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Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World—Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It
Anthrax. Smallpox. Incurable and horrifying Ebola-related fevers. For two decades, while a fearful world prepared for nuclear winter, an elite team of Russian bioweaponeers began to till a new killing field: a bleak tract sown with powerful seeds of mass destruction—by doctors who had committed themselves to creating a biological Armageddon. Biohazard is the never-before-told story of Russia's darkest, deadliest, and most closely guarded Cold War secret.
No one knows more about Russia's astounding experiments with biowarfare than Ken Alibek. Now the mastermind behind Russia's germ warfare effort reveals two decades of shocking breakthroughs... how Moscow's leading scientists actually reengineered hazardous microbes to make them even more virulent... the secrets behind the discovery of an invisible, untraceable new class of biological agents just right for use in political assassinations... the startling story behind Russia's attempt to turn a sample of the AIDS virus into the ultimate bioweapon. And in a chilling work of real-world intrigue, Biohazard offers us all a rare glimpse into a shadowy scientific underworld where doctors manufacture mass destruction, where witnesses to errors are silenced forever, and where ground zero is closer than we ever dared believe.
No one knows more about Russia's astounding experiments with biowarfare than Ken Alibek. Now the mastermind behind Russia's germ warfare effort reveals two decades of shocking breakthroughs... how Moscow's leading scientists actually reengineered hazardous microbes to make them even more virulent... the secrets behind the discovery of an invisible, untraceable new class of biological agents just right for use in political assassinations... the startling story behind Russia's attempt to turn a sample of the AIDS virus into the ultimate bioweapon. And in a chilling work of real-world intrigue, Biohazard offers us all a rare glimpse into a shadowy scientific underworld where doctors manufacture mass destruction, where witnesses to errors are silenced forever, and where ground zero is closer than we ever dared believe.
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
308 people are currently reading
6427 people want to read
About the author
Ken Alibek
8 books13 followersColonel Kanatjan Alibekov (born 1950, known as Ken Alibek since 1992) is a former Soviet physician, microbiologist, and biological warfare (BW) expert. He rose rapidly in the ranks of the Red Army to become the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat where he oversaw a vast program of BW facilities. In 1992 he defected to the United States, has become an American citizen, and makes his living as a biodefense consultant, speaker, and entrepreneur. He has actively participated in the development of biodefense strategy for the U.S. government, and has repeatedly advised the U.S. Congress and other governments on biotechnology issues. He is CEO of AFG Biosolutions Inc. (USA) and President and CEO of MaxWell Biocorporation, LLC (USA).
[From Wikipedia]
[From Wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
July 28, 2016
I would estimate that I accept about 80% of what Kanatjan Alibekov describes in this book as truthful and factual. The most frightening aspects about the horrible pathogens he helped develop in the Soviet Union's bioweapons program are in fact quite believable. What I don't quite accept are Alibekov's explanations for his involvement in the program.
He suggests that he initially had misgivings about developing biological weapons at the start of his career. He quickly forgot those concerns out of a sense of patriotism toward the Soviet Union, and the fact that only weapons-related scientific research was well funded in the cold war-era USSR. That I can understand, however I don't quite believe his assertion that before emigrating to the United States, he rediscovered the "medical oath" he had betrayed for decades. It's apparent that he only considered leaving Biopreparat when it appeared the program was going to be exposed to international condemnation, and he only considered leaving Russia when his own personal safety and job security were threatened. I don't believe that he took these actions entirely based on an idealistic notion of self sacrifice to a greater good.
In addition, Alibekov distinctly under-emphasizes the United States' involvement in bioweapons research. This would be completely understandable assuming that he considers the US to be his new benefactors. The sense of purity and transparency he attributes to the United States sounds more than a little suspicious given his perspective.
