from BBC News
Pentagon's 'lax' lab gear sales
The US Defence Department could inadvertently be providing terrorists with the equipment to make chemical or biological weapons, say congressional investigators.
They found the Pentagon was not properly monitoring internet sales of its equipment and so was unable to determine who was buying it and how it was being used.
The House Government Reform Subcommittee on national security - which requested the inquiry - will examine the findings on Tuesday.
"The Department of Defence should not be a discount shopping outlet for would-be-bio terrorists," said subcommittee chairman, Representative Christopher Shays.
Investigators set up a shell company to find out how easy it is to buy laboratory equipment from the Pentagon.
Unknown buyers
Using a website that sells the surplus gear, they bought centrifuges, evaporators, bacteriological incubators and protective clothing - all of which could be used to make chemical or biological weapons.
The report by the General Accounting Office says the equipment was both easy and economical to obtain.
They found that in numerous cases surplus kit was re-sold to unknown buyers in countries where terrorists have operated, such as the Philippines and Egypt.
The Pentagon regularly sells surplus equipment, and the instruments bought by the investigators are commercially available.
"The cheap, virtually unregulated availability of low-cost biological laboratory equipment poses a risk to national security," said Mr Shays.
