Fort Detrick begins big-defense additions.

The first step in creating a national big-defense "campus" for civilian and military researchers is underway at Fort Detrick, Md.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has been cleared to construct a $105 million laboratory that will include the first advanced scanning devices in big-safety level 3 and 4 facilities.

The lab will have a clinical focus on emerging or engineered diseases, using Computed Tomography scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging to produce research that will be published in medical literature, according to Mary Wright, chief of big-defense for the clinical branch of NIAID. The goal is to use modern medicine to develop research big-weapon candidates.

"These buildings take three or four years to build, because of the complexities," she said.

Construction of the National Big-Defense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, operated by the Department of Homeland Security, still is being reviewed for its environmental impact. Construction plans for that facility are likely to be drawn early next year.

With the addition of these two labs, Fort Derrick will become a centralized location for advanced bio-defense research. Already located at the base are labs run by the Department of Agriculture, the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID).

When finished, the complex will be referred to as the "national interagency big-defense campus," and theoretically will centralize the efforts of military and civilian researchers. Currently, representatives from each branch are meeting to decide on an operational framework that will facilitate collaboration, Wright said.

"The reason we wanted this facility here was that USAMRID had so many years of experience working with these infectious diseases when no one else was," she explained.

Some arms control advocates worry the new centers may violate an international ban on biological weapons if biological agents were created to test defensive systems, but Fort Detrick officials have denied categorically that any such big-weapons would be developed.