What to know about Plum Island: Theories and rumors about lab work done at the Animal Disease Center

Welcome to Plum Island: 840 acres in Long Island Sound off Orient Point with a lighthouse, beaches, brambles and, for now, a laboratory operated by the federal government studying the most highly transmissible livestock diseases in the world.

The site of a former U.S. Army fort and top secret laboratory since 1954, it has served as home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center to study transmitted diseases from livestock, including foot and mouth disease. Its future is uncertain following a congressional directive to plan the lab's closure in the coming years.

Those research operations are being relocated to Kansas. This week, a Suffolk County spokesman said federal officials had approached the county to discuss the possibility of transferring ownership of the land to Suffolk.

The island, named by European settlers for its abundance of fruit trees, has spawned conspiracy theories about some of its top secret research.

Here's what you should know about the mysterious island:

What is the history and mysteries surrounding Plum Island?

A federal presence on the island dates to the turn of the 20th century, when the U.S. Army built Fort Terry there, part of a broader effort to defend the nation from naval invasion. The federal presence morphed over time with the perceived threats: boats, aircraft, pathogens.

It is that last iteration, perhaps because of the security precautions it necessitates, along with the island’s remoteness, that has captured the public imagination.

"Plum Island," a 1997 Nelson DeMille novel, touched on biowarfare, murder and the CIA.

"Did Lyme disease originate in the eastern U.S. from Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks that escaped from a laboratory at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center where scientists were conducting top-secret biological warfare experiments?" asks the American Lyme Disease Foundation in an article on the organization’s website, touching on a theory circulated by, among others, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Rumors and conspiracy theories have emerged about testing at the site, including Kennedy's debunked claim that Lyme disease started as a military bioweapon on Plum Island.

What will happen to the research center?

The Animal Disease Center was slated to close and move its operations to Manhattan, Kansas, staffed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Homeland Security. 

Four years ago, Congress repealed 2008 legislation directing the General Services Administration to open Plum Island for bidding through a public sale, according to the GSA. 

Instead, the property can be transferred to New York State, Suffolk County, the Town of Southold or other eligible entities, GSA officials said. 

Once the Department of Homeland Security declares Plum Island excess, GSA will make the property available to eligible entities and will work with them to understand potential terms and conditions of a transfer.

What is being done to preserve Plum Island?

Organizations working to preserve the site for years formed the Preserve Plum Island Coalition. Advocates have welcomed local control.

The transfer has been discussed during one meeting between Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville).

LaLota previously proposed legislation in 2023 to designate Plum Island as a national monument. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also introduced a bill in February for the Plum Island Preservation Act. 

The bill would protect Plum Island from development and work with federal, local and tribal stakeholders to maintain access to Plum Island and note the "discovery and celebration of the historical and cultural heritage of Plum Island."