been destroyed; and persons with knowledge of its early years have either died or have been unable to recall much about their association with the project. However, it is fair to conclude from the types of weapons developed for the CIA, and from the extreme security associated with MKNAOMI, that the possibility of first use of biological weapons by the CIA was contemplated.

The Army agreed that the Special Operations Division (SOD) at Fort Detrick would assist the CIA in developing, testing, and maintaining biological agents and delivery systems. By this agreement, CIA acquired the knowledge, skill, and facilities of the Army to develop biological weapons suited for CIA use. In 1967, the CIA summarized MKNAOMI objectivesa:

a) To provide for a covert support base to meet clandestine operational requirements.
b) To stockpile severely incapacitating and lethal materials for the specific use of TSD [Technical Services Division]
c) To maintain in operational readiness special and unique items for the dissemination of biological and chemical materials.
d) To provide for the required surveillance, testing, upgrading, and evaluation of materials and items in order to assure absence of defects and complete predictability of results to be expected under operational conditions. 47

In reviewing the records and testimony of SOD personnel, it is easy for the most part, to distinguish SOD’s work for the Army from its work for the CIA, even though very few SOD scientists knew of the CIA connections. For example, the CIA personnel who worked with the SOD were identified as military officers from the fictitious Staff Support Group, whose interest in SOD was markedly different from the Army’s. The CIA was careful to ensure that its moneys were transferred to SOD to cover the cost of CIA projects and the few existing SOD records indicate which projects were to be charged against the funds received from “P-600,” the accounting designation for CIA funds…..

[47-Memorandum from Chief. TSD/Biological Branch to Chief. TSD. “MKNAOMI: Funding Objectives, and Acomp;lishments” 10/18/67]

(From: The Intelligence Community – History, Organization, and Issues – Public Document Series, Fain, T.G. Fain, K.C.Plant and R. Milloy; The Church Committee, Introduction by Sen. Frank Church, pp. 334-336 – R. R. Bowker Co., 1180 Avenue of the Americas, N.Y., N.Y., 10036, 1977)