“US Produced Sarin Gas Used in Syria” —

Jeffrey Silverman: US Department of Defense manages a network of laboratories in Georgia with offensive capacity

Interview by Maia Chubinishvili

(05 09 2013 18:47:57) – On August 27, 2013 the famous American political investigator and principal editor of the ex-US State Department and intelligence service publication Veterans Today, Gordon Duff, published an article entitled “US Contractors Cited for Syrian Chemical Attacks,” and a video entitled “Syrian Gas Attack Proof Syrian Army Has No Involvement.”

The commentary to the video states, “The video which you are watching right now was filmed in Syria and shows the chemical weapons which were sent from Georgia. The US is standing behind all this. Former US Senator Richard Lugar is the person whose assistance made it possible to transport weaponsfrom Georgia via Turkey into Syria, with the support of the United States and Turkey. Look at the weapons contained in the video and observe how they have been made operational.]A US chemical weapons programme supplies the Syrian rebels with weapons of mass destruction. A team of investigators has determined that chemical weapons were supplied from this region, which is under US control. They followed the trail of these chemical weapons to the Georgian Republic. Turkish Army subdivisions transported them to Al-Qaeda terrorists operating in Syrian territory.

Journalists Jeffrey Silverman and Lika Moshiashvili are credited with having discovered the secret and illegal operations taking place in the US-controlled Central Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) in the Tbilisi suburb the Alekseevka Settlement.”As soon as this scary information was made known to the public, Georgia & World contacted Tbilisi based American journalist and researcher Jeffrey Silverman.

– Mr. Silverman, give us a short history of the bio labs and how you found out about them?

I performed part of my military service at a chemical weapons depot, a storage site of chemical weapons in the US Army during my college years, known as the Bluegrass Army Depot, Richmond, Kentucky. I have some training in chemical weapons and bio warfare. Here nerve and other chemical weapons are stored, even to this day. I was fresh out of training from Fort Knox and taking ROTC Army training courses at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.







I learned back in 2004 about the Bechtel National Project bio storage facility in Georgia from US Defense contractors, including Turkish ones. They were working at the lab facility being constructed near Tbilisi airport. I then started deeply investigating the facility with Georgian and Norwegian journalists. My first questions were, why near the airport and why in Georgia?

I soon realised that the US government and the Department of Defense, DoD, wanted to study new infectious strains, such as Anthrax, which were evolving in the wild amongst cattle herds in rural regions of Georgia. It should be mentioned that this small country and Tbilisi were once centre-stage to the Soviet Union’s system of bio weapons research, for both animal and plant warfare.

I have been able to access the design plans for the facility and, through speaking to contractors and whistle blowers, I have learned that the US Department of Defense operates a network of labs in Georgia and that they have an offensive capacity.

Some even go so far as to claim that the US government is using Georgia and its population as part of ongoing research. I also suspect this, and that is why I am trying to obtain solid proof of this allegation right now.

The question is whether Georgians are being utilised for sinister bio programmes and vaccine field trials. This may be difficult to prove, but even the United States has experimented on its own population over the years, and it can use the population of Georgia as part of field trials for vaccines without their full informed consent.

A number of labs, strewn across Eastern Europe, are linked like an umbilicial cord to the Biological Weapons Proliferation Prevention (BWPP) programme and various projects within it. This programme provides a cover for what is most likely an offensive programme. If the strains they are investigating turn out to be antibiotic resistant, this implies they are conducting ongoing research into special organisms that can eat bacteria and attack infections that are antibiotic resistant, which can be quickly accessed. Whoever has the capacity to release these controls the bioweapons battlefield.

– What comments have you received from Veterans Today?

This is a group of former US military people, defenders of the US Constitution, defence and security contractors, etc. They have been researching how chemical weapons have been provided to terrorist groups operating via Georgia. They even have collected documentation to that effect. They also have access to intelligence on how Georgian ports have been used to ship heavy bombs which will be used against Iran and other targets. They are interested in my work, and know that I am a trusted source based on my military background and record of accomplishment as a journalist.

We have also discussed how US President Obama painted himself into the corner when he made the statement about a year ago about [Syria not crossing] the “red line.” So now the U.S. has to act, to avoid being perceived as an “all talk, no action” country and superpower.

In other words, overthrowing al-Assad’s regime with boots on the ground is not Washington’s first choice now. The Syrian people have to do the job by themselves, perhaps with a bit of help, but that does not mean that the US should help terrorists in the process.

