Talk:Ken Alibek

NPOV

The "Criticism" section of this article that used to exist (though poorly referenced) seems to have been completely purged, turning the article from NPOV to unquestioning praise. I don't have the time to do extensive edits myself, but someone who's interested in restoring NPOV might want to begin with this article: http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/01/nation/na-alibek1 -- Kolbasz (talk) 23:25, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

LA Times

I would caution anyone against using the LA Times article as a credible source; just because something is published does not mean that the statements are true or even written within context. Suggest people have another look at the quality and objectivity of the article. Before the article was published, I personally contacted Dave Willman to talk with him (Dr Alibek introduced me to him) to provide some objective information about an unrelated matter, however he did not respond to my email. After the LA Times article was published, me and another close colleague of Dr Alibek sent letters to the editor of LA Times, correcting and clarifying the information in the libelous article, however the editor chose not to respond to our letters or publish them in the "letters to the editor" section. After that, LA Times reportedly apologized for publishing a libelous article about P Diddy; the article was based upon documents which reportedly were "doctored" http://www.nme.com/news/p-diddy/35473. Would any reasonable person give any credibility to the LA Times article, given the information above? I am still shocked that Dr Alibek didn't sue the LA Times for libel; I am confident he would have won. I strongly suggest such a poorly written article with highly questionable credibility not be used as part of a living biography...it violates Wiki principles and seemingly the law. D. Anderson 68.33.54.126 (talk) 02:48, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Ah, presume you wrote the section I've just amended for spelling - it comes over as a little, I dunno, angry/biased, although I'm certain you're correct, this isn't really the place for getting angry - it's just a wiki. 62.255.248.225 (talk) 08:42, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

–The criticism that says that Dr. Alibek was fanciful about adding Ebola genes to smallpox - I know that's baloney. Here's why:

–First, I have personally inserted genes into Vaccinia, which is very close to smallpox. I've done it in roughly 5 days through to selection of plaques which were positive using beta-galactosidase marker. It's routine in labs that work with Vaccinia virus. Here's an example of a paper using the technique. http://jvi.asm.org/content/76/3/1236.full.pdf Look at methods on page 1237 to see how to insert a gene into vaccinia. Smallpox protocol would be identical.

–Second, somewhere, in Russian, is a paper published by the scientist who did the work Alibek talks about. I've seen reference to the paper, but I just don't have the time to try to dig it up and my Russian has seriously deteriorated through non-use. Bluntly put, that critic doesn't know what he's talking about. The techniques have been well developed for a long time. So he's an MD? That doesn't mean he knows lab virology from a hole in his head.

–Yes, I know "personal knowledge" isn't supposed to go into wikipedia. In this case it's pretty ridiculous because it means is that the articles are written by people who are least qualified to do it. That's just dumb. Yes, I've b*tched to Jimmy Wales about this and other deficiencies of wikipedia.

–I agree with the critic of the article above. That LA Times article is rubbish. As such, is shouldn't be dignified with a place in Wikipedia, which has the aim of being accurate. And to the user above, I dare you to walk up to Jimmy Wales and tell him "It's just a wiki." 69.229.121.85 (talk) 22:21, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Verification

This article requires attention to ensure that no content was lost because of these edits. Note that those edits removed the one reference that this article cited. Uncle G 15:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

It is said the information is based partly on the "author's personal knowledge of subject." Does this statement refer to Anderson's work? The publisher of Anderson's work is Center for Advanced Defense Studies. Is this verifiable? All online information sources, in turn, are based on the Wikipedia article.Fconaway 05:21, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Anderson's work WAS NOT published by Center for Advanced Defense Studies. It was published by UMI Dissertation Services. Her dissertation is categorized as UMI #3231331.

In reference to the "personal knowledge" question - Anderson included biographies on William C. Patrick III and Kenneth Alibek in her dissertation. Both gentlemen were members of her dissertation committee and reviewed the biographies written about them before granting permission for Dr. Anderson to publish them. The Wikipedia article was taken verbatim (with Dr. Anderson's permission) from her dissertation.

