Witnesses: Sue Bailey, Assist. Sec. for Health Aff., DoD; Randall West, Spec. Assist. to the Sec. of Def. for Biol. Warfare and Anthrax, DoD; Randy Randolph, Anthrax Vaccine Immun. Prog. Agency, DoD; Cedric Dumont, Off. of Med. Serv., U.S. Dept. of State; Kathryn Zoon, Ctr. for Biologics, Eval. and Res., FDA; Kwai-Cheung Chan, Spec. Stud. and Eval., GAO, accomp. by Dr. Charla; William Crowe, Jr. (USN Ret.); Jack Melling, biol. dev't. center, the Salk Inst.; Milton Leitenberg, Center for Internat. and Security Stud., Univ. of Maryland; John Classen; Sonnie Bates, Pilot, USAF; Thomas Rempfer, Pilot, USAF Reserves; and Neal Halsey, dir., Inst. for Vaccine Safety, Johns Hopkins Univ.

Responding to service members' complaints of program insensitivity to adverse health effects, inadequate medical record-keeping, & heavy-handed program operation, the Committee initiated an oversight investigation into the design & implementation of the DoD force-wide, mandatory Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program. The Committee measured the program against this standard: any expanded use of the same vaccine should be undertaken only with the greatest care & only to the extent necessary. As currently designed & implemented, the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program fails on both counts. The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program lacks a consistent standard of care & is designed to reach far beyond those at risk.

Witnesses: Rear Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, U.S. Navy, Director, Intelligence Directorate, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Rudy de Leon, Deputy Secretary of Defense; David R. Oliver, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Technology; Lt. Gen. Ronald R. Blanck, U.S. Army, Surgeon General of the Army; Major General Randall L. West, U.S. Marine Corps, Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness; Carol R. Schuster, Associate Director for National Security Preparedness Issues, National Security & International Affairs Div., U.S. General Accounting Office.