Marshall Billingslea

“It's not acceptable in this day and age for the Russians to have a biological warfare program,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea argued Russia should not maintain a biological warfare program following a mysterious researcher death in Irkutsk.

“This is a topic of grave concern to the entire international community.”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea said the concerns about Russia's biological weapons program are of grave concern to the entire international community.

“They took the plague bacteria and they merged it with a non-dangerous bacteria,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea described Soviet experiments in which plague bacteria was merged with a non-dangerous bacteria.

“So this doesn't all derive from Ken Alibek,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea insisted that U.S. understanding of the Soviet bioweapons program did not come solely from defector Ken Alibek.

“It's very, very important that this is not viewed as a U.S. versus Russia discussion,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea said the push for answers from Russia should not be seen as solely a U.S. versus Russia issue.

“At the December meeting, Russia is going to get grilled,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea pointed to a December Biological Weapons Convention meeting as an opportunity for countries to confront Russia.

“I think one of the most important things that Ken shed light on was the sheer scale of the Soviet program, which then Russia inherited,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea recalled what he learned from Soviet defector Ken Alibek about the scale of the Soviet biological weapons program.

“The goal was to render the plague bacteria far more resistant to antibiotics.”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea stated the Soviet goal was to make plague bacteria more resistant to antibiotics.

“We knew about the plague programs, we knew what they were up to, and we knew where the sites were,”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea said Washington had already confronted Moscow over its biological weapons work by the mid-1990s.

“They need to cut it out, and they need to tell us. They need to come clean about what they're doing at this lab and whether this lab is still involved in their warfare program.”

Marshall Billingslea · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-10

Billingslea demanded Russia disclose what is happening at the Irkutsk lab and whether it is still involved in a biological warfare program.