Continuing discussion about drug treatments for, and vaccines to prevent, Covid-19, this program sets forth information about the ongoing professional massaging of Gilead Sciences’ anti-viral remdesivir. Only modestly successful against SARS Cov‑2 (the virus that causes Covid-19), remdesivir has been propelled to the forefront of treatment regimens for the pandemic.
Of particular interest are the circumstances surrounding the CDC’s closure of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The USAMRIID–located at Ft. Detrick–had hosted Gilead Sciences’ animal trials of remdesivir. Remdesivir was developed to combat Ebola, and was a failure in its initial professional iteration.
In March of 2019, rhesus macaques were infected with Ebola at the USAMRIID as part of a project to allow remdesivir to be marketed as an Ebola treatment without meeting the professional standards of human testing. ” . . . This agreement was made possible through a 2018 Natural History Study (NHS) of Ebola virus conducted by USAMRIID in close collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc., the sponsor of remdesivir development . . .”
Many of the safety violations cited by the CDC in its critique of USAMRIID safety and security procedures concerned “non-human primates” infected with one or more “select agents” that were not named. The term “select agent” refers to a pathogen being used in laboratory procedures. Whether the “select agent” was Ebola, and whether the safety lapses were in connection with the remdesivir/rhesus monkey trials was not disclosed.
” . . . . Several of the laboratory violations the CDC noted in 2019 concerned ‘non-human primates’ infected with a ‘select agent’, the identity of which is unknown — it was redacted in all received documents, because disclosing the identity and location of the agent would endanger public health or safety, the agency says. In addition to Ebola, the lab works with other deadly agents like anthrax and smallpox. . . ..”
If, for the sake of argument, SARS-CoV‑2 research was indeed taking placing there was a very real risk of it escaping.
Remdesivir failed in its human trials as a treatment for Ebola: ” . . . . The antiviral drug remdesivir, made by Gilead, underperformed ZMapp. . . . Remdesivir and ZMapp have been dropped from the trial. . . .”
Following that dismal performance against Ebola, Gilead Sciences recast remdesivir as a broad spectrum antiviral, a marketing approach that has led to the drug being authorized to treat Covid-19.
In that professional reincarnation, it demonstrated altogether modest success in Covid-19 trials that were professionally criticized and which were badly skewed from a methodological standpoint.
After a tightening of professional methodological standards at the USAMRIID, it was disclosed that most of the institution’s operatives are private contractors! From the standpoint of institutional security, the broad use of private contractors renders USAMRIID subject to penetration by any number of potential miscreants. ” . . . . ‘A majority of our laboratory workers are contractors–putting teeth in the contracts to ensure they’re following the shalls, wills and musts are things we’ve done in the interim,’ said [Brigadier General Mike] Talley. . . .”
As noted in past programs, Gilead Sciences is very well-connected professionally, with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (among other political luminaries) serving on its board of directors. Rumsfeld was chairman of the board from 1997 until he left in 2001 to become George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense. The firm’s stock has been heavily invested in by hedge funds, including Robert Mercer’s Renaissance Technologies. Gilead Sciences’ stock has been a major driver of the stock market’s performance.
Several years into his tenure at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld made a killing on the sale of Gilead Sciences’ stock, which rose exponentially in value following its development of Tamiflu as a treatment for H5N1 avian flu. ” . . . . The firm made a loss in 2003, the year before concern about bird flu started. Then revenues from Tamiflu almost quadrupled, to $44.6m, helping put the company well into the black. Sales almost quadrupled again, to $161.6m last year. During this time the share price trebled. Mr Rumsfeld sold some of his Gilead shares in 2004 reaping – according to the financial disclosure report he is required to make each year – capital gains of more than $5m. The report showed that he still had up to $25m-worth of shares at the end of 2004, and at least one analyst believes his stake has grown well beyond that figure, as the share price has soared. . . .”
The U.S. government was among the customers whose purchases drove up the Gilead earnings and stock price: ” . . . . What’s more, the federal government is emerging as one of the world’s biggest customers for Tamiflu. In July, the Pentagon ordered $58 million worth of the treatment for U.S. troops around the world, and Congress is considering a multi-billion dollar purchase. . . .”
