Sea-test probe to stay open

WASHINGTON — Amid pressure from concerned House members, including Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, the Pentagon has decided to keep open its supposedly just-completed probe into once secret, at-sea tests designed by Army scientists in Utah that exposed sailors to chemical and germ weapons in the 1960s.

The Pentagon had announced June 30 that it had completed its investigation into such tests conducted as part of Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense) and its parent Project 112. They were designed by scientists at the now defunct Deseret Test Center at Fort Douglas and later at Dugway Proving Ground.

However, Matheson and Reps. Mike Thompson and Susan Davis, D-Calif., and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, said the Pentagon assured them it will continue to investigate information that those members believe is suspect, missing or incorrect.

For example, the Pentagon found that 134 test series were planned as part of Project 112. However, it said it found documentation for only 50 and ruled that the other 84 had never actually occurred. In the 50 series of proven tests, it said 5,842 members of the armed services were exposed to chemical and germ agents — many unwittingly.

Besides Project SHAD tests at sea, the probe disclosed that many related Project 112 tests occurred on land in Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Panama, Canada and the United Kingdom. (The Deseret Morning News has disclosed previously myriad other Utah chemical and germ tests that were part of other projects).

Matheson, Thompson, Davis and Rodriguez said that after a meeting with Pentagon officials, Ellen Embry, deputy assistant secretary of defense for force health protection and readiness, told them the investigation is still open and pledged to respond to and help veterans who believe they were exposed to harmful agents.

Matheson said, "It is still unclear how many Utah veterans unknowingly participated in SHAD tests, and I want to make sure that DOD (the Department of Defense) continues to respond to veterans who contact the department believing they may have been exposed to potentially harmful agents."

He added, "After years of denial, DOD has only recently admitted to conducting tests, some of which used live nerve agents such as Sarin and VX nerve gas, on unsuspecting service members. Nine of the 50 conducted tests took place in Utah, and we must do all that we can to inform veterans about SHAD tests."

Thompson said, "I look forward to seeing the information that has previously been omitted as well as erroneous information corrected in the Pentagon's documentation of SHAD."