Inside Dugway Proving Ground, where scientists work with the world's deadliest chemical and biological weapons in a top-secret military zone

James PasleyJul 4, 2023, 19:42 IST

A technician puts on a gas mask as he prepares for a chemical test in Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

Dugway Proving Ground is a sprawling army base in remote Utah.
It has a checkered past of exposing US troops to weaponized pathogens and accidentally releasing a deadly nerve agent in 1968.

Behind tall barbed wire fences, scientists at Dugway Proving Ground, a military base covering 800,000 acres in rural Utah, have been examining some of the world's deadliest chemicals and biological agents for decades.

While the remote army base used to be responsible for creating chemical weapons — and, at one point, testing them on US soldiers — it now only analyzes them.

But even that isn't entirely safe.

"The reality is what we deal with is very, very dangerous material," Dugway's then-commander Col. William E. King IV told reporters in 2011.

In 2014, Dugway inadvertently sent out several doses of anthrax, a lethal agent, around the country and to Korea. A later report found that Dugway had failed to follow standard procedures — and use enough radiation — to kill the anthrax samples.

The US is destroying its arsenal of chemical weapons, such as VX gas, to meet a treaty obligation that its entire stockpile is eliminated by September 30.

Dugway Proving Ground is a sprawling military base used for military maneuver training and testing of dangerous chemical and biological weapons.

A truck approaches Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

It's in one of the most isolated areas in the US, known for rattlesnakes and wild horses. This remoteness attracted the Army to build the facility in the early 1940s.

Wild horses walk to the water near the Dugway Proving Ground in 2021.Rick Bowmer/AP

President Franklin D. Roosevelt greenlit the military base in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. He originally set aside 127,000 acres, but Dugway now covers about 800,000 acres — larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Satellite image shows Dugway Proving Ground in 2016.DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

President Franklin D. Roosevelt greenlit the military base in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. He originally set aside 127,000 acres, but Dugway now covers about 800,000 acres — larger than the state of Rhode Island.

The base began operating in 1942 to show soldiers how to firebomb towns.

A view of the German village building created to be firebombed in Dugway.Library of Congress

It was deactivated at the end of World War II but reactivated during the Korean War with a new focus on chemical weapons.

Deadly atomic radiation was researched at Dugway Proving Ground in the 1950s.Bettmann/Getty Images

One Dugway operation included researching how to weaponize fleas and mosquitoes to turn them into bacterial weapons called Operation Big Itch and Project Bellwether, respectively.

mycteria/Shutterstock

One Dugway operation included researching how to weaponize fleas and mosquitoes to turn them into bacterial weapons called Operation Big Itch and Project Bellwether, respectively.

During the Cold War, Dugway scientists undertook another darker project, exposing US troops to weaponized pathogens, as well as nerve gas and hallucinogens, to see the effects.

A Dugway Proving Ground worker calibrates an air monitor sensor in 2017.George Frey/ Getty Images

During the Cold War, Dugway scientists undertook another darker project, exposing US troops to weaponized pathogens, as well as nerve gas and hallucinogens, to see the effects.

In the late 1960s, Dugway's chemical weapon research came to an end after open-air research tests of a nerve gas resulted in the death of thousands of local sheep.

A cobalt cell used in food irradiation studies at Dugway Proving Ground, a US Army facility in Utah, USA, circa 1955.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 1969 and 1970, after a widely-watched NBC News report on the dead sheep, the public turned against producing chemical weapons.

President Richard Nixon speaking at a podium in 1969.Bettmann/Getty Images

In the following decades, Dugway was still used for military projects like missile testing.

A missile is launched from a camouflaged launcher at Dugway in 1985.Corbis/Getty Images

But it wasn't until the early 1990s, as the US grew concerned about Russia and the Middle East using chemical and biological agents, that Dugway resumed its research into it.

A demonstration of bacterial production inside Dugway Proving Ground in 2016.Rick Bowmer/AP

But it wasn't until the early 1990s, as the US grew concerned about Russia and the Middle East using chemical and biological agents, that Dugway resumed its research into it.

These days, Dugway's work is about safeguarding, according to numerous statements made to the media.

A technician in a gas mask takes a reading from a dummy in Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

The base has 1,400 residents, along with an elementary school and a high school, and several chain restaurants, including Subway.

A satellite image showing the housing area inside Dugway Proving Grounds in 2016.DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

Inside the chemical testing division, there are two types of labs.

Project chemist Randy Moss works on a project in an airtight chamber at the small item decontamination testing chamber in Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

Dugway has another division for biological agents.

Chemical analyst Allison Denny uses computers to analyze and ID chemical agents at the small item decontamination testing chamber facility at the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground on August 15, 2017 in Dugway, Utah.George Frey/Getty Images

The military base also operates as a training ground for soldiers. In some instances, old shipping containers connected with foam and wooden frames were used to create a mock-subterranean tunnel that they use for exercises.

Training coordinator Jennifer Cavalli and Derek Schumann walk a hillside above a training facility at Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

The military base also operates as a training ground for soldiers. In some instances, old shipping containers connected with foam and wooden frames were used to create a mock-subterranean tunnel that they use for exercises.

