Declassified docs: Pentagon bred 200,000+ ticks for bioweapons at Plum Island — 13 miles from Lyme, Connecticut

The Pentagon Bred 200,000 Weaponized Ticks 13 Miles From the Town Called "Lyme"

Declassified documents from the US biological weapons program reveal that Plum Island — a research facility 13 miles from Lyme, Connecticut — bred over 200,000 ticks for bioweapons research between 1952 and 1969. The first cases of what would become known as Lyme disease appeared in Lyme, Connecticut in 1975.

The Documents

Fort Detrick and the Army Chemical Corps managed biological research at Plum Island that specifically involved breeding ticks as vectors for biological agents. Over 200,000 ticks were bred and used in experiments. Declassified records document containment failures and note that test animals "mingled with wild deer" — deer that could swim the 13 miles to the Connecticut mainland.

The Geography

Plum Island sits in Long Island Sound, approximately 13 miles from Lyme, Connecticut. Lyme disease was first identified as a distinct condition in Lyme, Connecticut in 1975 — after decades of tick-based bioweapons research at Plum Island. The geographic coincidence is, at minimum, extraordinary.

476,000 Americans Per Year

Today, approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually. It's one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States. If the Pentagon's bioweapons program accidentally created or spread the pathogen, the scale of the public health disaster is staggering.

The Congressional Investigation

In 2019, the House passed an amendment directing the Inspector General to investigate whether the Pentagon's tick research contributed to the spread of Lyme disease. The investigation was ordered. The results have never been publicly released.