Gordon Duff, VT’s principal editor, has taken an interest in my investigations and what the US has been doing in Georgia.

Quoting him directly, “You are in the middle of an important region, working on key projects, and I would toss intelligence assets your way if I can.”

Several years ago a CIA group, as he described it, moved into Georgia. Duff has credited them with starting the 2008 Georgia-Russia war, and using Israeli assets for the provision of weapons and material support. I guess he is talking about cluster bombs and advisory services, including the involvement of the same kind of groups that I have been investigating, such as Archangel and Cubic, two US defence contractors, and their links to starting the Georgian-Russian War in August 2008. They intentionally made sure that Georgia would not be strategically successful, out of either design or incompetence.

You can lose a war and still win in other ways. Gordon told me that he too knows that Georgia is clearly a transit area for weapons to Azerbaijan and other end users, and how he has worked extensively to close off that route.

I have documentation to this effect, and this has been shared with the new government. Gordon Duff is no friend of the Syrian government … “the position of defending Assad is a difficult one and I am not one of his fans. I have too many Syrian friends who are sick of his government. However, I do understand why [Assad] was not able to democratise Syria, even though I know this leader would have wanted to. Things would have exploded as soon as the boot came off the neck,” he said.







I can confirm that Gordon Duff is a loyal American, as JFK would define it, not George W. Bush. It would be hard for someone from outside to gain an understanding of what has happened to the US intelligence community … and acting somewhat as a mentor, he explained to me ….

“You need to know … call it ‘bifurcation’ or ‘privatisation,’ but you are currently working in an intelligence environment where Google Idea Groups is now the CIA. If only I were kidding. They will do things rats would not do. My own constraint is of working within an industry where I am sticking a finger in eyes every day. However, I have most recently found that my history of being right and my senior status and contacts are worth overlooking my political alignments to things like truth and honor.”

Behind Veterans Today is the largest private intelligence organisation in the world, perhaps, based on HUMINT, human intelligence, and even larger than the CIA itself; it prides itself on having changed policies and made a difference.

Most of its writers are convinced that Obama and Kerry have lost their minds of late. They know what is going on in Georgia, and they claim they have started tracking Google Idea Groups through STRATFOR and WikiLeaks, cable gate, and they were on the ground here before the war started, tracking weapons, and then later in 2010 over the USS Grapple issue, Israeli naval involvement, weapons transfers, etc.

Gordon and his team have significant sources within Russia and Turkey, and their work includes tracking the air exercises with Israel and the movement of planes to Azerbaijan. However, [information] on airfields there is HIGHLY classified… and very confirmed – and I have confirmed Israeli drone technicians operating here in Georgia with pictures.

Gordon has written a couple of articles on this, he is outspoken, which can lead us to expect a diplomatic confrontation between Azerbaijan and Iran. Defecting Azerbaijani officers confirmed this much to the world press last year, and this information was also provided by his sources in Armenia.

I am now collaborating with Gordon and his team on an intelligence review, and he has asked for my personal assessment as to what I think has gone on in Syria, and the alleged Georgian, Saudi and Turkish connections.

They want me to add into the mix the drug business, and to link those involved, the military, Congress, CIA, and the manipulation of oil futures and pipeline revenues. There are other factors that you would call “fringe,” … and these can be used to explain why governments do things that make no sense at all, withhold technologies, start conflicts that have no purpose, things like that, etc.

What kind of investigation did you conduct with Lika Moshiashvili?

None, I have never worked with her on an investigation. I do not even know her. I only understand that she has written some articles in the Georgian Times about my work, and they were rather professional. She described how the US Embassy responded to my TV and newspaper interviews back in April. Somehow, based on her articles, a link was made by some Western media outlets to my own investigations.

She summarised my interview with Georgian newspaper Kvela Siakhle and how I had publicly stated that the laboratory was designed to conduct dangerous experiments with viruses and bacteria that could lead to the spread of such diseases in Georgia and the region. Other media outlets also carried this information.

I have only alleged that weapons have been going from Georgia to other countries for some time, and that Saudi intelligence is actively involved in this process and, if such weapons were to travel to the Middle East, Georgia would be an ideal transit hub due to its location and track record in illicit deals, such as weapons for drug swaps, smuggling weapons to Africa, etc.