(Recall that the H5N1 virus is one of the gain-of-function experiments that was suspended in 2014 and then greenlighted by the Trump administration in 2017. Those experiments engineered the virus to infect ferrets, a maneuver that made the virus communicable by upper respiratory activity. One can but wonder if those G‑O-F experiments were connected to the recasting of remdesivir as a broad spectrum antiviral.)
During the post‑9/11 period of exploding government investments in biodefense programs, Rumsfeld was still holding onto massive amounts of Gilead’s stock, which was rapidly increasing in value. What kind of relationship did Gilead develop with the US biodefense national security state during this period? That seems like an important question at this point in time.
In FTR #1136, we noted that the medical and scientific interests in charge of Lyme Disease treatment and diagnosis were not only financial beneficiaries of the therapeutic status quo, but were also tasked with discrediting Lyme patients and physicians who challenged that status quo. In light of the evidence that Lyme Disease was the outgrowth of biological warfare research, the professional relationship between governmental institutions involved with BW research and biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms profiting from the treatment of diseases those institutions develop and deploy is worth contemplating!
Previous broadcasts have documented the skewed, preferential treatment of remdesivir by powerful political and financial players with significant investment in the success of remdesivir.
The program concludes with three updates of previous lines of inquiry”
1.–Past programs have highlighted possible vectors into Wuhan for the SARS CoV‑2. We note that there was a workshop held at the Wuhan lab in early November of 2019, featuring scientists and bio-lab professionals from around the world. This conference may have been among the opportunities to spread the virus, and/or a co-vector and/or cross-vector. ” . . . . The workshop is designed for laboratory managers and directors, research and laboratory staffs mainly from developing countries who plan to carry out infectious disease research in biosafety facilities. The workshop will address key aspects of biosafety and provide practical training in high level biosafety laboratories (BSL). This workshop will invite a group of well-known scholars and experts from related fields at home and abroad to provide the theoretical and practical courses. . . .”
2.–As noted in past programs the Wuhan Institute of Virology was engaged in bat-borne coronavirus research, which included the genetic modification of such organisms. That research was a joint U.S./Chinese undertaking, with the U.S. funding coming from institutions which have fronted for American intelligence and the Pentagon. That joint U.S./Chinese undertaking was terminated by the Trump administration in May! In addition: ” . . . . Many of the scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology have been trained by the U.S. government’s PREDICT project. . . . USAID’s PREDICT project . . . will end this September after 10 years and two six-month extensions as USAID launches a new project that applies the data PREDICT collected. . . .”
3.–Other broadcasts have explored the Wuhan World Military Games–a military sports competition–as a possible vectoring vehicle. We update that path of inquiry with discussion of the U.S. delegation as a possible vectoring agent for the spread of the disease in the U.S. ” . . . . Contrary to the Pentagon’s insistence, however, an investigation of COVID-19 cases in the military from official and public source materials shows that a strong correlation exists in COVID-19 cases reported at U.S. military facilities that are home bases of members of the U.S. team that went to Wuhan. Before March 31, when the Pentagon restricted the release of information about COVID-19 cases at installations for security reasons, infections occurred at a minimum of 63 military facilities where team members returned after the Wuhan games. Additionally, the U.S. team used chartered flights to and from the games via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Washington was one of the earliest states to show a spike in COVID-19. . . .” We also note that the U.S. delegation contained: ” . . . . nine public-affairs officers . . . and two State Department personnel, according to DOD documents. . . .” “Public affairs officer” is a common cover for CIA personnel.
This program explores an interrogatory consideration, borne out of critical evaluation of epidemiological information about Covid-19 in New York City.
The recent disclosure that random testing of residents of New York City indicated that roughly one fifth of that municipality’s residents may have had Covid-19 and recovered raises serious epidemiological implications. If the report is remotely accurate, it is epidemiologically absurd to suppose the virus originated in China.