He suggests that he initially had misgivings about developing biological weapons at the start of his career. He quickly forgot those concerns out of a sense of patriotism toward the Soviet Union, and the fact that only weapons-related scientific research was well funded in the cold war-era USSR. That I can understand, however I don't quite believe his assertion that before emigrating to the United States, he rediscovered the "medical oath" he had betrayed for decades. It's apparent that he only considered leaving Biopreparat when it appeared the program was going to be exposed to international condemnation, and he only considered leaving Russia when his own personal safety and job security were threatened. I don't believe that he took these actions entirely based on an idealistic notion of self sacrifice to a greater good.
In addition, Alibekov distinctly under-emphasizes the United States' involvement in bioweapons research. This would be completely understandable assuming that he considers the US to be his new benefactors. The sense of purity and transparency he attributes to the United States sounds more than a little suspicious given his perspective.
May 5, 2016
Very exciting and very effective fear-mongering, but by page 5 my BS meter was clanging. Few reviewers here stop to consider that this man betrayed his employer, betrayed his nation and had all sorts of reasons to lie beyond the bare fact that turncoats are liars by definition. A book is a product, remember, even a nonfiction book. And this book is trying to sell us something, at least an idea...and maybe more.
Let's say there was a 50-facility bioweapons program in the USSR. Let's say this man worked there. Let's even say he is everything he claims himself to be, as important, as knowledgeable, as connected. Let's say that indeed he left the Soviet Union because of a crisis of conscience and not to simply save his butt. If you believe all that, would you believe that the United States intelligence community would allow him to write a book that told all? Or might they have another agenda, too? Is it possible all this was as invented by the US government as Iraq's WMDs?
That so few reviewers brought this critical consciousness to the book worries me, but alas doesn't shock me. What I did after my BS meter started clanging at me was to Google reliable journalistic sources regarding this man. The most extensive critique of his errors, misunderstandings of simple science, and profiteering off this fear mongering was done by the Los Angeles Times. It is easy to find. By the end of reading that, I had something much nearer the truth, I thought.
Read that first and then read this for its entertaining Hollywood movie alarmist story, but please engage your critical consciousness first before letting it change any of your behaviors. And whatever the USSR was doing, of course the US was doing too. Let's not be totally naive! An accidental release of our own smallpox germs is probably more likely than ICBMs raining down the plague on us, and purposeful bioweapons tests on our own people is well documented.
Take it to be utter fiction, like a vampire novel, and enjoy it at that level.
Let's say there was a 50-facility bioweapons program in the USSR. Let's say this man worked there. Let's even say he is everything he claims himself to be, as important, as knowledgeable, as connected. Let's say that indeed he left the Soviet Union because of a crisis of conscience and not to simply save his butt. If you believe all that, would you believe that the United States intelligence community would allow him to write a book that told all? Or might they have another agenda, too? Is it possible all this was as invented by the US government as Iraq's WMDs?
That so few reviewers brought this critical consciousness to the book worries me, but alas doesn't shock me. What I did after my BS meter started clanging at me was to Google reliable journalistic sources regarding this man. The most extensive critique of his errors, misunderstandings of simple science, and profiteering off this fear mongering was done by the Los Angeles Times. It is easy to find. By the end of reading that, I had something much nearer the truth, I thought.
Read that first and then read this for its entertaining Hollywood movie alarmist story, but please engage your critical consciousness first before letting it change any of your behaviors. And whatever the USSR was doing, of course the US was doing too. Let's not be totally naive! An accidental release of our own smallpox germs is probably more likely than ICBMs raining down the plague on us, and purposeful bioweapons tests on our own people is well documented.
Take it to be utter fiction, like a vampire novel, and enjoy it at that level.
June 23, 2014
Required reading for any person living on this planet that breathes.
This is one of those extremely rare books that I will be recommending as a MUST READ book to every person who ever asks me... "What book would you recommend be on EVERY person's reading list?" If I could give it a gazillion stars, I would! Yes, it's that well written. This book will scare the livin' daylights out of you. For anyone living under the illusion that the world is a super safe place and that our governments are doing everything they can to keep us safe. This book will open your eyes to the reality of the real world.