Impressions on Article

I would like to submit what I feel is a more appropriate article about Dr. Alibek. Having worked closely with Dr. Alibek over the last two years, I am familiar with his personal background, his work at AFG Biosolutions, his professorship at George Mason University, and his current position as CEO and President of MaxWell Biocorporation, a U.S.-based, privately held medical and pharmaceutical company created to serve significant unmet medical needs in emerging healthcare markets in the former Soviet Union. Disclaimer: I work for Dr. Alibek. This draft is not yet complete and requires further referencing, which I will provide. I am submitting it to the Wikipedia community due to what I feel is an inappropriate tone and bias evident in the current entry. My apologies for any formatting errors, as I am new to Wikipedia editing and am still learning.

At the beginning, I need to make three key points. First, Kenneth Alibek is a medical doctor and deserves the title of "Doctor" or "Dr." before his surname, as per standard usage. Referring to him by his surname without his medical title is gratuitously insulting. Second, since his former military rank of Colonel in the Soviet military has long been defunct (along with the Soviet military itself), it is not appropriate to refer to him by that title now. Finally, Dr. Alibek legally changed his name to "Kenneth Alibek" after arriving in the United States; while he often uses the shorter, informal nickname "Ken", "Kenneth" is his full legal first name, as used in his Congressional appearances and testimony, for example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mithrilmax (talk • contribs) 13:09, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Kenneth Alibek

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kenneth Alibek, M.D., Ph.D., Sc.D. (Russian: Канатжан Алибеков; Kazakh: Қанатжан Әлібеков) is a noted American specialist in microbiology, immunology and biotechnology, medical doctor, public health expert and consultant, author, professor, entrepreneur, Chief Executive Officer of AFG Biosolutions Inc. (USA) and President and Chief Executive Officer of MaxWell Biocorporation, LLC (USA). A widely recognized biodefence specialist, Dr. Alibek actively participated in designing a biodefense strategy for the U.S. government, and has repeatedly advised Congress and the U.S. and other governments on biotechnology issues.

Kenneth (“Ken”) Alibek has received honorary diplomas from governments and organizations in many countries, including the Berkeley Medal in 1994 from the U.S. Congress for his outstanding contribution to the struggle for peace. In 2001, he received an award for the largest contract in biotechnology to date concluded with the U.S. government. The “Washington ProFile” news agency has rated Kenneth Alibek as one of the most influential Americans of former Soviet origin.

Dr. Alibek has taught and lectured in leading American universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Georgetown. He has lectured to students and instructors at the University of Sorbonne and the National University of Singapore. Starting in 2007, Dr. Alibek has lectured to graduate students of the Biology Department of the Shevchenko National University in Kiev, Ukraine. He has authored and co-authored more than one hundred scientific and popular articles and ten books.

Dr. Alibek was born Kanatjan Alibekov in Kauchuk, Kazakhstan. Thanks to his exceptional performance while studying military medicine at the Tomsk Medical Institute, after graduation he was selected to work for the Soviet Union’s highly secretive biological weapons program. Dr. Alibek’s formidable abilities as a scientist, manager, and organizer allowed him to rise quickly through a series of increasingly more senior research and management assignments at various Soviet production facilities and institutes, and to learn complex skill sets required for the organization and management of industrial-scale biotechnological facilities and the assembly-line production of biological products.

His continued scientific and managerial successes eventually led to Dr. Alibek’s promotion to a senior position in Moscow, where he ultimately oversaw not only the Soviet Union’s biological weapons facilities but also a significant number of civilian pharmaceutical production facilities. His advancement also gave Dr. Alibek the opportunity to voice his growing opposition to the Soviet Union’s continued secret biological weapons program.

