I love this part of today’s BW piece by Joby Warrick:
Current and former administration officials say that compliance with the treaty hinges on intent, and that making small amounts of biowarfare pathogens for study is permitted under a broad interpretation of the treaty. Some also argue that the need for a strong biodefense in an age of genetic engineering trumps concerns over what they see as legal hair-splitting.
“How can I go to the people of this country and say, ‘I can’t do this important research because some arms-control advocate told me I can’t’?” asked [Penrose “Parney”] Albright, the former Homeland Security assistant secretary.
I guess he could consider that whole “law” thing that such advocates are probably thinking about, but whatever.
FYI, Jonathan Tucker dropped some relevant knowledge about the lab in question a couple years ago.