The U.S. Department of Homeland Security chose Mississippi as a potential site for the nation’s most-sensitive animal-disease laboratory even though scientists ranked the location lower than several alternatives, supported by universities, in other states, the Associated Press reported today, and politics might have played a role in the decision.
The AP suggested that the department’s inclusion of an industrial park in Flora, Miss., stemmed at least in part from the clout of two lawmakers from that state. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, and Sen. Thad Cochran, a Republican, are senior members of Congressional panels that oversee the agency.
The Mississippi location is among five finalists under consideration for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. The $451-million lab will replace an existing facility on Plum Island, off New York’s Long Island, for studies under secure conditions of dangerous and potentially costly animal diseases.
The other four finalist sites are Athens, Ga.; Butner, N.C.; Manhattan, Kan.; and San Antonio, Tex. All five are located near and are supported by universities that would participate in the research. The department is expected to pick one of the sites by October.
Government experts worried that the proposed site in Flora, 20 miles northwest of Jackson, Miss., was located far from existing biodefense-research programs and lacked ready access to qualified scientists, the AP reported. Evaluators ranked the site 14th among 17 candidates. (Other host institutions that failed to make the short list included the Universities of Missouri at Columbia and Wisconsin at Madison.)
The decision to name Mississippi a finalist nevertheless was made by Jay M. Cohen, the department’s under secretary for science and technology. He predicted that skilled researchers would move to Mississippi if it were selected for the new lab, according to a July 2007 memorandum, marked “sensitive information,” that was obtained by the AP.
Mr. Thompson graduated from Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, both of which belong to a consortia backing the Mississippi site. Representative Thompson, who is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told the AP he had not discussed the finalist sites with Mr. Cohen, but the AP reported that in fact he did, at least twice since February 2007.
The Government Accountability Office reported in May that the department had not adequately examined whether the laboratory could be safely located on the United States mainland without risking the safety of livestock nearby. —Jeffrey Brainard
