Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

U.S. officials on Tuesday cast a skeptical eye on the allegation that Cuba is manufacturing biological weapons, which was published in a recent book by a senior defector from the Soviet germ and virus warfare program.

Cuba certainly has the know-how and capability to brew terrorism-sized batches of deadly agents, the officials said, but there has been no proof that it has methodically produced military-grade agents or munitions.

``We have no evidence that Cuba is stockpiling or has mass-produced any BW [biological warfare] agents, a State Department spokesman said in an official reply to the published allegation.

The statement was backed up by remarks from two other officials and a foreign diplomat, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, and by an American scientist in the field.

``We don't see any sign of production facilities. We don't see any special facilities with eight-foot fences and stuff like that, said a U.S. official who keeps close tabs on Cuba.

``With all the intelligence we get from defectors and other means, there's never been evidence, said another official who said he had just checked with ``appropriate agencies about the Cuba allegations.

A senior diplomat in Havana from an industrialized nation said his government also considers the allegations on Cuba's biological warfare capabilities to lack credibility. ``We don't take them seriously, he said.

``You can never know for sure, but as far as I can see there's been no evidence they're doing anything, said Raymond Zilinskas, a senior scientist at the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies at the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies.

A Russian major general

The allegation against Cuba emerged from the book Biohazard, published recently by Ken Alibek, a former KGB colonel who was second in command of the Soviet offensive biological warfare program until his defection in 1992.

Alibek, widely respected in the U.S. biological warfare community, told The Herald he had no firsthand knowledge of Cuba's programs but had heard some details from his Moscow boss, Maj. Gen. Yuri Kalinin.

Kalinin told him after a visit to several Cuban biotechnology facilities in 1990 that he was convinced the Havana government was deeply involved in a biological warfare research effort.

``It was his opinion, Alibek said. ``Kalinin saw no weapons production, but with his experience in offensive biological warfare work, it was his opinion that they were doing offensive work also.

``They are using the same cover stories we had developed, about factories to produce single-cell bacteria as animal feed, Alibek said. ``Maybe we were over-suspicious, but we did not believe their stories.

``You have to understand that bio-weapons is one of the most sensitive topics in the world. No one shares this type of information, even with best friends. But in my personal opinion, I have no question Cuba is involved, added Alibek, who now works for a firm in Virginia that develops measures to counter biological warfare.

Alibek mentioned Cuba on only two of his book's 291 pages. But his allegation has caused an uproar in South Florida, which is swept every few years by rumors of Cuban biological warfare developments.

Published Sunday by El Nuevo Herald, the allegation prompted radio commentators and Cuban exile officials to cite the book as proof that President Fidel Castro is producing the banned weapons.

It would be easy

U.S. officials said there is little doubt that Cuba's highly advanced biotechnology industry, which exports medicines and medical reactors to much of the Third World, is capable of producing biological warfare agents.

``Stuff that sophisticated always has dual use [medical and military], no way around it, said one knowledgeable U.S. official. ``But none of what we know adds up to Cuba having offensive biological warfare capabilities.

``We get lots of reports from defectors and others, but when we go to check them out it's always second and third hand, and the stuff doesn't check out, said a U.S. official who has seen such reports for several years.

``Making this stuff is easy. If you can brew beer, you can brew anthrax, said another U.S. official. ``But unless you plan to deliver it in a garbage can you need to take certain steps to turn it into a weapon -- develop the right strains, work out a prototype for large-scale production and quality control, build munitions -- and Cuba has not done that.

U.S. officials acknowledged that does not rule out the possibility that Cuba could manufacture small quantities of biological warfare agents and containers for terrorist and sabotage actions.

``That would be nothing at all sophisticated, Alibek said. ``A small batch, with some common container? Nothing at all.

Intriguingly, Castro has accused the U.S. government of using biological warfare against Cuba 12 times since 1962, from chicken and pork infections to a Dengue fever outbreak in 1981 that killed 158 people.

Zilinskas, who just completed a report that found those 12 allegations were probably false, said he started his studies worrying about whether Castro could be using the charges to justify his own germ warfare program.

``I worry about a certain siege mentality, that they really, really believed they had been attacked by U.S. biological weapons, and that would be enough reason to respond in kind, he said.

``But, if you look at the record, none of the Cuban scientists supported the government position [on U.S. germ warfare]. They are keeping quiet. So it makes me believe that these allegations are a pure propaganda exercise by Cuba, Zilinskas said.