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"Members of Congress are pushing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to address concerns about BioWatch, the national system for detecting the release of deadly biological agents.<br /><br />House leaders from both parties recently issued letters about reported shortcomings in BioWatch's performance, particularly about dozens of false alarms, according to the <a href=\"http://www.latimes.com/\">L.A. Times</a>.<br /><br />Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) asked for access to DHS emails and other internal documents related to BioWatch.<br /><br />In a separate letter sent to Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Upton and Stearns asked for other BioWatch-related documents. The CDC has worked with DHS on the biodetection system since it was first introduced in 30 cities in 1993, the <a href=\"http://www.latimes.com/\">L.A. Times</a> reports.<br /><br />In his letter to Napolitano, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) noted deficiencies with the current BioWatch system, as well as with \"Generation 3,\" which is being designed to provide less costly and faster detection capabilities.<br /><br />The prototypes for the new technology have malfunctioned in laboratory and field testing over the past few years, according to the <a href=\"http://www.latimes.com/\">L.A. Times</a>.<br /><br />Napolitano and her aides are currently deciding whether or not to proceed with Generation 3, which would cost an estimated $3.1 billion over the next five years. BioWatch has already cost taxpayers an estimated $1 billion."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://bioprepwatch.com/stories/510509135-congress-requests-biowatch-documents>