The tunnels have lights, but they are often left off so that training is done in the dark, making it more realistic.

Training coordinator Jennifer Cavalli and Derek Schumann outside a training facility at Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

Soldiers rehearse scenarios like searching for weapons of mass destruction and finding Petri dishes alerting them to the fact bacteria has been manufactured.

Lance McEntire, a scientist at Dugway Proving Grounds, shows a bacterial production scenario at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, in 2016.Rick Bowmer/AP

Dugway has worked to become more transparent in its operations, but a lot of what goes on behind the barbed wire is still top secret.

Dugway Proving Ground’s main gate in 2010.Jim Urquhart/AP

Dugway has made also headlines several times in the last two decades for errors scientists made while handling deadly agents.

A technician monitors airflow in Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

In 2011, Dugway had to lockdown after a vial filled with about a quarter of a teaspoon of a nerve agent went missing. No one could enter or leave the base for hours. It was later found and held to be a non-malicious accident.

Inside Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

In 2011, Dugway had to lockdown after a vial filled with about a quarter of a teaspoon of a nerve agent went missing. No one could enter or leave the base for hours. It was later found and held to be a non-malicious accident.

In 2017, a scathing CDC report found that, in 2014, Dugway had failed to follow standard procedure — and use enough radiation — for killing anthrax, a lethal agent, before sending out live samples to laboratories in 21 states as well as to one in Korea.

Microbiologist Ruth Bryan at work at Dugway Proving Grounds in 2003.Douglas C. Pizac/AP

In 2017, a scathing CDC report found that, in 2014, Dugway had failed to follow standard procedure — and use enough radiation — for killing anthrax, a lethal agent, before sending out live samples to laboratories in 21 states as well as to one in Korea.

The report was particularly brutal about Brig. Gen. William King, who the report said was not qualified to run Dugway's biosafety procedures.

Col. William King, then the commander of Dugway Proving Ground, talks to the media near the main gate in 2011.Jim Urquhart/AP

But Dugway survived the controversies. In 2016, then-commander Col. Sean Kirschner told ABC4 the work being done there was crucial for national security.

A warning sign authorizing the use of deadly force hangs on a fence line surrounding the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in 2017.George Frey/Getty Images

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Inside Dugway Proving Ground, where scientists work with the world's deadliest chemical and biological weapons in a top-secret military zone

Dugway Proving Ground is a sprawling military base used for military maneuver training and testing of dangerous chemical and biological weapons.

It's in one of the most isolated areas in the US, known for rattlesnakes and wild horses. This remoteness attracted the Army to build the facility in the early 1940s.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt greenlit the military base in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. He originally set aside 127,000 acres, but Dugway now covers about 800,000 acres — larger than the state of Rhode Island.

The base began operating in 1942 to show soldiers how to firebomb towns.

It was deactivated at the end of World War II but reactivated during the Korean War with a new focus on chemical weapons.

One Dugway operation included researching how to weaponize fleas and mosquitoes to turn them into bacterial weapons called Operation Big Itch and Project Bellwether, respectively.

During the Cold War, Dugway scientists undertook another darker project, exposing US troops to weaponized pathogens, as well as nerve gas and hallucinogens, to see the effects.

In the late 1960s, Dugway's chemical weapon research came to an end after open-air research tests of a nerve gas resulted in the death of thousands of local sheep.

In 1969 and 1970, after a widely-watched NBC News report on the dead sheep, the public turned against producing chemical weapons.

In the following decades, Dugway was still used for military projects like missile testing.

But it wasn't until the early 1990s, as the US grew concerned about Russia and the Middle East using chemical and biological agents, that Dugway resumed its research into it.

These days, Dugway's work is about safeguarding, according to numerous statements made to the media.

The base has 1,400 residents, along with an elementary school and a high school, and several chain restaurants, including Subway.

Inside the chemical testing division, there are two types of labs.

Dugway has another division for biological agents.

The military base also operates as a training ground for soldiers. In some instances, old shipping containers connected with foam and wooden frames were used to create a mock-subterranean tunnel that they use for exercises.

The tunnels have lights, but they are often left off so that training is done in the dark, making it more realistic.

Soldiers rehearse scenarios like searching for weapons of mass destruction and finding Petri dishes alerting them to the fact bacteria has been manufactured.

Dugway has worked to become more transparent in its operations, but a lot of what goes on behind the barbed wire is still top secret.

Dugway has made also headlines several times in the last two decades for errors scientists made while handling deadly agents.

In 2011, Dugway had to lockdown after a vial filled with about a quarter of a teaspoon of a nerve agent went missing. No one could enter or leave the base for hours. It was later found and held to be a non-malicious accident.

In 2017, a scathing CDC report found that, in 2014, Dugway had failed to follow standard procedure — and use enough radiation — for killing anthrax, a lethal agent, before sending out live samples to laboratories in 21 states as well as to one in Korea.

The report was particularly brutal about Brig. Gen. William King, who the report said was not qualified to run Dugway's biosafety procedures.

But Dugway survived the controversies. In 2016, then-commander Col. Sean Kirschner told ABC4 the work being done there was crucial for national security.