In 1990, Dr. Alibek officially proposed to then-Soviet president Gorbachev the cessation of all biological weapons development and production in the USSR. After Gorbachev approved his proposal, Dr. Alibek used his position and authority to begin destruction of the Soviet biological weapons program despite serious opposition from its military supporters, while also planning to increase production of civilian pharmaceuticals and medicines allocated to the long-deprived Soviet public health sector.

Dr. Alibek was subsequently placed in charge of intensive preparations for inspections of Soviet biological facilities by a joint American and British delegation. While participating in the subsequent reciprocal Soviet inspection of American facilities in late 1991, Dr. Alibek’s growing suspicion that the USA did not have a biological warfare program was confirmed before his return to Russia (the Soviet Union had dissolved while he was in America). Soon after his return from America, Dr. Alibek resigned from both the Soviet army and his Soviet government position, and then secretly emigrated with his family to the United States in 1992, despite being forbidden to do so by the KGB.

After moving to the USA, Dr. Alibek provided the U.S. government with a detailed accounting of the former Soviet biological weapons program and has testified before the United States Congress on numerous occasions (see also Sverdlovsk anthrax leak). He has provided guidance to the intelligence, policy, national security, and medical communities, and for a time returned to the pure biomedical research that captured his interest as a medical student.

Dr. Alibek was the impetus behind the creation of the Graduate Programs in Biodefense, an innovative biodefense graduate education program at George Mason University (GMU) that drew students from across the country, and served in the program as both a Distinguished Professor of Medical Microbiology and as the Director of Education. He also developed the plans for the university’s biosafety level three (BSL3) research facility and was instrumental in obtaining $40 million dollars in federal and state government grants for construction of the facility at GMU.

However, due to substantive differences between him and GMU over the future of the Graduate Programs in Biodefense, Dr. Alibek announced in March 2006 that he would not be teaching classes beyond Spring semester and that he was resigning from George Mason University effective in late August 2006. In an agreement with his students, he volunteered his time from Spring 2006 through Spring 2007 to help them earn their doctoral degrees, despite the tremendous demands on his time placed by his concurrent leadership of AFG Biosolutions and MaxWell Biocorporation.

Dr. Alibek is currently the Chief Executive Officer at the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based AFG Biosolutions, Inc [2] where he and his scientific team continue to develop advanced solutions for antimicrobial immunity.

Motivated by the lack of affordable anti-cancer therapies available in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Dr. Alibek drew on resources available at AFG Biosolutions and elsewhere to create in 2006 a new company, MaxWell Biocorporation, in which he currently serves as CEO & President.

Based in Washington, D.C., with several fully owned subsidiaries and affiliates in the United States and in Ukraine, MaxWell Biocorporation’s main goal is the creation of a new, large-scale, high-technology, ultra-modern pharmaceutical fill-and-finish facility in Ukraine. The high quality off-patent generic pharmaceuticals produced at this site will target severe oncological, cardiological, immunological, and infectious diseases and disorders, and could literally mean the difference between life and death for millions of people in Ukraine who otherwise would have no available therapeutic options to extend and enhance the quality of their lives.

This GMP-compliant pharmaceutical production facility – the biggest and most modern in all of Ukraine and the entire former Soviet Union - will serve as the flagship of a larger healthcare complex at a campus just outside the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv in the town of Boryspil. Construction of the Boryspil facility began in April 2007 and was completed in March 2008; initial production is scheduled to begin later in 2008. [edit] References 1. ^ "Interview Dr. Ken Alibek", Journal of Homeland Security (September 18, 2000) 2. ^ AFG Biosolutions