"Biohazard" truly is a chilling TRUE tale of one man's life in the USSR who tells how he headed up the biological weapons program to kill off every person on the planet.. to kill off every plant that might grow.. to just kill. The diseases that they spliced together will leave me with nightmares for the rest of my life. The end is near.. and it will only take one madman or disaster to open this genie's bottle.
A MUST READ. A MUST HAVE BOOK FOR EVERY BOOK SHELF IN THE WORLD!
This is one of those extremely rare books that I will be recommending as a MUST READ book to every person who ever asks me... "What book would you recommend be on EVERY person's reading list?" If I could give it a gazillion stars, I would! Yes, it's that well written. This book will scare the livin' daylights out of you. For anyone living under the illusion that the world is a super safe place and that our governments are doing everything they can to keep us safe. This book will open your eyes to the reality of the real world.
"Biohazard" truly is a chilling TRUE tale of one man's life in the USSR who tells how he headed up the biological weapons program to kill off every person on the planet.. to kill off every plant that might grow.. to just kill. The diseases that they spliced together will leave me with nightmares for the rest of my life. The end is near.. and it will only take one madman or disaster to open this genie's bottle.
A MUST READ. A MUST HAVE BOOK FOR EVERY BOOK SHELF IN THE WORLD!
August 14, 2022
A very scary account of the total disregard that power institutions have for human life.
This disease has been eradicated. I know, lets weaponize it to fuck up our enemies. Even better, lets cock up in the lab and accidentally release it to our own population and watch them die horrific deaths, but not before we brutalize harmless animals.
The book was well written but too politik heavy and introduced far too many players who were of little significance.
The takeaway message from this book:- humans are evil, keep your distance!
This disease has been eradicated. I know, lets weaponize it to fuck up our enemies. Even better, lets cock up in the lab and accidentally release it to our own population and watch them die horrific deaths, but not before we brutalize harmless animals.
The book was well written but too politik heavy and introduced far too many players who were of little significance.
The takeaway message from this book:- humans are evil, keep your distance!
February 4, 2014
In Biohazard, Dr. Kenneth Alibek, born Kanatjan Alibekov in what is now the country of Kazakhstan, then simply another satrapy of the sprawling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, shares the incredible story of his work in what is perhaps the best-kept secret of the twentieth century - Biopreparat, the mammoth chain of state-of-the-art biological weapon development and production plants, mostly built AFTER Leonid Brezhnev solemnly stood beside the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and told the world that the Soviet Union would never make or use biological weapons again.
In the years since then, Alibek tells us how the Soviets not only developed newer and deadlier germs than had ever existed before but under the authority of no less a man than Mikhail Gorbachev filled the warheads of ICBMs with those foul brews and pointed them at the very United States for whom he publicly expressed such friendship. Perestroika, right....
It was not until Brezhnev and his Communist empire were both dead and his signature on the biological weapons treaty almost twenty-five years dry that Russia totally got out of that business... and no one is sure but that one of the hundred-odd factories of death strung from the Ukraine to the Pacific Coast of Siberia isn't still silently brewing a ghastly postscript to the story which Alibek shares with us.
Frankly, Ken Alibek's book is adequately written, well enough to not actually be unpleasant to read, but not outstandingly so. Its great value is in the unique knowledge Alibek shares with us. Picking up a copy of "Biohazard" and reading it allows Alibek to throw the doors of secrecy open over one of the deadliest human enterprises ever and show us things so awful that until Americans actually started getting anthrax in the mail, we preferred to simply pretend that they didn't exist.
Alibek's book tells us how this came to be in the first place, how a bacillus so fragile that it shrivels and dies within minutes in sunlight has been turned into a weapon that has terrified a nation, while the people who made it worked in secrecy so absolute that some of the most knowledgeable scientists on biological warfare in the United States publicly scoffed at the idea that the Soviets could be brewing up tons and tons of deadly germs for over twenty years.
