WASHINGTON, DC-Secret research on biological weapons has been underway in the US for years, with one specific goal in mind-to protect US soldiers from chemical attacks.

White House officials have said the program, which was known by the National Security Council and the appropriate congressional oversight committees, has been researching defensive methods in nature to protect the US military. Government officials were quick to point out that the US has not broken the 1972 treaty banning biological weapons. 

The research, which began under the Clinton administration, does push the treaty. However, the government is looking at germ warfare with a terrorist's perspective by creating a secret germ factory in the Nevada desert, using only commercially available materials. 

Pentagon officials said the plant was created with the idea that a foreign terrorist or government could easily create a similar lab, thereby creating pounds of deadly germs.

There were no specifics available concerning the type of germs created, the location of the lab, or the duration of the project.