U.S. Agencies Seen as Slow to Move on Terrorism Risk
One example of a slow response came at the Department of Agriculture, where the inspector general's office reported that many of the agency's 336 laboratories were unable to account for dangerous biological agents that are listed in their stockpiles, including three billion doses of a dangerous virus.

On Sept. 24, in a sign of the problem's urgency, the inspector general, whose auditors had inspected only a few laboratories so far, issued a "management alert" recommending that the agency strengthen controls over its inventories. The next month, the department reported to the White House Office of Homeland Security that the laboratories and their contents had been secured.

But the auditors, after visiting an additional 114 laboratories at 87 sites, questioned that claim, saying that the department still did not have an accurate picture of its stockpiles. In January they issued another alert, saying that the situation had "not significantly changed."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/national/12INSP.html?todaysheadlines=&pagewanted=all&position=top