Germ Warfare Alert Issued: The federal government...

Germ Warfare Alert Issued: The federal government wants to know if U.S. companies making viruses or bacteria that could be used in germ warfare get any unusual requests or evasive answers from prospective foreign buyers. These companies “should be alert to . . . approaches by nationals of countries of concern (e.g. Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya) to enroll as students or to be engaged as research workers in courses or projects involving such technical data,” the Commerce Department advised. It urged special caution when prospective buyers offer unusually generous payments for advice, lie in their answers, ask for unusually strict confidentiality or appear to have military links. A notice, published in the Federal Register last week, asks companies to call the Commerce Department if they run into one of these situations.