Washington Debates Whether Castro Has Germ Weapons

Mary Anastasia O'Grady
The Wall Street Journal
6 September 2002

Is Fidel Castro busy cooking up viruses in Cuban labs to share with Islamic  fundamentalists? To the pro-Castro lobby in America this is nothing more  than a crackpot conspiracy theory devised by Miami's right-wing extremists.  But to some reputable intelligence experts, the case is not so open and  shut. It would be alarmist to warn of an impending attack but it would be  irresponsible to ignore some disconcerting signals and not remain vigilant.

Exhibit A in the case is Castro's warm relationship with sworn enemies of  the U.S. In May the Cuban dictator went to Iran, which the U.S. labels as  the world's most active supporter of terrorism. He was received by Ayatollah  Ali Khamenei, who declared that "U.S. grandeur can be broken," and that if  it is "it will be a service rendered to mankind and even the American  people."

Not to be outdone, Castro told the Iranians, according to the Associated  Press, that the U.S. is an "imperialist king" that "will finally fall, just  as your king was overthrown." Other AP reports said that the maximum leader,  as Castro calls himself, received an honorary doctorate from a Tehran  university in recognition of his struggle against the U.S. Upon his  departure, he declared that he had made new friends and left "with optimism  about future ties."

In July Castro sent his close confidant Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras -- a  congressman and the head of the Cuban-Iraqi Friendship Society -- to Iraq as  an envoy. According to BBC reports from Iraqi TV and Iraq Radio in Baghdad,  Alvarez Cambras met with Saddam Hussein to convey a "verbal message" on  behalf of Castro and also with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. His  meetings were boilerplate Fidelismo: Down with Yankee aggression and up with  solidarity with Iraq. During an April visit he had included commentary on  the Middle East. "Condemning the Zionist crimes against our people in  Palestine, Cambras described them as Nazi crimes," reported the BBC,  monitoring the Iraqi News Agency.

Exhibit B in the case by those who claim that the Cuban regime is up to  nefarious biological projects is testimony from U.S. intelligence. Carl  Ford, Jr. is Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research at the State  Department and as such deals regularly with the Central Intelligence Agency  and other U.S. intelligence bodies. On June 5, Mr. Ford told a subcommittee  of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- as he told the full committee  on March 19 -- that the U.S. "believes that Cuba has at least a limited  developmental offensive biological warfare research and development effort.  Cuba has provided dual-use technology to rogue states. We are concerned that  such technology could support BW [bioweapons] programs in those states."

Mr. Ford said there is no "smoking gun" but also explained how difficult it  is to ascertain the truth about such efforts. "The nature of biological  weapons makes it difficult to procure clear incontrovertible proof that a  country is engaged in illicit biological weapons research, production,  weaponization and stockpiling. Cuba's sophisticated denial and deception  practices make our task even more difficult." He later said that, "If you  have the facilities to do medical, biotechnological research, you have  facilities to build a biological weapon, unfortunately."

Mr. Ford said "We feel very confident about saying that they're working and  have been working on an effort that would give them a BW -- limited BW  offensive capability. And that's serious enough to tell you about it." When  Virginia Sen. George Allen asked Mr. Ford whether the U.S. believes Cuban  assistance to Iran is "simply helping Tehran's public health program," Mr.  Ford said, "We don't know," but also requested an opportunity to answer the  question more fully in a closed session.

The classified nature of so much of the intelligence surrounding this  question may be making it harder for the Bush administration to make its  case. In a letter to Florida Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart on July 22, the  Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John  Bolton, wrote that he raised the issue because "of numerous references I  have seen to a Cuban BW effort in classified CIA and DIA analyses."

There are also a number of allegations from Cuban defectors who, like the  State Department, have stopped short of proclaiming certainty about a Cuban  biological weapons program but have assigned high probabilities to it.  Sorting out whether they are telling the truth or simply trying to create  new opportunities for themselves will take time and effort. But in the  interest of homeland defense, it would seem that their stories are worth  listening to.

There is also Ken Alibek, once the deputy director of research and  production for the Soviet biological weapons program. He has written that  his boss back in the U.S.S.R. had been convinced that Cuba had a bioweapons  program after he returned from a trip there in 1990.

The anti-embargo lobby in Washington appears to have been quite taken aback  by Mr. Bolton's May 6 speech at the Heritage Foundation, when he first spoke  publicly about the issue. Not surprisingly, there was a tone of concern  about whether he might have made the speech for political purposes, as a  favor to the Bush administration's Cuban exile constituency. But Mr. Bolton  has defended his actions, pointing out that he was only repeating what Mr.  Ford had said in his March testimony.

Furthermore, in his July 22 letter, he said this: "Cuba continues to seek to  undermine U.S. national security through the use of espionage. So the  question policymakers must answer is whether there is sufficient information  to alert the American public and the Congress about the potential threat  Cuba's BW effort poses to the United States. We strongly believe that the  answer to that question is 'yes.' The American people deserve to know.  Particularly in light of the terrorist attacks of September 11, we feel  obligated to tell the public about Cuba's BW effort. The intelligence  community has known about this threat for several years, as have the  intelligence oversight committees."

Having experienced terrorism first-hand, Americans want to take fewer  chances with tyrants who live by fomenting hatred. That shoe certainly fits  Fidel Castro, even if it's not convenient for foes of the embargo.

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