Pentagon 1949 Biological Warfare Test

In August 1949, a U.S. Army Special Operations Division team from Fort Detrick carried out the first large-scale American biological warfare vulnerability test inside the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Operatives sprayed harmless bacteria into the building’s air conditioning system to mimic how a real biological agent might be released. They then tracked how the microbes moved through ducts, offices, and corridors as the air system ran. The experiment showed that a single release into the ventilation could spread biological material throughout the entire headquarters.

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