Senator Targets NIH Bio-Smuggling Loophole in Mandatory Prison Bill

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has introduced new legislation that would crack down on biological smuggling following recent events in which U.S. researchers have been accused of bringing infectious diseases like monkeypox into the country.

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced federal charges against Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, both National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Mont., for allegedly lying to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents about pathogens linked with their research. They are accused of attempting to smuggle 17 vials of deactivated monkeypox virus, as well as one vial of the Chickenpox virus and two containing only human DNA, from the Republic of Congo into the United States by way of Detroit, Mich.

Cotton’s bill, the Biosecurity Smuggling Deterrence Act, aims to rectify such incidents by imposing tougher, unavoidable mandatory minimum sentences to deter biological smuggling and protect American biosecurity. Under current law, offenses like those alleged against the NIH researchers, carry a maximum of five years in prison with no mandatory minimum. This bill would eliminate that loophole.

“Illegally smuggling dangerous viruses into our country threatens the health and safety of all Americans. My bill would increase the punishment for anyone who commits this heinous crime,” Cotton told Military.com.

The bill, shared exclusively with Military.com, would enforce the following:

• 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for the smuggling (or attempted smuggling) of any biological agent or toxin, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 178, which includes monkeypox virus and other select agents)—and whether committed by a lone actor or as part of a conspiracy.
• 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for conspiracy to smuggle such agents.
• Five-year mandatory minimum sentence for making false statements to federal agents in connection with the smuggling, importation, declaration or permitting of biological agents.

Uncovered Incidents

The arrests of Munster and Kwe did not occur in a vacuum. Rather, individuals and groups working behind the scenes believe there are more nefarious bad actors out there who have yet to be caught.

The government watchdog group White Coat Waste (WCW) published a blog post in early May including a whistleblower letter alleging that the NIH lab in question in Montana was in “full cover-up mode” over a dangerous monkey bite accident. They specifically mentioned Munster, describing him as someone with a history of conducting animal experiments with dangerous foreign viruses.

The whistleblower letter alluded to Munster’s alleged attempt to smuggle “dozens of vials in his baggage” on a trip back from Africa in January. Based on the charges filed by the federal government, one could surmise that WCW knew about the purported activities before anyone else—at least publicly.

“While the whistleblower allegations we received, and the DOJ’s virus-smuggling charges are new, NIH’s Vincent Munster has been on White Coat Waste’s most-wanted list for years because of his dangerous maximum-pain animal experiments with foreign pandemic pathogens and his involvement with the Wuhan bat coronavirus gain-of-function experiments that likely sparked COVID,” WCW Senior Vice President Justin Goodman told Military.com.

He referred to anyone, including taxpayer-funded animal experimenters, who smuggles deadly foreign viruses into the United States as “a menace to society.” The group gained notoriety for documenting and exposing the funding of labs where purported animal cruelty was taking place, at places like Wuhan and others linked to experiments involving beagle puppies.

Those incidents connected back to Dr. Anthony Fauci, ex-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the nation’s most familiar faces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We applaud Sen. Cotton, an early lab-leak proponent, for proposing severe penalties for virus smugglers and taking action before their recklessness causes another catastrophe,” Goodman added.