the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

incurred in the Anglo-Boer War. 40
In Angola, the importance of immediate battlefield medical attention was
the primary rationale used to justify elevating and re-organizing the SAMS, as
a new and separate fourth branch of the military. The new medical corps
branch was placed on an equal footing in terms of operational command and
administrative matters with the three existing branches of the service (army,
navy and air force). SAMS received a mandate to develop defensive
capabilities and to train to protect the South African Defense Force (SADF)
from all types of attacks, including biological and chemical warfare. This
mandate was the principal reason why managerial oversight and responsibility
for the new CBW program was given to the 7th Battalion of the South African
Medical Service. SAMS’s mission changed and became more ambiguous, as
SADF forces shifted from battlefield operations to policing functions at home.
The fact that 7 th Battalion was accorded a large degree of autonomy from its
inception and operated on a strict “need-to-know” basis meant that relatively
few SADF officers, including the majority of senior SADF generals, had
detailed knowledge of the activities of 7 th Battalion throughout its existence. 41
The 7th Battalion was a special support organization that was established
to support special services operations. SAMS medical personal (e.g., doctors
and orderlies) were also Special Forces officers who underwent special service
training. During the period of South African involvement in Angola, many of
these medical personal served as members of small (i.e., four-man) Special
Forces covert action teams. While the military Surgeon General was
responsible for the operations of seven medical battalions, the secret nature of
7th Battalion operations during incursions into Angola meant that this unit had
a high degree of operational autonomy. This autonomy and latitude for
independent action continued throughout the 1980s, even though new types of
Special Forces operations at home increasingly replaced the combat-related
functions of the unit. As the SADF increasingly undertook policing and
16