Richard Spertzel: It was a very interesting time when... after the announcement by President Nixon. When you crossed the gate into Detrick, it was just... the doom and gloom, just it would permeate it. It was just there, you know, and it took months for that to change. And that did affect the medical people as well, because, you know, as anybody... crossing... once you... once you entered through that gate, it was just there. The USAMRIID's mission, at the same time, was slightly expanded because we could take advantage of some of the things that were developed by biological laboratories. When we no longer had that avenue, we had to expand the staff, and so there was a fairly significant expansion of the staff of USAMRIID.
Slava Paperno: That absorbed some of the scientists who were out of work?
Spertzel: Yes. And as civil servants they had priority over new hires.