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U.S. biological defense program launched.

1956

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This program continues the biowarfare research efforts first initiated under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II.

Research is first pursued by the U.S. Army Medical Unit to develop biological weapons (1956-1969), and will then shift in focus to defensive measures and will be run by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Both of these units are located at Fort Detrick, Maryland–the headquarters of the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.

These "offensive" programs will be shut down in 1969.