Subject: Con Journal.   Part 3.                            June 23, 2012.

  This talks about plagues.

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Bacteriological W-rfare in the U-ited States is a fascinating
F-I document - declassified into the public domain via the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act - that covers the
years 1941 to 1950. Notably, of the file's original 1,783
pages, no less than 1,074 have been firmly withheld from
declassification by the FB-. The file reveals a wealth of
illuminating and disturbing data on animal d-sease and
d-ath, and their potential, theoretical links to
bacteriological wa-fare and s-botage by hostile nations and
individuals.

For example, J.R. Ruggle, the FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge
at the Savannah, Georgia office of the Bureau in the
early-to-mid 1940s, wrote thus to F-I Director J. Edgar
Hoover on February 3, 1943: "This office has received a
copy of a communication from JOHN T. BISSELL, Colonel,
General Staff, Assistant Executive Officer, Mi-itary
Intelligence Service,Washington,D.C., dated December 29,
1942, to directors of intelligence in all Service commands".

Colonel Bissel's communication read:

"It has been brought to the attention of this division
the possibility in the immediate future of an attempt
on the part of the enemy to plant bombs containing
germs or to endeavor to create an epidemic, such
as hoof and mouth dis-ase, among cattle and other
livestock. It is requested that should any information
concerning the above come to the attention of the
Directors of Intelligence of the Service Commands
or the A.C. of S. [Assistant Chief of Staff], G-2 [Army
Intelligence], Western Defense Command, that the
same be transmitted by the most expeditious means
to the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 Wa- Department."

Evidently, such matters were of keen concern to U.S.
Intelligence. And that concern did not go away any
time soon. In 1944, the -BI prepared a document that
dealt with the scenario of a widespread attack on
the U.S. cattle herd via unconventional, bacteriological
war-are. The document states:

"A review of the book entitled 'Sab-tage' by Michael
Sayers and Albert E. Kahn, which was published in
September of 1942, discloses the following data: The
complete record of sabot-ge carried out by Chernov,
supposedly of the German Intelligence service in
Russia during 1930 to 1936 is too long to put into
the book according to the authors, but includes -
k_lling off pedigree breed-stock and raising cattle
mortality by artificially infecting cattle with various
kinds of bacteria - effecting a shortage of serum to
counteract epidemics of anth-ax so that, in one
instance, 25,000 horses perished as a result of
Chernov's sa-otage - infecting tens of thousands of
pigs with erysipelas and with certain plagues by
having virulent bacteria placed in medicinal sera.

"In another point, the authors have asked the
question: 'Could such wholesale sabo-age of
agriculture as took place in the Soviet Union take
place in the Un-ted States of America?' They then
answer the question that, regardless of how fantastic
it might sound, such diabolical sabo-age was
actually practiced by German sabo-eurs in 1915
in the Uni-ed States of America."

The F-I elaborated further:

"Anton Dilger, a German-American medical graduate from John
Hopkins University, was in Germany when the First World W-r
broke out. He offered his services to the Kaiser, and was
promptly detailed by Colonel Nicolai to do sec-et service work
in the Uni-ed States. Dilger returned to America with a supply
of cultures of glanders and ant-rax germs. Financed by von
Papen, he set up a laboratory in Chevy Chase, near Washington,
and started breeding germs on a large scale for infecting mules,
horses, and cattle awaiting shipment to the allies.

"This man then organized a band of some twelve assistants to
travel around the country, carrying Dilger's germs in small
glass phials stopped with corks through which a needle extended.
This roving band jabbed their de-dly needles into the livestock.

"They also spread germs by placing them in fodder and drink.
Thousands of soldiers, as well as horses and cattle, di-d as a
result of Dilger's germs. At last Dilger revolted against his
mission of silent d-ath. He was mu-dered by German spies a few
months before the end of the -ar. Could it happen here? It did
happen here!"