[edit] Literature

• Alibek, K. and S. Handelman. Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World - Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran it. 1999. Delta (2000) ISBN 0-385-33496-6 [1] • Anderson, D. Lessons Learned from the Former Soviet Biological Warfare Program. 2006. UMI Dissertation Services, UMI NO. 3231331 --Mithrilmax (talk) 23:26, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Changes are welcome so long as they do not violate the Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons, Wikipedia:Manual of Style, Wikipedia:Neutral point of view or other writing rules. For example: like all encyclopedias we do not keep mentioning someone's title; it has nothing to do with "respect", rather with the style of clinical observation that is present in encyclopedias (or, for another example, news). --Bobak (talk) 23:01, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I notice that a section called "Criticism" (which had citations from major news organizations) has been completely removed by Mithrilmax... (And this in an article that was already tagged as too "POV"...) Does anyone find this inappropriate? Bushido123 (talk) 21:06, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I have reinstated the deleted section. Dogwood1 (talk) 17:53, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

What a shameless self-promotion. Ken Alibek, you're pathetic. Ilyas —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.140.240.218 (talk) 19:55, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Defection

I’m unfamiliar with the precise terminology but I was always under the impression that "defection" was a Cold War term. According to this article however, Alibek emigrated in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union and presumably after emigration restrictions were eased.--Lairor (talk) 19:48, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Quote from the Los Angeles Times (“Selling the threat of bioterrorism” by David Willman; July 01, 2007): “A scientist defected, warned of epidemics, helped shape policy and sought to profit….In the fall of 1992, Kanatjan Alibekov defected from Russia to the United States, bringing detailed, and chilling, descriptions of his role in making biological weapons for the former Soviet Union.”

Dictionary definition of “defect” (American Heritage Dictionary): “To abandon a position or association, often to join an opposing group: Example: defected from the party over the issue of free trade.”

You can defect from your own country to another country at any time in history (if they’ll have you).

96.231.214.117 (talk) 22:18, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Misattribution to D. Anderson as a Source

Regarding D. Anderon source - this article relies heavily on copyrighted information provided by me. Contributing authors are violating my copyright and the Wikipedia licensing agreement by changing the meaning of things I wrote and attributing the changed sentiments to me. I am filing a complaint with Wikipedia. My original comments, the only comments which may be attributed to me, can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kenneth_Alibek&oldid=66069560. The comments are provided below and if there is a question about the meaning of something I said, people can ask me at Anderson51704 at yahoo dot com.

"Kenneth Alibek, M.D., Ph.D., Sc.D. is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who was born Kanatjan Alibekov in Kauchuk, Kazakhstan. Because of his exceptional performance while studying military medicine at the Tomsk Medical Institute and his family’s noted patriotism, he was selected to work for Biopreparat, a secret organization attached to the Soviet Union’s Council of Ministers. His first assignment was to the Eastern European Branch of the Institute of Applied Biochemistry near Omutninsk, a combined pesticide production facility and reserve biological weapons production plant that would be activated in a time of war. At Omutninsk, Dr. Alibek mastered the art and science of formulating and evaluating nutient media and cultivation conditions for their impact on microbial growth. It was here that he expanded his medical school laboratory skills into the complex skill set required for industrial level production of microrganisms and their products.

After less than a year at Omutninsk, Dr. Alibek was transferred to the Siberian Branch of the Institute of Applied Biochemistry near Berdsk. With the assistance of a colleague, he designed and constructed a microbiology research and development laboratory to develop techniques to optimize production of biological formulations. After several promotions over a short period of time, Dr. Alibek was transferred back to Omutninsk where he quickly rose to the position of Deputy Director.

Dr. Alibek wasn’t at Omutninsk long before he was transferred to the Kazakhstan Scientific and Production Base in Stepnogorsk (another reserve biological weapons facility) to become the new Director. Officially, he was Deputy Director of the Progress Scientific and Production Association, a manufacturer of fertilizer and pesticide. At Stepnogorsk, Dr. Alibek created the most efficient industrial scale assembly line for biological formulations. In a time of war, the assembly line could be used to produce anthrax biological weapons. Continued successes in science and biotechnology led to more promotions which resulted in a transfer to Moscow.