(The 1984 interview with Dr. Wilbert Jordan about the anomalous epidemiological information about the spread of AIDS, reprised in FTR #1115, should be reviewed for depth and background to this discussion.)
In addition, we speculated in FTR #1127 that New York City MAY have been deliberately vectored with the virus. The report cited above makes little sense if that were not the case.
In this discussion, we collate a number of items from past programs, considering the possibility that some of the elements we discuss MIGHT have figured in a hypothetical vectoring of New York City:
1.–We note in that regard that New York City was deliberately targeted for testing of biological warfare agents in the mid-1960’s. ” . . . . In the summer of 1965, Special Operations men walked into three New York City subway stations and tossed lightbulbs filled with Bacillus subtilis, a benign bacteria, onto the tracks. The subway trains pushed the germs through the entire system and theoretically killed over a million passengers. . . .”
2.–For consideration in this context is the documented record of the use of Nazis, fascists and white supremacists in the American biological warfare development over the decades–not all of it in the aftermath of World War II and Project Paperclip.
3.–We review information about Dr. Larry Ford, an acolyte of “The Turner Diaries,” who had worked for the CIA assisting the apartheid regime’s Project Coast biological warfare program. Ford was investigated for possible involvement with the milieu behind the anthrax attacks after 9/11. ” . . . . he had held extreme racist views and had once told a girlfriend that to understand him, she should read ‘The Turner Diaries,’ the anti-Semitic and white supremacist novel, popular among far-right groups, that prosecutors say inspired the Oklahoma City bombing . . . .”
4.–Ford operated in conjunction with Project Coast under the auspices of CIA: ” . . . . But ten minutes later the liaison called again and said there was ‘high confidence’ that Ford had biological- and chemical-weapons knowledge and did, in fact, have the capability to coat the knife with a deadly toxin. Shortly after that a third call came in: Ford did work for the CIA, the chastened FBI official told the room full of cops. . . .”
5.– An Air Force Academy report on Project Coast discussed an international right-wing network that grew out of the South African bio-weapons program: ” . . . . According to a recent U.S. Air Force Academy report on South Africa’s biological warfare program, Ford was part of a global network of scientists that Basson assembled to assist Project Coast. Whether that meant creating — or receiving and storing — toxins produced by the program is a matter of conjecture, the report suggests, as South African officials have been unable to account for all of the dangerous material produced over the years. The Air Force report quotes testimony from a Swiss intelligence agent [Juergen Jacomet?] who laundered money for Basson and who describes a worldwide conspiracy involving unnamed Americans. ‘The death of Dr. Ford and revelations of his South African involvement,’ the report states, ‘[raises] the possibility of a right-wing international network, [still] united by a vision of South Africa once again ruled by whites.’ . . . .”
6.–Steven Hatfill–another longtime, intelligence-connected biological warfare expert–has worked with white supremacists in both the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. He, too, was investigated in connection with the anthrax attacks.
7.–About Hatfill’s CV: ” . . . . Here is a fellow [Hatfill] with a fake Ph.D. who posed for The Washington Times as a bioterrorist with a homemade plague disseminator, and who boasted as recently as last year of having served with the apartheid government’s notorious Selous Scouts during the Rhodesian anthrax epidemic. I have three different editions of his curriculum vitae . . . How did such a rascal come to be instructing the C.I.A., F.B.I., Defense Intelligence Agency, army, navy, Marines, U.S. marshals, and State Department on such matters as the handling of deadly pathogens and of bioterror incidents ? . . .”
8.–About the investigation into Hatfill in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks and his association with the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB): ” . . . . The FBI’s investigation [of the anthrax attacks] this time focused on Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who once worked as a research scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Hatfill had spent considerable time in South Africa, and was affiliated with the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB). However, after a thorough investigation, the FBI eventually cleared Hatfill of any connection to the anthrax attacks. . . .”