In Matthew Meselson's case, the scoffing went all the way to what can only be described as a whitewash over clear evidence the Russians had had a deadly accident with weaponized anthrax in the city of Sverdlovsk, and only he knows why he did it. He only redacted his public assessment of that incident, which killed dozens of innocent Russians who worked and lived near the plant, when the Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau chief Peter Gumbel revealed in 1991 that many of the false assurances from the Soviets that Meselson repeated to the West as fact were in fact made up from whole cloth, including the non-existent "slaughterhouse" which was supposedly the focus of the anthrax outbreak.
There are actually two horror stories in "Biohazard" - the diseases are horrible enough, but the idea of a multi-billion dollar effort operating undetected, almost unsuspected, for twenty years is even worse... what might be lurking in the vastness of China, or in some isolated laboratory complex in India or Argentina? We might find out the hard way. Just the sheer information in "Biohazard" earns four stars.
What Dr. Alibek did in Biopreparat, he did in the sincere belief that he was defending his country. Once he found that we in the United States had been true to our word and had dismantled our bioweapons program, he risked his job, even his life, to shame his colleagues into doing likewise, and finally left Russia in hopes of helping tear down all the work of his lifetime...
In the years since then, Alibek tells us how the Soviets not only developed newer and deadlier germs than had ever existed before but under the authority of no less a man than Mikhail Gorbachev filled the warheads of ICBMs with those foul brews and pointed them at the very United States for whom he publicly expressed such friendship. Perestroika, right....
It was not until Brezhnev and his Communist empire were both dead and his signature on the biological weapons treaty almost twenty-five years dry that Russia totally got out of that business... and no one is sure but that one of the hundred-odd factories of death strung from the Ukraine to the Pacific Coast of Siberia isn't still silently brewing a ghastly postscript to the story which Alibek shares with us.
Frankly, Ken Alibek's book is adequately written, well enough to not actually be unpleasant to read, but not outstandingly so. Its great value is in the unique knowledge Alibek shares with us. Picking up a copy of "Biohazard" and reading it allows Alibek to throw the doors of secrecy open over one of the deadliest human enterprises ever and show us things so awful that until Americans actually started getting anthrax in the mail, we preferred to simply pretend that they didn't exist.
Alibek's book tells us how this came to be in the first place, how a bacillus so fragile that it shrivels and dies within minutes in sunlight has been turned into a weapon that has terrified a nation, while the people who made it worked in secrecy so absolute that some of the most knowledgeable scientists on biological warfare in the United States publicly scoffed at the idea that the Soviets could be brewing up tons and tons of deadly germs for over twenty years.
In Matthew Meselson's case, the scoffing went all the way to what can only be described as a whitewash over clear evidence the Russians had had a deadly accident with weaponized anthrax in the city of Sverdlovsk, and only he knows why he did it. He only redacted his public assessment of that incident, which killed dozens of innocent Russians who worked and lived near the plant, when the Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau chief Peter Gumbel revealed in 1991 that many of the false assurances from the Soviets that Meselson repeated to the West as fact were in fact made up from whole cloth, including the non-existent "slaughterhouse" which was supposedly the focus of the anthrax outbreak.
There are actually two horror stories in "Biohazard" - the diseases are horrible enough, but the idea of a multi-billion dollar effort operating undetected, almost unsuspected, for twenty years is even worse... what might be lurking in the vastness of China, or in some isolated laboratory complex in India or Argentina? We might find out the hard way. Just the sheer information in "Biohazard" earns four stars.
What Dr. Alibek did in Biopreparat, he did in the sincere belief that he was defending his country. Once he found that we in the United States had been true to our word and had dismantled our bioweapons program, he risked his job, even his life, to shame his colleagues into doing likewise, and finally left Russia in hopes of helping tear down all the work of his lifetime...
September 19, 2018
This is an interesting, fast-paced read. The style is conversational, and it avoids being too technical. Every once in a while, it starts getting bogged down by political organizational details and maneuverings. Then he throws in more details about some super weapon they were working on, and the pace picks back up.
Is it chilling? Yes, I shouldn’t have read that last chapter just before going to bed.