In Moscow, Dr. Alibek began his service as the deputy chief of the Biosafety Directorate at Biopreparat. He was later promoted to First Deputy Director of Biopreparat where he not only oversaw the biological weapons facilities but also the significant number of pharmaceutical facilities that produced antibiotics, vaccines, sera, and interferon for the public. Though the time he had available was short, he took this additional responsibility to public health seriously. In response to a Spring 1990 announcement that the Ministry of Medical and Microbiological Industry was to be reorganized, Dr. Alibek drafted and forwarded through channels a memo to President Gorbachev proposing the cessation of Biopreparat’s biological weapons work. Though the President approved the proposal, an additonal paragraph had been secretly inserted into Dr. Alibek’s draft resulting in a presidential decree that not only ordered the end of Biopreparat’s biological weapons work but also required them to remain prepared for future production. Though disappointed by the double dealing, Dr. Alibek used his position at Biopreparat and the authority granted to him by the first part of the decree to begin destruction of the biological weapons program. He also negotiated a concurrent appointment to a Biopreparat facility called Biomash. Biomash designed and produced technical equipment for microbial cultivation and testing. He planned to increase the amount of product sent to the hospitals and the civilian medical laboratories beyond the 40% allocated at the time.

Dr. Alibek wasn’t at Biomash long when he was placed in charge of the intensive preparations for the facility inspections that were to be conducted by a joint American and British delegation. While participating in the subsequent Soviet inspection of American facilities, his growing suspicion that the USA did not have a biological warfare program was confirmed before his return to Russia (the Soviet Union dissolved while he was in America). Not long after his return from America, Dr. Alibek resigned from both the army and from Biopreparat and secretly emigrated with his family to the United States.

Since moving to the USA, Dr. Alibek has provided the government with a detailed accounting of the former Soviet biological weapons program and has testified before United States Congress on numerous occasions (see also Sverdlovsk anthrax leak). He has provided guidance to the intelligence, policy, national security, and medical communities and has returned to the pure biomedical research that captured his interest as a medical student. He was the impetus behind the creation of an innovative biodefense graduate education program at George Mason University that drew students from across the country and has served in the program as both a Distinguished Professor of Medical Microbiology and as the Director of Education. He also developed the plans for the university’s biosafety level three (BSL3) research facility and was instrumental in obtaining $40 million dollars of grants from the federal and state governments for construction of the facility. Though he has resigned from the university, he still volunteers his time to mentor his numerous former students while they complete their doctoral degrees.

Dr. Alibek is currently the President and Chief Scientific Officer at AFG Biosolutions, Inc [1] where he and his scientific team are continuing their development of advanced solutions for antimicrobial immunity. Motivated by the lack of affordable anti-cancer therapies available in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, AFG Biosolutions, Inc. is using Dr. Alibek’s extensive biotechnology experience to plan, build, and manage a new pharmaceutical production facility designed specifically to address this problem. The high quality pharmaceuticals produced will be an affordable source of therapy for millions of regional people who otherwise would have no available therapeutic options to enhance the quality of their lives.[1]"

The information provided above is the only information that can be attributed to me.

Next Generation (talk) 11:26, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Further comments

This BLP article looks very strange: a mixture of poorly sourced libelious and promotional materials, precisely the kind of staff that makes bad press for wikipedia. But unfortunately I can not fix it because of my topic ban.Biophys (talk) 03:08, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

"Monographs" section. Wikipedia is not the place to publish such lists (books are fine). If the publications were used to source text ("he did this... [in-line reference]"), that could be OK.Biophys (talk) 05:11, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

This is not the answer. All materials must be sourced per WP:RS and follow WP:NPOV. If they are not, anyone can remove such materials at will.Biophys (talk) 15:56, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

I can see where are you coming from [1]. This is not even a personal web site of Alibek (if he had one, it could be included). We need 3rd party publications about the subject of the article (newspapers, journals). I am not going to remove this, but others might.Biophys (talk) 18:21, 26 January 2011 (UTC)