The FB-'s declassified records from 1945 reveal that the issue
of cattle being potentially affected by bacteriological warf-re
was a major one. A memo to Hoover dated July 6, 1945 states:
"You may be interested in the following information which was
reported by the SAC [Special-Agent-in-Charge] of the Norfolk
Field Division following a Weekly Intelligence Conference on
June 28, 1945."

The document refers to the work of a man (whose identity
is concealed to this day within the pages of the declassified
documents) employed by the then-Army Air F-rce at Langley
Field, Virginia, and who had "been assigned to handling
investigations concerning the landing of Japanese balloons
in the states of North and South Dakota and Nebraska."

In a summary report, the SAC at Norfolk informed Hoover:
"I was interested to learn that recently several Japanese
balloons were found in that territory which were
determined to have been carrying bacteria. The bacteria
consisting of An-hrax, are placed in the hydrogen. I was
told that such bacteria mainly affects cattle. When the
bacteria lands on wheat or other types or farm land
where food is being raised for the cattle, the bacteria
remain in the food when it is eaten by the cattle, and
upon human consumption of the milk or meat, the
bacteria can be passed on."

Particularly notable is a July 11, 1949 document that
refers to the -BI's desire to acquire "world-wide
information on animal dise-ses and animal population."
And, one year later, the F-I was still collecting such
data. On October 19, 1950, the FB- prepared a
document titled Abnormal Loss of Hogs in Nebraska
and Illinois that dealt with an unusually high
number of hog dea-hs in the aforementioned
states - as a result of cholera. The files, however,
make it clear that, in official, -BI quarters, the
nature of the animals' dea-hs had been viewed
with deep suspicion.

It was concluded that the deat-s were due to a
"variant virus" or "atypical virus" that stemmed
from "local conditions and the physical
conditions of the hogs." The important factor,
however, is that this document was found within
a file specifically focused upon bacteriological
wa-fare. In other words, the FB- was still looking
closely at any and all animal d-aths that might
not have wholly conventional explanations.

Of great significance is the fact that one of the
cases that the -BI examined - and that is
described in a heavily-redacted memo of May 29,
1950 - dealt with the finding of plague-infected
rats at the highly sensitive Sandia Base, New
Mexico, and which was viewed in some quarters
as being the result of nothing less than a
deliberate attempt to clandestinely introduce a
widespread plague on Sandia by hostile, unknown
sources.

As an example, a document prepared by the F-I's
Special-Agent-in-Charge at its Albuquerque, New
Mexico on June 22, 1950, titled Bacteriological
Wa-fare - Espi-nage-Sa-otage (Bubonic Plague),
refers to rumors then flying around the official world
that an outbreak of bubonic plague in New Mexico's
rat population may have been the result of
deliberate, bacteriological -arfare-related activities
by - once again - hostile, unknown forces.

The F-I noted with respect to its interview with a
plague expert, who is identified only as a "Miss
Greenfield" that:
"[She] is acquainted with the presence of the plague
among wild rodents in New Mexico and in the
Uni-ed States for several years. It has now reached
an area from the West Coast to a line running
north and south at approximately the border of New
Mexico."

The F-I continued: "From August 1949 there were
four cases among humans in New Mexico. Briefly,
these four cases, one of which was fatal, were
reported in New Mexico. Each case indicated that
the victim had shortly before the illness, handled
wild rodents which he had kil-ed. The one case in
New Mexico which was fatal was not diagnosed as
the plague until after de-th."

Notably, the FB-ubsequently received from the Public
Health Service two charts displaying the outbreaks
of plague in both New Mexico and the continental
Uni-ed States during that period.
And as the FB- noted with respect to the Public
Health Service:
"they have found positive evidence of the plague
among wild rodents in the states lying west of a
line directly north of the east boundary of the
state of New Mexico."

The F-I's Special-Agent-in-Charge at Albuquerque
concluded his report thus: "Miss Greenfield has
been requested to advise this office concerning
any pertinent developments of the plague in New
Mexico or in the United States that may come to
her attention. In the event such developments
are received, the Bureau will be immediately
advised."

Part 3.

John Winston.   johnfw@mlode.com