Shipping live anthrax samples was an inexcusable mistake, says US Defense Department

The US Defense Department made it clear on Thursday that no excuse is acceptable for shipping live anthrax samples to the US air base in Osan, Gyeonggi Province in May. Undersecretary of Defense Frank Kendall told reporters that it was a grave mistake and actions are being taken to fix it.

“It was an unintended delivery. It was anthrax that was believed to be inactivated and not live and not able to be grown went to an air force base in Korea to a laboratory on that base for testing there. I don't think it ever would have gone anywhere else”, added Kendall.

He replied when asked why the spores were delivered in the first place by saying that the US military is in a position to ensure protection of people if an anthrax attack happens in Korea or anywhere else if they ship it.

A report by Pentagon officials on Thursday provided details of recurring problems at an Army bioterror facility. The facility shipped live anthrax samples to other labs for more than a decade.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work disclosed the results of an investigation that were launched after the problems first time came into picture in May. The Dugway failures were the results of several problems. An additional investigation has been ordered by the Pentagon. Now, the Secretary of the Army will try to come up with names that are to be blamed for the problem.

Work said it was not a rocket science for Dugway officials to recognize and fix the problem.