9.–Of significant interest in that regard is Hatfill’s close professional relationship with fellow biological warfare expert Bill Patrick, who directed the above experiment/attack on the New York City subway: “. . . . Then there’s the 1965 simulated attack on the New York City subway. On June 8 of that year, under Bill Patrick’s direction, the subway was targeted with the anthrax simulant B.g. Lightbulbs, each containing 87 trillion spores, were dropped onto the tracks. Trains then sucked the clouds of live bacteria into the subway system. C.I.A. and military scientists, bearing fake ID’s, were on location to count the spores. More than a million riders were exposed to B.g. that day; many inhaled more than a million spores per minute. Patrick, when telling this story, still chuckles about how ‘we clobbered the Lexington line with B.g.’. . . .”
10.–Despite the age difference, Patrick and Hatfill became close: ” . . . . The most curious piece of fieldwork noted on Steven Hatfill’s most recent C.V. is that of ‘open air testing and vulnerability trials.’ In a 2001 paper, ‘Biological Warfare Scenarios,’ Bill Patrick called the 1965 simulated attack on the New York subway ‘one of the most important vulnerability studies’ of the 70 he conducted. . . . By 1998, Hatfill was Patrick’s sidekick in what one colleague has described as a ‘Batman and Robin’ team. But it is from USAMRIID that Hatfill claims to have acquired his working knowledge of army-sponsored ‘vulnerability’ trials. . . .”
11.–Hatfill has networked with Steve Bannon, appearing on his podcast. (Hatfill threw cold water on the suggestion that Covid-19 may have been manufactured in a laboratory. A highly intelligent, veteran covert operator, Hatfill would have certainly done this, IF he had knowledge of, or involvement with, elements that had authored such an event. Given Hatfill’s affiliation with groups like the Rhodesian Selous Scouts and White Afrikaner Resistance, we wonder if Hatfill or a like-minded individual may have provided information for and/or impetus to, a vectoring of New York City with a relatively mild Covid-19 strain? Might Hatfill’s work on “four levels of biological attack” been an inspirational or operational basis for a “level four” attack?: ” . . . . The fourth level consists of a self-sustaining, unstoppable epidemic. . . .”
12.–In FTR #324, we noted that the Broederbond organization had apparently perpetuated itself in an altogether lethal form as “Die Organisasie” or “Third Force.” Might such a group have links to Steve Bannon and/or Trump’s milieu? Might they have been connected to a hypothetical vectoring of New York City? There are Americans involved with “Die Organisasie.” We wonder if this might be linked to the organization contained in the Air Force Academy report mentioned in the article about Larry Ford?
13.–About “Die Organisasie”: “. . . . [Nico] Palm spoke enigmatically of ‘Die Organisasie,’ a pulp fiction nom de guerre (which he calls, even more melodramatically, the ‘Spider Network’). It is a group of white South Africans who wait patiently for he demise of the ANC government and a return to the old days. They are not the mad pseudo-Nazis of the far right, but something far more organized, well financed, and patient. Other people know them as ‘The Third Force.’ We are to hear of them time and again from ex-soldiers like Nico Palm all the way up to South Africa’s deputy defense minister, Ronnie Kasrils. Significantly, files have also been opened by MI5 in potentially significant union of like-minded South African right-wingers. All of them are ex-pats now living in the United Kingdom, who may support the destabilization of any black South African government. . . .”
14.–About Americans in Die Organisasie: “. . . . [former Swiss intelligence agent Juergen] Jacomet, now nervous, is pressed to expand a little. ‘There is a group of people here in London, he says. ‘One could call them the friends of South Africa. They have it in mind to see a strong white South Africa again. There are American connections too. . . .”
15.–More about the American links to Die Organisasie” ” . . . . Jacomet mentions some well-known South African names—men previously associated with Third Force activities. He also refers to an American name known to Britain’s MI5 for his alleged involvement with Basson in money laundering, sanctions busting, and biological agents procurement. [Emphasis added.] Once again, Die Organisasie is mentioned in respectful tones, and, once again, the details remain scant and elusive. Jacomet remains silent . . . .”