Do I believe it? I don’t know. I don’t have the scientific background to know if the science he includes is accurate. I’m not sure there is any way for us to know for sure the accuracy of the political side of all of this. How much do you believe the personal account of a man who spent his whole life directing a bioweapons program? He claims to have switched sides, but it’s hard to not think it was a rather self-serving decision. His program had been outed by another defector, the Soviet Union was crumbling, Yeltsin wasn’t backing them, the money was drying up, and he found out how much American scientist make per year. I just don’t know what to believe. So three stars for a well-written book that I'm not sure I believe.
It was interesting though, and very clean. I remember only one curse word.
Is it chilling? Yes, I shouldn’t have read that last chapter just before going to bed.
Do I believe it? I don’t know. I don’t have the scientific background to know if the science he includes is accurate. I’m not sure there is any way for us to know for sure the accuracy of the political side of all of this. How much do you believe the personal account of a man who spent his whole life directing a bioweapons program? He claims to have switched sides, but it’s hard to not think it was a rather self-serving decision. His program had been outed by another defector, the Soviet Union was crumbling, Yeltsin wasn’t backing them, the money was drying up, and he found out how much American scientist make per year. I just don’t know what to believe. So three stars for a well-written book that I'm not sure I believe.
It was interesting though, and very clean. I remember only one curse word.
October 26, 2014
The world can be a scary place and this book definitely supports that idea. We've heard a lot about chemical warfare and weapons of mass destruction; here is the book that tells you all about what Russia (Soviet Union) was experimenting with throughout the 80s and 90s. It's terrifying because it wasn't that long ago that they were amassing a ridiculous amount of biochemical weapons. With the eventual break down of the Soviet Union, scientists were without jobs and income and left (or were recruited) to work in other regions of the world (Syria, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Cuba.. to name a few). It's not surprising that other regions have since become rising threats. This was a very interesting (but also scary) first hand account of the political and scientific events in the Soviet Union that have had a great impact on the world today. Granted this book was published in 1999 so it is a little overwhelming to think about how much worse it probably is now.
April 27, 2020
Ken Alibek originated the Biodefense program at George Mason University. I'm currently finishing my master's degree in the program (which now called Global Health Security, as of 2017), and I am probably the last student in my cohort to get around to reading this.
None of the information in this was exactly new to me. Of course, the book was published in 1999, so I was not expecting revelations, but given my work in my program - I'd already learned and discussed most of what Alibek revealed here. It is, of course, chilling and alarming; biological warfare is a much scarier threat to confront than kinetic warfare. It is truly fighting an invisible enemy, and in some ways a book like this fits in the horror genre in ways which Stephen King could never dream up.
I appreciated reading Alibek's experiences in Alibek's own words (and find myself still stunned that he lived to tell the tale). The book, though easy for a layperson to follow, was at times dull and emotionless, which was either a product of Alibek being uncomfortable in the English language, or a sign of his own scientific detachment from the horror of what he was discussing. At other times, it was gripping and sensationalist, but it all balanced out to be somewhat of an average read -- a good place for people interested in the biological phantoms of the past to start, but not a great book to read if one is genuinely interested in the complex, dynamic, and diverse bioware/biodefense landscape that exists today.
I was disappointed in the lack of attention Alibek gave to his own philosophical grappling with what was going on, which frankly led me to think in the end that he only defected because he was tired of the bureaucracy of the (failed) Soviet Union, and was keenly interested in the money he could make in the U.S. Given his reputation today as somewhat of a chicken little, my opinion there is reinforced - but it's an opinion and in no way does Alibek tout this novel as a personal examination of his morals and reasons for leaving. I simply was a little put off by the lack of in-depth attention he gave to his apparently conflicting motives as a doctor versus a good Soviet.
None of the information in this was exactly new to me. Of course, the book was published in 1999, so I was not expecting revelations, but given my work in my program - I'd already learned and discussed most of what Alibek revealed here. It is, of course, chilling and alarming; biological warfare is a much scarier threat to confront than kinetic warfare. It is truly fighting an invisible enemy, and in some ways a book like this fits in the horror genre in ways which Stephen King could never dream up.
