The Cobra Event

Glossary

Aerobiology. The scientific study of the dispersal characteristics and infectivity of biological weapons in the air. aerosol, bio-aerosol. A fine powder or liquid-droplet mist dispersed into the air. May be natural or a weapon.

Al Hakam. Biological-weapons facility in Iraq; disclosed by Iraq. Used for manufacturing anthrax up until 1995 or 1996. Destroyed by the United Nations in 1996.

Al Manal. Biological-weapons facility in Iraq; disclosed by Iraq. Produced nine thousand cubic yards of concentrated botulinum toxin ('bot tox') during the Gulf War. amplification. Multiplication of a virus. Takes place inside cells of a living host or in cells in a test tube or inside a bioreactor. anthrax. Single-celled bacterial organism capable of forming spores. Produces a pneumonia-like fatal illness when used in weaponized form.

Asilomar Conference. A conference held in the spring of 1975 to debate the hazards of genetic engineering. Led to the publication of the Asilomar Safety Guidelines, a set of recommendations governing geneticengineering experiments in the laboratory. bacterium (pl. bacteria). A single-celled microorganism. The cell has no nucleus and a thick cell wall. The most common life-form on earth. baculovirus. See nuclear polyhedrosis virus. Biological Toxins and Weapons Convention of 1972. International treaty outlawing the development and use of biological weapons and poisons derived from living organisms. Ratified by 140 nations; increasingly ignored. biological weapon (bioweapon). A living infectious organism used as a weapon or a nonliving toxin derived from a living organism and used as a weapon. Biopreparat. A once-secret Soviet biotechnology organization formerly funded largely by the Soviet Ministry of Defense, and devoted largely but not entirely to the research, development, and production of biological weapons. bioreactor. A tanklike production device designed for amplification of a virus.

Biosafety Level 3 Plus. A high level of biocontainment just below Level 4. Requires negative-pressure air with HEPA filtering and safety clothing with respirator masks. black biology (informal). The clandestine use of biotechnology and genetic engineering to create recombinant or, chimera weapons with artificially altered genetic material.

Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta (C.D.C.). The premier U.S. federal agency for epidemiology, disease control, and disease prevention. chimera. In Greek mythology, a monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. Also a virus made in the laboratory by the mixing (recombination) of genetic material from other viruses. Normally done for peaceful purposes; has obvious military applications. cloning. The growing of identical copies of an organism that has been genetically altered in the laboratory. Cobra. A fictional recombinant virus made from the nuclear polyhedrosis virus, the rhinovirus, and smallpox.

Cohen and Boyer experiment. Performed in 1973, when Stanley N. Cohen, Herbert W. Boyer, and others succeeded in putting working foreign genes into the bacterium E. coli. It was the first transplantation of a functioning gene, and it ushered in the biotechnology revolution. This experiment is now repeated in high schools.

Corpus One. The main research building at the Obolensk Institute of Applied Microbiology, in Serpukhov, about seventy miles south of Moscow. Biologicalweapons inspectors and experts believe that genetic engineering of weapons-grade Black Death (Yersinia pestis) occurred at the institute over a period of many years.

Corpus Zero. The nickname for a building at the Koltsovo Institute of Molecular Biology in Russia where experiments with airborne weaponized Ebola virus and dried weapons-grade smallpox virus have been carried out in giant explosion test chambers, work that may continue today. The building is described as being off limits to all outsiders. It was visited once by an American-British inspection team, in 1991. diener. Assistant at an autopsy.

DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid. An extremely beautiful molecule, in the shape of a ribbon twisted into a double helix. It carries the genetic code in living creatures. dry-line source. A source of powdered weapons-grade bioparticles that is moving in a fine, thus dispersing the particles in a line. The line of particles spreads downwind over a potentially huge area of territory. Engineering Research Facility (E.R.F.) A building at the F.B.I. Academy at Quantico where supersecret electronic research and development is carried on. Also the present location of the F.B.I.'s Hazardous Materials Response Unit.

Epidemic Intelligence Service (E.I.S.). Part of the Centers for Disease Control dedicated to investigating outbreaks of disease. epidemiology. The study of epidemics of disease. explosion test chamber. A closed steel chamber where aerosolized biological weapons are tested (aerobiology) on animals.

Felix. A fictional machine in a briefcase that rapidly sequences or 'decodes' the DNA of living organisms. forensic science. The scientific study of physical evidence at crime scenes. gene. A length of DNA, generally around 1,500 bases long, that codes for a protein or an enzyme. genetic engineering. The manipulation of the genetic material of an organism in a laboratory in order to make an organism with different characteristics. genome. The entire complement of DNA of a living organism.

