"Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary, who prompted the attention about radiation experiments, has no formal jurisdiction over the Army's biological testing program. But she might have an interest in an early germ-warfare test. It took place in 1951 near Newport News, Va., where she was growing up.

The Army released an organism called Aspergillus fumigatus at the Norfolk Naval Supply Center because most workers were black; for some reason, the testers imagined an enemy might target the blacks at military bases. 'Since Negroes are more susceptible to coccidioides than are whites,' a report said, 'this fungus disease was simulated by using Aspergillus fumigatus.' Aspergillus, further, was known to cause lethal infections."
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/25/opinion/the-worry-germ-warfare-the-target-us.html