I appreciated reading Alibek's experiences in Alibek's own words (and find myself still stunned that he lived to tell the tale). The book, though easy for a layperson to follow, was at times dull and emotionless, which was either a product of Alibek being uncomfortable in the English language, or a sign of his own scientific detachment from the horror of what he was discussing. At other times, it was gripping and sensationalist, but it all balanced out to be somewhat of an average read -- a good place for people interested in the biological phantoms of the past to start, but not a great book to read if one is genuinely interested in the complex, dynamic, and diverse bioware/biodefense landscape that exists today.
I was disappointed in the lack of attention Alibek gave to his own philosophical grappling with what was going on, which frankly led me to think in the end that he only defected because he was tired of the bureaucracy of the (failed) Soviet Union, and was keenly interested in the money he could make in the U.S. Given his reputation today as somewhat of a chicken little, my opinion there is reinforced - but it's an opinion and in no way does Alibek tout this novel as a personal examination of his morals and reasons for leaving. I simply was a little put off by the lack of in-depth attention he gave to his apparently conflicting motives as a doctor versus a good Soviet.
February 23, 2016
To be clear from the start, the book was written in late 1998. The Nook version of it claimed to be published in March, 2014, but the author obviously finished this book in 1998, based on his "predictions" for 1999. That being said, the book dealt with the early career of Ken Alibek (the American name of the Soviet scientist Kanatjan Alibekov) while he was still a scientist employed in the bioweapons program of the Soviet Union, so even though the book was published in the late '90s, it still fulfills its purpose.
This book combines several of my favorite topics - history, military, espionage, and secret warfare. For this reason, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for the incredible amount of information it contained. Obviously, the topics I mentioned aren't known to be incredibly high octane, so don't expect the kind of action in a Tom Clancy novel that would cover the same topics. However, this book illustrates how "truth is stranger than fiction" and how truth can also maintain a "fast" pace of reading. The author wrote this book as an autobiography and does a good job at maintaining an interesting and readable style. I was able to read this book as fast as (or faster than) some novels.
All told, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Soviet history, bioweapons, and/or anti-terrorism. As I mentioned, though the material is about 15 yrs. old, it is still relevant and interesting.
This book combines several of my favorite topics - history, military, espionage, and secret warfare. For this reason, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for the incredible amount of information it contained. Obviously, the topics I mentioned aren't known to be incredibly high octane, so don't expect the kind of action in a Tom Clancy novel that would cover the same topics. However, this book illustrates how "truth is stranger than fiction" and how truth can also maintain a "fast" pace of reading. The author wrote this book as an autobiography and does a good job at maintaining an interesting and readable style. I was able to read this book as fast as (or faster than) some novels.
All told, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Soviet history, bioweapons, and/or anti-terrorism. As I mentioned, though the material is about 15 yrs. old, it is still relevant and interesting.
October 17, 2023
Wayyyy more interesting than I thought it would be
December 5, 2012
Biohazard was one of those books that you wished was fiction. Who better to tell the true account of the Soviet Bio-Weapons program than the man who ran it?
This awesome book not only explains the history of the Soviet Union, their disgraceful weapons program, but also a change of heart if the man behind it.
Sworn to "do no harm" Alibekov quickly betrays this oath as a patriot without morals. As the Soviet Empire collapses around him, he is forced to rethink the diabolical program that he was so proud of.
The morals of the story are endless as you hear about the dangers and waste of big government, blind patriotism, and socialism. The grim world of the Cold War is told perfectly in this book.
This awesome book not only explains the history of the Soviet Union, their disgraceful weapons program, but also a change of heart if the man behind it.
Sworn to "do no harm" Alibekov quickly betrays this oath as a patriot without morals. As the Soviet Empire collapses around him, he is forced to rethink the diabolical program that he was so proud of.
The morals of the story are endless as you hear about the dangers and waste of big government, blind patriotism, and socialism. The grim world of the Cold War is told perfectly in this book.