16.–When informed by the British about Project Coast (the apartheid BW program) and Die Organisasie (or ‘Third Force’), Mandela feared that the weapons would fall into the hands of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) with which Hatfill is connected: ” . . . . In the end it was British representatives who decided to approach President Mandela, with a minimum of fanfare, to advise him that he was inheriting an ugly biological assassination program from the previous administrations. Mandela’s first reaction was: ‘Oh my God!’ He was initially terrified that the South African ‘Third Force’ elements, including such organizations as Eugene Terre Blanche’s ultra right-wing and fanatical AWB, might lay their hands on it. . . .”
17.–Ebola was apparently the focal point of some of Larry Ford’s work: ” . . . . Ford told the Rileys and others his subsequent work for the military and the CIA included research on biological and chemical weapons, consulting on Iraqi capabilities during the Gulf War, and sneaking into epidemic hot zones in Africa to gather samples of such killer organisms as the Ebola and Marburg viruses. . . .”
18.–Dr. Stamps–Zimbabwe’s Health Minister–had some pointed observations about outbreaks of Ebola during that nation’s war of independence and his belief that they resulted from Project Coast. Note that Hatfill was involved with the Rhodesian Selous Scouts: “ . . . . ‘I have my suspicions about Ebola too. [Dr. Stamps is quoted–the Health Minister of Zimbabwe] It developed along the line of the Zambezi River, and I suspect that this may have been an experiment to see if a new virus could be established to infect people. We looked on the serological evidence on strange cases, including a fifteen-year-old child which occurred in 1980. Nothing really made epidemiological sense. Do I have evidence? Only circumstantial. In fact, the Rhodesian security forces were more expert than the Nazis at covering up evidence.’ . . .”
19.–Corroborating some of Dr. Stamps’ suspicions concerning Ebola, “Gert” (a pseudonym for a veteran of Project Coast) discussed the use of that virus and the related Marburg virus in Project Coast. “Gert” also implies that US scientists from Ft. Detrick (Dr. Ford? Steven Hatfill) were involved with a Zairian outbreak. “ . . . . ‘Look, I know what one of the very, very, very secret specialized units had. We had to test it. And that was viral capsules that were specifically related to Congo fever and the hemorrhagic fevers.’ Ebola? ‘Yes.’ So Gert is beginning to corroborate Dr. Stamp’s suspicions in Harare that Ebola and Marburg, although indigenous, were also artificially seeded into Southern Africa. Basson, says Gert, was involved in all this. (when the last terrible Ebola outbreak occurred in Kikwit, Zaire, as late as 1995, Gert claims that Basson was there, unofficially. Twenty years earlier, when the village of Yambuku in northern Zaire witnessed one of the first major Ebola outbreaks, two South African scientists were there, allegedly working hand in glove with US military personnel from Fort Detrick.) . . . . ”
20.–In numerous programs and posts, we have covered the Gilead Sciences drug remdesivir, now approved for treating Covid-19, despite lukewarm information from trials. Remdesivir is made by Gilead Sciences, a major holding of Robert Mercer’s Renaissance Technologies. (Mercer, of course, was Steve Bannon’s financial angel.) Note that Remdesivir was initially developed to fight Ebola, and “fizzled.” Again, might there be a link to Project Coast, the late Dr. Larry Ford, Steven Hatfill, Ft. Detrick, “Die Organisasie” or some combination thereof?
21.–We also note that China has been making significant inroads into Africa, a development that has been a major focal point of activity by Mike Pompeo’s State Department. It is worth remembering, in this context, that such a development MIGHT make China a focal point of activity by Die Organisasie, perhaps as part of a covert operation overseen by Bannon. Again, might there be a link to Project Coast, the late Dr. Larry Ford, Steven Hatfill, Ft. Detrick, “Die Organisasie” or some combination thereof?
