Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) just introduced a bill that would slap a 20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence on anyone caught smuggling biological agents into the United States — and if you're wondering why we need such a law, allow me to introduce you to the fine "scientists" at the NIH who allegedly smuggled monkeypox vials into the country through Detroit like it was a bag of duty-free chocolates.
Because apparently the current punishment for sneaking deadly viruses across our border is a maximum of five years with no mandatory minimum. Five years! You can get more than that for tax fraud.
The Biosecurity Smuggling Deterrence Act comes on the heels of DOJ charges filed last week against two NIH researchers — Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe — both stationed at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana. According to the charges, the pair allegedly smuggled 17 vials of deactivated monkeypox virus, one vial of chickenpox, and two vials of human DNA from the Republic of Congo, entering through Detroit, Michigan. They allegedly lied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents about what they were carrying.
Seventeen vials of monkeypox. Through Detroit. And they just... lied about it.
Cotton's bill would amend 18 U.S.C. § 178 to impose a 20-year mandatory minimum for smuggling or attempting to smuggle biological agents or toxins. Conspiracy to smuggle gets the same 20 years. And if you lie to federal agents about it — the way Munster and Kwe allegedly did — that's a 5-year mandatory minimum for false statements. No wiggle room. No plea-bargaining your way down to a stern letter.
"Illegally smuggling dangerous viruses into our country threatens the health and safety of all Americans," Cotton said. "My bill would increase the punishment for anyone who commits this heinous crime."
Short, sweet, and exactly the kind of thing we should have had on the books years ago.
Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President of White Coat Waste, had been sounding the alarm well before the DOJ moved. His organization sent a whistleblower letter in early May flagging the activity at Rocky Mountain Laboratory. White Coat Waste has been one of the few groups willing to hold NIH's feet to the fire — they were instrumental in exposing the agency's questionable research practices long before "gain of function" became a household phrase.
And speaking of NIH's greatest hits, let's not forget this is the same agency that operated under Dr. Anthony Fauci's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades. The same agency that funded research in Wuhan. The same agency that told us everything was fine while the world burned. Now we find out their researchers are allegedly running a biological smuggling operation out of Congo.
The pattern is impossible to ignore. NIH has operated like a kingdom unto itself — no oversight, no accountability, and apparently no consequences when their people get caught doing things that would land any ordinary American in a federal supermax.
Cotton's bill changes that calculus. Twenty years is twenty years. That's not a slap on the wrist you can lawyer your way out of. That's a real deterrent for anyone who thinks smuggling pathogens across international borders is just another day at the lab.
We spent three years being told to "trust the science." Turns out the science was smuggling monkeypox through customs. As reported by Military.com, Cotton shared the bill exclusively ahead of its formal introduction — and not a moment too soon.
Pass this bill yesterday.