October 1, 2011
Parts of this book were very interesting, but some sections were also incredibly boring and hard to get through. Way more than I wanted to know about the Soviet Union bueracracy - that's what really bogged this book down for me. Unbelievable, though, how advanced their bioweapons program was! Really sobbering to think, even in my lifetime, they were (or had!) been able to weaponize lethal pathogens like Marburg virus. I would liked this book much more if was about half as long.
January 15, 2019
This book is enjoyable, but I have some minor doubts in author's sincerity. He was interested in overstating the danger of Russian bioweapons projects; while the program was undoubtedly existing and active, some of the numbers (like a billion dollars per year budget in 1990) are somewhat hard to believe.
Still, I loved the account.
Still, I loved the account.
April 8, 2024
This the heroic author working to bioweapons everywhere in the world. This is the USSR's insider on bioweapons factories. And it's less a story about detection and more the story about politics in the USSR's bioweapon system. And definitely written to the popular America good USSR and IRAQ bad theme. But also I noticed that money and American life-style were motivators for the Soviet defector's story. And also, not a heroic Hot Zone story... yes, people were melting but not near the author.
Still it was a good insider story of the Soviet bioweapons side of history. Well worth a read by those interested and how we kept from killing each other and how likely it is that happens in the future... We suspect Russia knows how to make all this nasty stuff and only needs to turn on its factory for these weapons.
Still it was a good insider story of the Soviet bioweapons side of history. Well worth a read by those interested and how we kept from killing each other and how likely it is that happens in the future... We suspect Russia knows how to make all this nasty stuff and only needs to turn on its factory for these weapons.
April 21, 2022
A bit outdated because it was written in 1999, but super interesting/concerning read about the USSR's bioweapons program. Would be interesting to hear Alibek's thoughts on 9/11, the Anthrax Attacks of 2001, and the Invasion of Iraq. Even more concerning about his speculations on Russia's continuation of the shelved USSR bioweapons program... and the morality vacuum of Russian geopolitics. Not great news for the Ukrainian armed forces/international community. And with the later stuff they were doing with CRISPR and mixing up Smallpox + Ebola concoctions makes for REAL concern. Explained the bio/industrial engineering elements of it all pretty well. Overall good read.
August 10, 2024
This is a super interesting read, although I'll admit I had my sceptic goggles on for some of the more supervillain sounding parts of it.
It's also kind of uncomfortable seeing that the author really only started developing the (very mild) moral issue he has with a career of making better ways to kill people when political changes in Russia started impacting him personally.
Wiki tells me he ended up shilling a dietary supplement to suckers on the internet so I'm gonna hazard a wild guess he's not the least self-serving person on the planet lol
It's also kind of uncomfortable seeing that the author really only started developing the (very mild) moral issue he has with a career of making better ways to kill people when political changes in Russia started impacting him personally.
Wiki tells me he ended up shilling a dietary supplement to suckers on the internet so I'm gonna hazard a wild guess he's not the least self-serving person on the planet lol
March 31, 2022
Ok, so I read this more for the organizational discussion than the science, and I do think it was quite accurate regarding the security and organization of Biopreperat. The science reads like… an administrator who understands the basics of his program but not the exact goings on. Overall, interesting and informative for what I was looking for, even if it definitely did feel at times like a bit overblown
December 19, 2018
Pretty shocking.
January 15, 2019
Smallpox, anthraw, the plague, Ebola, just a few of the diseases weaponized by the Soviet Union. Quite scary to know the ways in which a mass attack could have occurred in the 80's.
June 20, 2024
It was good overall. The scientific parts were really what interested me, however the political part was very confusing to me. Someone, like me, who has no real knowledge or understanding of Soviet politics will find it difficult to understand. Apart from that, this was a very gpod introduction to biological warfare and the role it played in the 90s as well as the potential of it in today's date. Crazy to see how unprepared we are, especially in the West.
April 17, 2025
Interesting take on the biological arms race. I don't think that the narrator is totally reliable.
December 28, 2020
The writing is easy to read, but it saddens me to say that the man is a traitor. I am not the one to judge but good scientists rarely understand the complexities of international politics. Solzhenitsyn and Saharov made similar mistakes and by the time they realized it, it was too late.