There are very close connections between this activity and certain Georgian businessmen, some of Lebanese descent, who are closely linked with American and Saudi intelligence services. I have been investigating these links for a number of years, and the network is long-established with the full knowledge of the US government and some rogue elements of the Georgian Ministry of Defence. From time to time I have shared some of my work about the bioresearch lab, as reported in the Georgian and international media. This information, much of it open-sourced, has also been shared with the Georgian mainstream media — both print and broadcast.

However, I have also discussed my concerns over what is going on in Georgia with Gordon. Most recently I discussed with him the possibility of the Russian reaction to what is going on in Syria, as they may respond by causing problems in Georgia. The Russians cannot do anything against the US in other parts of the world, but there are many vulnerable areas here, thanks to the nefarious weapons-trafficking network set up in Georgia under the former government.

I am now collaborating with Gordon and his team on an intelligence review, and he has asked for my personal assessment as to what I think has gone on in Syria, and the alleged Georgian, Saudi and Turkish connections.

They want me to add into the mix the drug business, and to link those involved, the military, Congress, CIA, and the manipulation of oil futures and pipeline revenues. There are other factors that you would call “fringe,” … and these can be used to explain why governments do things that make no sense at all, withhold technologies, start conflicts that have no purpose, things like that, etc.

– What can you say about Russian involvement?

The Russians are certain that the Georgians and their friends, NATO, are doing something here that is not allowed under bio weapons treaties. It is public knowledge that both the US and UK have biological research projects in Georgia. They are pretending as if they are conducting civilian research. The Russians are already using allegations of bio weapons production against the Americans in the game being played over Syria, and the “false flag operation” in which the Syrian government [was accused of using] chemical weapons and killing 500 civilians.s.

I have only alleged that weapons have been going from Georgia to other countries for some time, and that Saudi intelligence is actively involved in this process and, if such weapons were to travel to the Middle East, Georgia would be an ideal transit hub due to its location and track record in illicit deals, such as weapons for drug swaps, smuggling weapons to Africa, etc.

There are very close connections between this activity and certain Georgian businessmen, some of Lebanese descent, who are closely linked with American and Saudi intelligence services. I have been investigating these links for a number of years, and the network is long-established with the full knowledge of the US government and some rogue elements of the Georgian Ministry of Defence. From time to time I have shared some of my work about the bioresearch lab, as reported in the Georgian and international media. This information, much of it open-sourced, has also been shared with the Georgian mainstream media — both print and broadcast.

However, I have also discussed my concerns over what is going on in Georgia with Gordon. Most recently I discussed with him the possibility of the Russian reaction to what is going on in Syria, as they may respond by causing problems in Georgia. The Russians cannot do anything against the US in other parts of the world, but there are many vulnerable areas here, thanks to the nefarious weapons-trafficking network set up in Georgia under the former government.

I have only alleged that weapons have been going from Georgia to other countries for some time, and that Saudi intelligence is actively involved in this process and, if such weapons were to travel to the Middle East, Georgia would be an ideal transit hub due to its location and track record in illicit deals, such as weapons for drug swaps, smuggling weapons to Africa, etc.

There are very close connections between this activity and certain Georgian businessmen, some of Lebanese descent, who are closely linked with American and Saudi intelligence services. I have been investigating these links for a number of years, and the network is long-established with the full knowledge of the US government and some rogue elements of the Georgian Ministry of Defence. From time to time I have shared some of my work about the bioresearch lab, as reported in the Georgian and international media. This information, much of it open-sourced, has also been shared with the Georgian mainstream media — both print and broadcast.

However, I have also discussed my concerns over what is going on in Georgia with Gordon. Most recently I discussed with him the possibility of the Russian reaction to what is going on in Syria, as they may respond by causing problems in Georgia. The Russians cannot do anything against the US in other parts of the world, but there are many vulnerable areas here, thanks to the nefarious weapons-trafficking network set up in Georgia under the former government.

I can tell you that the Russian media were in Georgia last year making an investigative documentary [as they interviewed me], and, for now, the US effort to develop bio weapons has been put on hold due to Russian PR and for now, the US efforts to develop a new generation of bio weapons has been temporarily put on hold because of the media attention. think this is a good thing.

I think this is a good thing, as Russia can use the bioresearch programme as an excuse to draw a line in the sand in Syria in response to the US-supported rebels using chemical weapons against civilians as a ploy to drag outside forces into a civil war.

