Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Health and Human Services (HHS) has ordered the halt to deadly disease research conducted at the Integrated Research Facility (IRF), located within Fort Detrick, a U.S. Army base in Frederick, Maryland.

Fort Detrick has long served as the U.S. military's bioweapons epicenter—where government scientists conducted classified gain-of-function research, aerosolized virus dispersion trials, and weaponization of deadly pathogens like anthrax, plague, tularemia, and Ebola under secretive programs such as the U.S. Army's Special Operations Division and Project Jefferson, much of it hidden behind black budgets and shielded from congressional oversight.

The facility's director, Connie Schmaljohn, has been placed on administrative leave, according to a Wednesday WIRED report.

IRF is a research facility within the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).