Hand-held 'Boink' biosensor. A partly real, partly fictional biosensor device that can almost instantly detect approximately twenty-five dangerous infective pathogens.

Hazardous Materials Response Unit (H.M.R.U.). The unit of the F.B.I. dedicated to forensic and emergency analysis of nuclear, chemical, and biological substances.

HEPA filter. High-efficiency particle-arrestor filter. Used to trap biological particles in the air, thus purifying the air. hot agent. A lethal biological weapon or naturally lethal infective organism.

Johnston Atoll Field Trials. The large-scale testing of biological weapons done by the U.S. military between 1964 and 1969 in areas of open sea downwind of Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Koltsovo Institute of Molecular Biology. A virology research complex near Novosibirsk, in Russia. laydown, biological (informal). The release of a biological weapon into the air.

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. A genetic disease inherited only by boys. Caused by damage to a single gene, it results in a bizarre manifestation of stereotyped selfinjury, biting of the lips, fingers, and arms, as well as aggression directed toward other people.

Maalin, Ali Maow. A cook in Somalia. In late October 1977 he had the last case of naturally occurring smallpox on the earth. midbrain. The top of the brain stem; connects with the underside of the cerebrum. It controls such things as the action of the pupils in the eyes and respiration. It is evidently connected to primitive responses, such as feeding, chewing, and aggression. nuclear polyhedrosis virus. Also known as the baculovirus. A large, unique insect virus, the genes of which don't seem to be related to any other organism on earth. Has the ability to convert the body of an insect into 40 percent virus material by dry weight. The virus particle has a rodlike shape (baculo means 'rod' in Latin). The virus particles occur inside large crystals of a protein called polyhedrin.

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (O.C.M.E.). The medical examiner's office for New York City, situated at 520 First Avenue in Manhattan. Pasechnik, Vladimir. The first, and by no means the last, major defector from the Soviet (and now Russian) bioweapons program. He was head of the Institute for Ultrapure Preparations in Leningrad (now St Petersburg). pathologist, pathology. A doctor who studies diseased tissues and who performs autopsies. polyhedrin. A crystalline protein manufactured in cell nuclei during infection with nuclear polyhedrosis virus. prosector. The person in charge of an autopsy, who does the dissection. recombinant virus. A virus made in the laboratory by the mixing (recombination) of genetic material from other viruses. Also known as a chimera. rhinovirus. The common cold virus. Comes in more than one hundred types.

Sioc. Strategic Information Operations Center at F.B.I. headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. Sioc is a radio-secure complex of rooms on the fifth floor, equipped with videoconference capability. smallpox. Variola virus. Causes blistering and pustules on the face and arms. Is incredibly contagious and highly lethal in human populations that lack immunity to it. One of the scourges of human history.

Snow, Dr John. An early epidemiologist and London physician who identified a water pump on Broad Street in London as the source of a cholera outbreak in 1853. strategic weapon. A weapon capable of destroying an army or a city or a nation.

Sverdlovsk accident. An industrial accident resulting in the release of powdered weapons-grade anthrax into the air that occurred during the night of April 3, 1979, in the city of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia, causing at least sixty-six deaths. swab. The central tool in the arsenal of the biological weapons inspector, used for rubbing and sampling surfaces. Looks like a long Q-Tip, but has a wooden handle and a foam tip. When used with good laboratory backup, can potentially reveal the presence of black biology. tech agent (F.B.I. term). An F.B.I. agent who specializes in the operation of technical equipment, much of it electronic surveillance gear and communications equipment. transmissible. Contagious.

United States Public Health Service. An unarmed branch of the U.S. military services, and one of the oldest. Now a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its responsibilities include the operation of the Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.).

UNSCOM. United Nations Special Commission.

UNSUB (F.B.I. term). Unknown subject; unknown perpetrator of a crime.

USAMRIID. United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The Army's principal biodefense lab. viral glass. A term used by the author to describe a glasslike material containing highly concentrated dry virus particles. virus. A disease-causing parasite smaller than a bacterium, consisting of a shell made of proteins and membranes and a core containing the genetic material DNA or RNA. A virus can replicate only inside living cells. weaponized, weaponization. A very difficult term to define in the area of biological weapons. Many experts define true weaponization as the act of mass production, preparation, and loading of biological material into a bomb or warhead or other delivery system. In this book, I deliberately use the term 'weaponization' to also refer to genetic engineering of a microorganism for the purpose of creating a weapon. By my definition, the creation of a recombinant virus for use as a weapon is de facto weaponization.