I spent some time off the record with the Russian journalists, and they appear to trust me, as I have a 19-year old son in Moscow. They understand that my interest in stopping bio weapons research is on both a personal and professional level. It is clear that the US has violated the biological weapons convention, and it has done so with a sense of impunity in Georgia.

The result be that the US will back down over Syria, and understand if they move, make an attack, over the [alleged use] of Aleichem weapons by the government then the Russian can do the same over the bio weapons and DoD experimental vaccine programmes in Georgia.

I am also told [by a] friend who works in the Eliava Institute, another bio research institute tied up with US military projects, that somewhere in this twilight zone Evergreen State University has stepped in with a quiet, under-the-table NATO programme, then linked it to Bechtel National and the who-knows-how-big scary network of researchers and patronage.





– What problems or comments did the US government or Embassy have in the process of your investigation and afterwards?

Just remember how much PR the Americans are spewing forth to discredit me, even on the US Embassy’s website, as that serves their purposes too. They don’t want any attention drawn to the real issues, or for the Georgian people to know that they have [something] that nobody else has in the world – an alternative to antibiotics, a cure for infection by level 4 bio hazard bugs. This is like having the cure for deadly snake bite when antibiotics no longer work due to resistance.

As for those with whom I am working with know only too well, the picture is much larger. The Georgia lab is non-functional, but staff assigned there are covertly working on special operations in the region, including Syria. If this story is only about the Georgian lab, then why is there a problem, from the perspective of the US Embassy?

The US Embassy and for-hire local journalists, including some American journalists, have made a concerted effort to discredit me over the years. Back in April, they came out with a statement on their website claiming that I was not a reliable source and [everything] indicated in the article about US policy was false.

However, this is not going to work, as the truth will soon be exposed as to why so much money [was spent] on this lab, 300 million dollars in total, and how the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have used Georgia to supply chemical and conventional weapons to terrorists … basically that Al-Qaeda is America’s best friend. Turkey is even the main subcontractor to the construction of the bio lab here in Tbilisi. That is not a happenstance!

One thing is clear: Americans are still directly involved in the bioresearch programme in Georgia, whether it is designed for civilian or military purposes. Americans are still there working, as they have been since the Lugar lab opened in 2010. One such American, [email protected], just received an offer to extend his contract for another two years. It is common knowledge that Georgians cannot keep a lab like this open by themselves. They have no concept of active maintenance and monitoring. CH2M Hill and Battelle, two of the main contractors to Bechtel and DoD, are still there conducting maintenance.

– How did you find out that chemical weapons were being transported into Syria from Georgia and what further information do you have about this?

Gordon Duff provided me with this information. It was also confirmed by my own sources. He stated, based on reliable sources, that chemical weapons were being transferred by sea from Georgia to Syria. They have human intelligence sources who find and track such materials. I have provided the government with those secret recordings, which I have obtained, including materials concerning illegal weapons deals in Georgia, including information about deals with Israel and of other types of material assistance. Gordon and his investigation team confirmed the accuracy of my information.

This is a team of American veterans who found out that the supply of chemical weapons in Syria was performed from outside, via Turkey. They have proof that heavy materials, which can be used to build underground bunkers, as well as special underground chemical, biological or even nuclear research facilities, were imported into Georgia back in 2010.

Maia Chubinishvili

Author Details Author Details Jeffrey K. Silverman {p}Jeffrey K. Silverman, 25 years resident of the former Soviet Union, since October 1991, resides in Tbilisi Georgia worked with Radio Free Europe , crime, corruption and terrorism report. USAR, 100th Division Training, Fort Knox and Blue Grass Army Chemical Weapons Depot, ROTC program, University of Kentucky bases: decorated non wartime veteran, 19D, Calvary Scout. Jeffrey has a track record in breaking through language barriers and bureaucracies to perform due deligence under unconventional circumstances.{/p} {p}He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgian Times and Azerbaijan Today , whilst undertaking freelance journalism and due diligence for various confidential clients. Has specialized in conflict zones, mostly in Georgia, Azerbaijan and countries of Central Asia; MSc Degree plus University of Kentucky, provided with full tuition scholarship based on Cherokee roots and academic standing, family escaped “trail of tears” while passing Ohio in the harsh winter; one set of Eastern European grandparents: Lithuanian-Polish Jews.{/p} {p}Completed advanced degree, MSc plus 40 credits, in cooperation with Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce , studied theoretical frameworks for the analysis of political systems, conflict resolution, international science and technology policy.{/p} He can be reached at: [email protected]