Bioterrorism

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Department and other federal officials responsible for BioWatch, the nationwide system for detecting deadly biological attacks, have withheld key documents sought by a congressional committee, according to the panel's...

WASHINGTON — Scientists who helped pioneer BioWatch, the government's system for detecting a biological attack on the U.S., knew from the start that it was prone to false alarms, records show. Between 2003, when the nationwide network of air...

WASHINGTON — Amid concerns about cost and reliability, the federal Department of Homeland Security has quietly postponed plans to buy technology that officials have long claimed could provide a life-saving upgrade of BioWatch, the nation's system...

DENVER — As Chris Lindley drove to work that morning in August 2008, a call set his heart pounding. The Democratic National Convention was being held in Denver, and Barack Obama was to accept his party's presidential nomination before a crowd of...

A top U.S. diplomat Monday accused Iraq, North Korea and three other countries of pursuing germ weapon programs, an unusually pointed diplomatic charge designed to put pressure on nations suspected of flouting an international ban on biological arms....

WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee and a senior Republican colleague voiced grave doubts Thursday about the viability of BioWatch, the nation's system for detecting biological attacks that has been plagued by false...

"Engineered Doomsday." "Mutant Bird Flu." These may sound like the names of disaster movies, but they are headlines on recent news reports about experiments involving the H5N1 influenza virus. The H5N1 virus is known as a "bird flu" because it mainly...

A visitor would expect to see the latest weapons in the battle against heart disease or cancer at the new Rush University Medical Center. But the hospital — which will give the public a sneak preview Dec. 10 — is also stocked with an...

Dr. Ross Joseph Brechner, a mathematician turned ophthalmologist who abandoned private practice for a second career in public health, died Aug. 4 of heart disease at his Catonsville home. He was 71. "Ross was a fine ophthalmologist who changed careers...

When an armored vehicle escorting a military convoy clears out a roadside bomb or a soldier wipes his feet as he enters a tent to eat, sleep or relax, there’s a good chance that the equipment came from Letterkenny Army Depot north of Chambersburg....

On the edge of the Nebraska sand hills is Lake McConaughy, a 22-mile-long reservoir that in summer becomes a magnet for Winnebagos, fishermen and kite sailors. But officials here in Keith County, population 8,370, imagined this scene: an Al Qaeda...

Because of the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago, the Faulk County Courthouse and Faulkton Area Medical Center have first-rate video security systems, a detailed program has been put in place to handle disasters, and several fire departments in Faulk County...