U.S. MILITARY ORDERS MASS ANTHRAX SHOTS.

Byline: Steven Lee Myers The New York Times

Increasingly fearful of the threats posed by germ warfare, the Pentagon announced Monday that it would vaccinate every member of the armed services against anthrax, one of the deadliest biological agents known.

While the Pentagon has vaccinated soldiers against biological and chemical agents before, including many thousands during the Persian Gulf War, it has never tried to inoculate the entire military - which now has 1.4 million troops on active duty plus 1 million reservists - to counter a potential threat from a biological or chemical weapon.

There is no evidence that any country has ever used anthrax bacteria, which causes an infectious disease, or significant amounts of any biological weapon during warfare. But in recent years, the Pentagon has raised new alarms about the threats posed by biological and chemical weapons, warning that its forces are ill-prepared to combat such attacks by an enemy nation or terrorist group.

In a report last month, the Pentagon said at least 10 countries - including Iraq and North Korea - have the ability to develop biological weapons. Military officials say they suspect that Iraq has significant quantities of anthrax bacteria that could be used in germ warfare. Recent efforts by U.N. inspectors to locate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have led to renewed tensions between the United States and Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein.

On television last month at the height of the confrontation with Iraq, Secretary of Defense William Cohen held up a five-pound bag of Domino's sugar and warned that an equivalent amount of anthrax, if dispersed properly, could kill half of the population of Washington, D.C.

``We owe it to our people to move ahead with this immunization plan,'' Cohen said in a brief written statement announcing the vaccination program Monday.

In announcing the program, officials at the Pentagon appeared wary of creating a controversy over the vaccinations, going to great lengths to say that officials would consult with members of Congress and advise military personnel before inoculations begin.

The vaccine has mild side effects similar to flu.

After the Gulf War in 1991, the Pentagon was harshly criticized for using experimental drugs intended to protect troops against the effects of chemical weapons. Some researchers have suggested that the drugs may have led to the health problems that came to be known collectively as gulf war syndrome. Other scientists believe that the existence of the syndrome has not been proved.

The program, which includes a series of six shots over six months for each soldier and booster shots annually, is to begin next summer with the 100,000 troops in the Persian Gulf and on the Korean peninsula who are considered most at risk from an attack using biological weapons. It is then expected to take six years - and cost $130 million - to inoculate the entire active and reserve force.

Anthrax, in its spore form, is a stable, durable bacterium that often afflicts cattle and sheep but can be spread to humans. It can be incorporated fairly easily into weapons, either in bombs dropped from airplanes or warheads loaded on missiles. If inhaled by humans, spores of anthrax are particularly lethal, causing death in some within a few days.

Produced by the Michigan Biologic Products Institute of Michigan's Department of Health, it is given routinely to veterinarians and others who work with livestock. The Pentagon already vaccinates a few thousand soldiers considered to have the greatest risk of exposure, including special units in the Army and Marines created to respond to biological or chemical attacks. It also gave initial, but not complete, doses to about 150,000 troops stationed in the Persian Gulf during the war with Iraq.