Half of this biocontainment operation was going to be news containment. c. j. peters's comments to the washington post were designed to create an impression that the situation was under control, safe, and not all that interesting. c. j. was understating the gravity of the situation. but he could be very smooth when he wanted, and he used his friendliest voice with the reporters, assuring them over the telephone that there really was no problem, just kind of a routine technical situation. somehow the reporters concluded that the sick monkeys had been "destroyed as a precaution" when in fact the nightmare, and the reason for troops, was that the animals hadn't been destroyed.

–the hot zone,
richard preston

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