August 4, 2025
interesting book. good read for the beginning 3/4. gets a bit long winded at the end.
not all shocking that no government has followed a treaty they signed to promote peace and safety. even with bioweapons.
not all shocking that no government has followed a treaty they signed to promote peace and safety. even with bioweapons.
October 18, 2023
I was fascinated by the book from cover to cover. It creeped me out, gave me anxiety, and made me question everything I know about international relations and civilian safety in day to day life. Please read this and be ready to be SCARED.
January 27, 2026
loved reading it, very descriptive
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March 13, 2019Fascinating exposure of the development of bio weapons.
October 23, 2019
A bit dated, this insider story from a defector high up in the Soviet biological weapons program details his career and Soviet advances with anthrax, plague, glanders, etc. Most dramatic moments come around a lethal hot zone infection and an Aral sea island where chained monkeys proved unfortunate test subjects. Most interestingly to me was the insider's view of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt and the disruption of the Soviet state that followed, ultimately leading to the Kazakh's informal emigration to the U.S.
October 14, 2015
Interesting, important, and very readable. The science is pretty light- not really enlightening. This isn't a good book for learning the nuts and bolts of the science of bioweapons, but more on how the industry worked, how it fit into soviet military politics, what the potential capabilities are, and how material is weaponized. You do wonder what Alibek's true motives are. This book is much more focused on the structure of the Soviet bio weapons secret industry than on Alibek himself. As a defector there are incentives to play up your own continued importance to your new host country. I would be fascinated to read about what (if any) scenarios the Soviets imagined using these weapons in, especially since the author portrays most generals as being very ignorant in regards to bioweapons. Was the potential for a world pandemic or potential blowback to the USSR or its allies if they used these weapons ever discussed at higher levels? How would these weapons fit into Soviet strategy or contingency planning? According to Alibek the highest scientists in the program did not ever work on actual strategy or tactics for using the weapons- but did anyone in the military have the scientific knowledge to know how to use these effectively? HIV was spreading around the globe during the late Cold War era- wasn't the potential of releasing an even more virulent and contagious disease obviously dangerous for the USSR too? How much did they compare it to nuclear weapons at the time?
February 1, 2018
Ronald Reagan called the 1980’s USSR the “evil empire”. And it sounds like rhetorical exaggeration if you’re not familiar with the facts. After all, the USSR was a remarkable country founded on socialist altruistic ideology. How possibly it could be evil?
After reading this book, you know what’s evil about Russia. Only people with absolutely no conscience can tolerate producing new diseases which don’t even have a vaccine. And, of course, official denials of any biological weapons activities. There’s no public opinion in Russia: they are silent, and obedient. It’s the same story every time, it’s just pure evil. When Russia started a war in Ukraine (2014), president Putin, guilty of at least 10,000 deaths, lied about no Russian involvement. And guess what? Russians are going to reelect him. Complicity — this is the evil that makes scary biological weapons programs possible. And this is the world we’re living in. Wish the contents of this book was a fantasy.
Not sure why Ken Alibek is called “head of the program”. As far as I know from this book, he wasn’t.
The book was short and informative. Last ~30 pages felt like the author advertising his consulting services. Which is not bad.
After reading this book, you know what’s evil about Russia. Only people with absolutely no conscience can tolerate producing new diseases which don’t even have a vaccine. And, of course, official denials of any biological weapons activities. There’s no public opinion in Russia: they are silent, and obedient. It’s the same story every time, it’s just pure evil. When Russia started a war in Ukraine (2014), president Putin, guilty of at least 10,000 deaths, lied about no Russian involvement. And guess what? Russians are going to reelect him. Complicity — this is the evil that makes scary biological weapons programs possible. And this is the world we’re living in. Wish the contents of this book was a fantasy.
Not sure why Ken Alibek is called “head of the program”. As far as I know from this book, he wasn’t.
The book was short and informative. Last ~30 pages felt like the author advertising his consulting services. Which is not bad.
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