In FTR #1127, we noted that a random testing of New York City residents indicated that up to a fifth of the city’s residents may have been infected with one of the milder strains of Covid019. That suggests very strongly that the city was vectored–it is epidemiologically absurd to assume that the virus came from China. In that same program, we noted that New York had been the site of a biological warfare test in 1965: ” . . . . In the summer of 1965, Special Operations men walked into three New York City subway stations and tossed lightbulbs filled with Bacillus subtilis, a benign bacteria, onto the tracks. The subway trains pushed the germs through the entire system and theoretically killed over a million passengers. . . .” In FTR #317, we set forth the late Dr. Larry Ford’s work for the CIA assisting the South African apartheid regime’s Project Coast biological warfare program. Ford: was a devotee of “The Turner Diaries; secured Ebola and Marburg viruses for Project Coast; may have been linked to a global network of white supremacists that grew out of Project Coast; was posthumously investigated in connection with the anthrax attacks of 2001. In FTR #642, we highlighted biological warfare expert Steven Hatfill’s association with the white nationalist regimes of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and apartheid South Africa, including White Afrikaner Resistance (AWB). Hatfill was investigated in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks as well, and subsequently exhonerated. Hatfill was very close to Bill Patrick, who oversaw the 1965 biological warfare experiment which infected the New York City Subway system with millions of simulated pathogenic bacteria. We wonder if Hatfill may have (perhaps indirectly) provided impetus to a vectoring of New York City with a mild strain of Covid-19? We also note that Hatfill has networked with Steve Bannon, who is at the epicenter of the anti-China effort. In FTR #324, we examined Project Coast in detail. That examination included the operation’s use of Ebola (allegedly in tandem with personnel from Ft. Detrick) and very credible accounts of a powerful, altogether deadly network of post-apartheid operatives–“Die Organisasie”– linked to Project Coast and aspiring to a return to white domination of Southern Africa. With China making inroads into Africa, we wonder if that altogether lethal network MAY have been enlisted in the anti-China effort? We also wonder if some of the Project Coast research MAY have had bearing on the selction of remdesivir (developed–unsuccessfully–to fight Ebola), produced by Gilead Sciences,a major investment of Robert Mercer’s Renaissance Technologies?
In the aftermath of Nelson Mandela’s passing, it is important to remember the true nature of the forces he opposed and the fact that they did NOT disappear with the demise of Apartheid. In FTR #225, among other programs, we examined the Nazi heritage of the Broederbond, the primary power center of the Apartheid government of South Africa. In Miscellaneous Archive Show M8, we noted the profound German role in aiding the South African effort to develop the atomic bomb. An incisive post by German-Foreign-Policy.com (which feeds along the bottom of the front page) supplements the information in these programs.
Glenn Greenwald’s no defender of human rights. He defended the rights of Nazi murderers and terrorists, doing so pro-bono. Using the rubric of “protected free speech,” he ran interference for the leaderless resistance strategy, defending the National Alliance, whose books are intended as instructional manuals for terrorists and assassins. He violated legal ethics while defending Nazi leader Matthew Hale. He defended Hale when he was accused of soliciting the murder of Judge Joan Lefkow (Hale was convicted.)
In our last post, we highlighted Greenwald’s five-year long representation of Matthew Hale, head of the World Church of the Creator. In addition to Hale, Greenwald also represented a consortium of neo-Nazi/White Supremacist groups, including the National Alliance. Accused of inciting followers to racist violence, The National Alliance was defended by Greenwald in order to preserve their right to free speech. National Alliance books are specifically crafted to incite murder and terrorism. National Alliance head William Luther Pierce networked with Nazis in Latin America, as did the terrorist group The Order, which his work inspired. UPDATED ON 7/20/2013, 7/29/2013.
Following suicide of Dr. Bruce Ivins, 2001 anthrax attacks return to journalistic center stage.
Recorded August 7, 2005REALAUDIONB: This stream contains both FTR #s 520 and 521 in sequence. Each is a 30 minute broadcast. As the title indicates, this broadcast highlights old and new stories about white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Beginning with coverage of the Atlanta child murders that dominated the news in 1980, the program sets forth […]
Neo-nazis, Islamofascists and 9/11
Listen: MP3 Side 1 | Side 2 RealAudio This program documents key areas of overlap between the activities of Aryan Nations activist Larry Harris and Dr. Larry Ford, who had worked on deadly biological warfare agents with, and for the CIA and the now infamous Project Coast in South Africa. Harris was arrested by the […]