Project SHAD, an acronym for Shipboard Hazard and Defense, was part of a larger effort called
Project 112, which was conducted during the 1960s. Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with
chemical agents
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
or
biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability.
History
Project SHAD was part of a larger effort by the Department of Defense called Project 112. Project 112 was a
chemical
A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
and
biological weapons
Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kin ...
research, development, and testing project conducted by the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
and
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
handled by the
Deseret Test Center and
United States Army Chemical Materials Agency from 1962 to 1973.
The project started under
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
's administration, and was authorized by his
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...
, as part of a total review of the US military. The name of the project refers to its number in the 150 review process.
Mission
The Shipboard Hazard and Defense Project (SHAD) was a series of tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1960s to determine how well service members aboard military ships could detect and respond to chemical and biological attacks. Dee Dodson Morris of the Army
Chemical Corps who coordinated the ongoing investigation, says, "The SHAD tests were intended to show how vulnerable Navy ships were to chemical or biological warfare agents. The objective was to learn how chemical or biological warfare agents would disperse throughout a ship, and to use that information to develop procedures to protect crew members and decontaminate ships."
DoD investigators note that over a hundred tests were planned but the lack of test results may indicate that many tests were never actually executed.
[ 134 tests were planned initially, but reportedly, only 46 tests were actually completed.
]
Declassification
Public Law 107–314 required the identification and release of not only Project 112 information to the United States Veterans Administration, but also that of any other projects or tests where a veteran might have been exposed to a chemical or biological warfare agent, and directed the Secretary of Defense to work with veterans and veterans service organizations to identify the other projects or tests conducted by the Department of Defense that may have exposed members of the Armed Forces to chemical or biological agents.
a list of fact sheets for each of the tests.
Identification
Although many of the roughly 5,500 veterans who took part were aware of the tests, some were involved without their knowledge. Certain issues surrounding the test program were not resolved by the passage of the law and the Department of Defense was accused of continuing to withhold documents on Cold War chemical and biological weapons tests that used unsuspecting veterans as "human samplers" after reporting to Congress it had released all medically relevant information. A Government Accountability Office
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
May 2004 report, ''Chemical and Biological Defense: DOD Needs to Continue to Collect and Provide Information on Tests and Potentially Exposed Personnel'' indicates that almost all participants who were identified from Project 112 — 94 percent — were from ship-based tests of Project SHAD that comprised only about one-third of the total number of tests conducted.
Medical studies
Jack Alderson, a retired Navy officer who commanded the Army tugboats, told CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
that he believes the Pentagon used him and other service members to test weapons, and that those tests included agents, vaccines, and decontamination products which have led to serious medical problems, including cancer. Secrecy agreements can now be ignored by veterans in order to pursue healthcare concerns within the Department of Veterans Affairs. The V.A. has offered screening programs for veterans who believe they were involved in DoD sponsored tests during their service. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has commissioned studies of Project SHAD participants. The first, ''Long-Term Health Effects of Participation in Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense)'', was released in 2007, and found "no clear evidence that specific long-term health effects are associated with participation in Project SHAD." The second, ''Shipboard Hazard and Defense II (SHAD II)'', by the IoM's Medical Follow-up Agency (MFUA), began in 2012, and, as of April 2014, was ongoing.Institute of Medicine of the National Academies ''Shipboard Hazard and Defense II (SHAD II)''
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Locations of SHAD tests
fro
SHAD Fact Sheets
*Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
*Pacific Ocean off San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, CA
*Pacific Ocean, from San Diego, CA to Balboa, Panama
Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. It was the capital of the Panama Canal Zone under American administration.
History
The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the constru ...
*Ft. Sherman, Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...
* Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The territory consists of 29 c ...
*Baker Island
Baker Island, once known as New Nantucket in the early 19th century, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii a ...
*Island of Hawaii
Hawaii is the List of islands of the United States by area, largest island in the United States, located in the Hawaii, state of Hawaii, the southernmost state in the union. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcani ...
