A former Dugway Proving Ground employee is saying that anyone could have taken deadly anthrax pathogen off the base, virtually undetected.

Dr. Gerhard Bienek, a biological safety officer at Dugway Proving Ground in the early 90s, believes the anthrax mailed in a terror campaign last fall originated from either Dugway or Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. He said woefully inadequate security and attempts to cover up hazardous material violations convinced him anyone could have made off with some of the deadly virus.

Earlier this week, it was learned the FBI plans to administer polygraph testing to an estimated 200 current and former employees from Dugway and Fort Detrick in an attempt to generate additional leads in the anthrax investigation.

Bienek, who now resides in Huntsville, Utah, told the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin of several instances where supervisors disregarded security protocols, lied in reports or presented conflicting information about anthrax and other weapons-grade germs and chemicals during his tenure at Dugway from 1989 to 1993.

“In one meeting, I was asked to sign a letter being sent to Governor Bangerter and the state of Utah which said that we weren’t producing any more than laboratory samples of anthrax. About five to 10 milliliters. After I signed the letter, they said ‘we want to produce 30 gallons of anthrax.’ I said, ‘you can’t lie to the governor and the people of Utah like that.’ Either we tell the governor about the 30 gallons or we tell them nothing,” Bienek said.

The scientist said although only 20 people were supposed to have access to the nitrogen chamber where anthrax and other biological viruses were kept, the door was often not locked and anyone could have removed samples from Dugway.

“Security was very sloppy. They were just asking for something to happen. Anyone could have taken the anthrax. It’s just inexcusable,” Bienek said.

Bienek said Dugway security personnel never checked employees who might have smuggled out small quantities of anthrax.

In response to Bienek’s allegations, Dugway spokeswoman Paula Nicholson released the following statement from Phillip Washburn, an Army Test and Evaluation Command public affairs officer in Alexandria, Va.:

“Mr. Bienek was last employed at Dugway in 1993. We cannot address allegations regarding what he believes may or may not have happened in the former Life Sciences Test laboratories nine years ago. The security at the Dugway Life Sciences Test Facility is recognized throughout the Army as being the best possible security for biological safety and is used as a model for other agencies. On a daily basis, numerous security checks of biological holdings and the Biological Safety Level 3 area take place. The "Buddy System" is also used, therefore, no individual has access to any of the biological holdings without being monitored.

“Personnel with access to the area must have top-level clearances. In addition to these security measures, additional safety measures are also in force. And inventory shows that all anthrax at Dugway is accounted for. Since Sept. 11, security has been increased to even higher levels.”

Though Dugway claims that current policies and procedures are sound, the release does not address any events or practices that may have occurred in the past.

Dr. Bienek said organizational corruption flourished at Dugway under a system of cronyism where violations of policy were covered up, employees who didn’t go along with lies were removed and people who cow-towed to the corruption were promoted.

“I kept finding lies and discrepancies in meetings and written documents,” Bienek said.

When his supervisor and director of the Baker Lab learned Bienek wasn’t going to go along with the lies, Bienek said the director did everything in his power to silence him and get him off the base.

“I’m not one to stick my nose into other people’s business, but it was my job as biological safety officer to protect people and tell the truth. It just wasn’t right,” he said.

After he transferred to a new environmental science position, he began to notice a rapid deterioration of his health, which he attributes to the unsafe conditions and contaminated areas at Dugway. He’s been on medical disability leave from Dugway since 1993.

“I began experiencing very deep depression, eternal headaches, post-traumatic stress syndrome and extremely high blood pressure. The stress resulted in damage to my heart, heart value and an enlargement of the heart,” Bienek said.

When he learned that dangerous chemicals were being mixed together and transported from the Army installation to a hazardous material dump in Tooele County, he became concerned and contacted the Sheriff’s department.

According to the doctor, 75 barrels of dangerous chemicals were intentionally combined with each other for transportation to a hazardous dump site but county and local officials were never told the true contents of the containers.

“It was the Tooele people who were endangered, but the Sheriff couldn’t have cared less. Maybe he didn’t understand. I felt really bad for people of Tooele that they were being cheated and lied to,” Bienek said.

Dr. Bienek received a Ph.D. from the University of Utah in ecological peristology and has worked with the World Wildlife Federation, the Bureau of Land Management in Salt Lake and with the U.S. government directing endangered species research in Alaska.