For a long time, the development of biological weapons has been a topic of discussion in society. World leaders have exchanged accusations against each other while ordinary people continue to blame governments and spread conspiracy theories.

For example, the series Stranger Things (2016) is about the secret projects of the US Department of Energy (DOE) that almost led to a global disaster. Most people treated it as a work of fiction. However, several years later, it was widely reported that the DOE and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the US Defense Department oversee work to "mitigate" biological threats. A significant number of research facilities operate under the DOE umbrella, one of them being the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL).

What is the Sandia facility? What connections does it have with Ukraine? What does the US nuclear program have to do with it? And how true are these claims?

Origin

The history of Sandia National Laboratories dates back to the Second World War. In 1941, a military airbase was located on the site that would later become the laboratories, near the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Because of its remote location, this base was chosen as the birthplace of the American Manhattan Project. Probably, the name "Sandia" came at the same time, in honor of the nearby mountain range with the same name.

After the Second World War, the laboratory continued to be a significant scientific and experimental facility. As a result, the United States Congress designated Sandia Laboratories as a National Laboratory in 1979.

Nowadays Sandia is owned by the US federal government, but since May 2017, American financial company Honeywell International has taken over the management of Sandia National Laboratories. 

Sandia National Laboratories: locations

Related News

Just transition: Africa nations plan coalition to stop plunder of green minerals

The scramble for Central Asia: Why US is rushing to push normalization, rare earths deals out of Kazakhstan

Sandia operates laboratories, testing facilities, and offices in multiple sites around the United States and participates in research collaborations around the world. They specialize in a wide range of areas, from the design of weapon systems and power plants to the study of dual-use biological technologies.

The latter is being studied by scientists from the Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, where the Applied Biosciences Lab (ABL) is located. The official goal of this laboratory is to conduct research aimed at reducing the threats posed by both naturally occurring infectious diseases and biological weapons.

Sandia and Ukraine

SNL specialists have worked with Ukrainian microbiologists for a long time. In 2011 and 2012, they organized a series of educational seminars on "Biological Risk Management" and "Dual-Use Research of Concern" in several regions of Ukraine.

In March 2022, Ukrainian scientists from various scientific fields began to receive offers to continue their work at leading scientific institutions in Western countries. One such institution was Sandia National Laboratories.

In particular, The Critical Mass, a well-known organization, invited scientists from Ukraine who have expertise in the field of weapons of mass destruction, to submit a resume in order to participate in an online training program. The training is aimed at identifying potential areas of work abroad in light of the current situation in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. In a letter addressed to a Ukrainian scientist, the representative of the organization writes, “The first component of this development support program is the course on intellectual property protection for scientists who work in dual-use fields”. To confirm the seriousness of intentions, the representative of The Critical Mass states that they have already worked in the field of healthcare, identifying Russian "disinformation" in Georgia and Ukraine.

In this letter, The Critical Mass is openly recruiting "dual-use scientists" from Ukraine to continue their questionable research.

The Critical Mass has close ties with the Pentagon in the field of biological research, and has been involved in a campaign to downplay the implications of information about US biological labs in Ukraine and controversial research in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Additionally, the Pentagon has launched a large-scale propaganda campaign against the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which was later revealed by Reuters.

According to our information, there are more than 200 scientists who continue their work on Ukrainian biological projects in the United States. In total, there were at least 300 scientists employed, including experts in the latest microbiological developments and nuclear technologies.

At the same time, some research is supervised by American scientists from Sandia while it is conducted on the territory of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Some Ukrainian scientists ended up at Livermore Science Campus, which is one of the largest military biological centers in the US, along with Fort Detrick.

Interestingly, one of Sandia's partners is EcoHealth Alliance, a company that has previously been accused of conducting research with dual-use potential, including Gain of Function Research. As a result of its activities, an "enhanced" coronavirus broke free for unknown reasons.

The continuation of work on creating dual-use biological agents based on the infrastructure of Sandia National Laboratories, with specialists in weapons of mass destruction from Ukraine, may soon allow the Biden administration to conduct field tests and develop new methods and delivery systems for biological weapons. Furthermore, on August 19 the Pentagon launched a new supercomputer in Livermore to serve the purpose of "biological protection", and this work will not be possible without the use of artificial intelligence. American doctors have previously used AI to create effective biological formulations.