*Pacific Ocean near the Island of Oahu, Hawaii
*Pacific Ocean, west of Oahu, Hawaii
*Pacific Ocean southwest of Oahu, HI
* Oahu, HI and surrounding waters
*Pacific Ocean, off Oahu, HI & surrounding water & airspace
*Pacific Ocean near Johnston Island
*Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County.
The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...
, Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
*Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
off Newfoundland, Canada
Ships and air units involved
Ships
* USS Berkeley (DDG-15)
Air units
* Meteorological Research Service (contractor) C-47
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...
* US Navy Airborne Early Warning Barrier Squadron Pacific (AEWBarRonpac) Lockheed WV-2 / EC-121 Warning Star
* US Navy Patrol Squadron Four ( VP-4) (PATRON Four), Fleet Air Wing Four (Lockheed P-2 Neptune
The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a Maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed Corporation, Lockh ...
)
* US Navy Patrol Squadron Six (VP-6
VP-6 was a long-lived Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy, nicknamed the ''Blue Sharks''. Originally established as Bombing Squadron VB-146 on 15 July 1943, it was redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-146 on 1 October 1944, redesignated VP-146 o ...
) (PATRON SIX), Fleet Air Wing Two (Lockheed P-2 Neptune)
* US Navy VU-1 Utility Squadron One, re-designated VC-1 Composite Squadron One on July 1, 1965. (Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D und ...
)
* USMC Marine Aircraft Group 13, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing
The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing is an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps that serves as the Aviation Combat Element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The wing is headquartered at Camp Foster on the island of Okinawa Island, Okina ...
, 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade. McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bower ...
, A-4 (Skyhawk), Sikorsky H-34 Seahorse
* USMC Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 (HMM 161), Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (abbreviated as 3rd MAW) is the major west coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, ...
(3rd MAW) Sikorsky H-34 Seahorse
* US Air Force 4533rd Tactical Test Squadron, US Air Force 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing (F-4E Phantom II)
See also
* Human experimentation in the United States
Numerous human subject research, experiments which were performed on human test subjects in the United States in the past are now considered to have been Unethical human experimentation, unethical, because they were performed without the knowled ...
* Operation Dew
* Operation LAC
* Operation Whitecoat
* Project 112
* San Jose Project
Notes
References
* United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Personnel, "The Department of Defense's inquiry into Project 112/Shipboard Hazard and Defense (SHAD) tests: hearing before the Subcommittee on Personnel of the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, October 10, 2002," United States Congress, S. hrg. 107–810 (2003), 1–39.
* United States. Congress. House. Report, "Health care for veterans of Project 112/Project SHAD Act of 2003: report (to accompany H.R. 2433)," United States Congress, Report/108th Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives, 108–213, 1–19.
* United States. Congress. House. Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Subcommittee on Health, "Military operations aspects of SHAD and Project 112: hearing before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, October 9, 2002", 107th Congress, 2nd session, 107–43, 1–19.
* "Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense (SHAD)" from
External links
*
Vietnam Veterans of America - The Veteran December2000/January 2001
* http://archive.vva.org/TheVeteran/2002_01/hazardous.htm
Project SHAD
at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
, includes pocket guides and Q&A
Vietnam Veterans of America
GAO
The Chemical-Biological Warfare Exposures Site, Official Web site of Force Health Protection & Readiness Policy & Programs
Project 112/SHAD - Shipboard Hazard and Defense, Official Web site of Force Health Protection & Readiness Policy & Programs
Declassified documents
''OSD & Joint Staff FOIA Requester Service Center''
PROJECT SHAD -- AUTUMN GOLD, May 1964
PROJECT SHAD -- BIG JACK
PROJECT SHAD -- NIGHT TRAIN, December 1964
{{Authority control
Biological warfare
Bioethics
Military projects of the United States
United States Department of Defense
Human subject research in the United States