MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. The participation of the US non-profit organization RAND, which planned large-scale biological attacks, in the projects of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) indicates that the research is inconsistent with Washington's commitments on non-proliferation of biological weapons, Chief of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said.
"The involvement of RAND, a nonprofit organisation that specialises in political issues, in the CIA biological projects also raises concerns. This organisation used artificial intelligence capabilities to plan large-scale biological attacks. It is obvious that such research is inconsistent with Washington's commitment to nonproliferation of biological weapons," Kirillov said at a briefing on US biological-military activities.
He specified that the US administration seeks to expand the scope of the program to create biological weapons. Thus, according to him, in March 2023, a new US strategy in the field of bioproduction, developed by the Defense Department, was approved. The document defines long-term goals for the development of biotechnology and the search for their military application.
"The RAND Report that is in our possession indicates that the use of such approaches 'could assist in planning and implementing a biological attack.' It is noted that the intelligent system is capable of picking the most appropriate type of biological formulation storage, selecting methods of masking, delivering, and applying pathogenic materials," Kirillov pointed out.
He recalled that in October 2019, two months before the first official reports of the emergence of a new coronavirus infection, Johns Hopkins University held an exercise called Event 201 in New York City. "The event practised actions in an epidemic of a previously unknown coronavirus, which, according to the scenario, was transferred from bats to humans via an intermediate host," the top defense official noted.