Apparently I'm a spy

Well today was an eventful one at work! This morning the entire office was abuzz! Apparently last night NAMRU-3 was on all four major television stations in Egypt, and the story wasn’t good. A news station in town claimed to have uncovered a document issued by the White House about a contract between the U.S. Pentagon and the American University in Cairo (AUC). (As background, NAMRU-3 does have a contract with AUC, but it is solely a hiring mechanism for recruiting researchers and scientists to Cairo. It’s nothing dodgy, seriously.)

While that initial story may not seem significant (I myself laughed when my coworkers started telling me about the story), the story just grew from there. Reporters continued, explaining how NAMRU-3 employees are actually spies for the U.S. government, how NAMRU-3 brought avian influenza and other diseases to Egypt through experiments done on Egyptians, how NAMRU-3 is secretive and no one from the outside is allowed inside the premises, how NAMRU-3 works with the Israelis against Egypt, etc.

The story was not good. Although it sounded moderately ridiculous to the Americans who work at NAMRU-3, many of our Egyptian colleagues were worried and some actually received phone calls after the television programs that accused them of being traitors to their nation. Once the rest of us realized the severity of what had happened, we began to wonder what effects this would have on our work. Would people refuse to join our studies? Would organizations refuse to work with us? Would the Ministry of Health refuse to approve our studies?

I tried to find an English-language article about the story, but could only find one. Even though it’s not very good, I’ve included it below.

American University in Cairo signed contract with the Pentagon to provide confidential information about Egypt
by: Washington – America in Arabic

AI-Masry AI-Youm has obtained an official US document issued by the White House on the 2007 budget. For the first time, the document reveals that the American University in Cairo (AUC) won a LE 3.4 million contract to provide the U.S. Pentagon with Information about Egypt. This is the first publicly-disclosed evidence recognized by the U.S. Administration that the U.S. military used a U.S. university on Egyptian soil to collect research and Information. This is just one of the hundreds of thousands of documents released by the White House on how the U.S. Administration spends its budget.

According to the document, exclusively obtained by America in Arabic news agency, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded a contract worth $600,000 to the AUC to carry out research for the U.S. Navy on infective diseases, applied research and development in Egypt. The White House said the contract was signed in two parts, the first on June 26, 2007, and the second on August 22, 2007. The AUC would implement the provisions of the first part of the contract from July 1, 2007 to September 21, 2007 (81 days) for LE 3.4 million. As for the second part, it would be implemented from September 26, 2007 until September 21, 2008. The contract required the contract to be implemented in Egypt. This military contract, according to its summary, was signed directly with the AUC and no tender was held.

In its USASpending program for budget transparency, the White House did not provide the other details of the contract due to their confidentiality. The document points out that the name of the interior section of the U.S. Navy which signed the contract with the AUC was symbolized with N68171.

Another document posted on the Pentagon's website says this contract was part of another one between the U.S. Department of Defense and the AUC which was implemented over two years. This contract brought $1,200,000 to the AUC in 2006 and 2007 in exchange for sociological and humanistic research.

AUC President David Arnold told the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in New York in March 2007 that the university received scientists and academics from Israel as long as they obtained a legal entry visa for Egypt. He added the university was doing its job for a calm change without the Egyptian authorities knowing anything. He added that the Egyptian government was aware that his university operated under different laws than those governing the Egyptian society and public universities in Egypt, adding he thought they enjoyed very much freedom regarding the work they did.