The Sunshine Project was an international NGO dedicated to upholding prohibitions against biological warfare and, particularly, to preventing military abuse of biotechnology.
With offices in Austin, Texas, and Hamburg, Germany, the Sunshine Project worked by exposing research on biological and chemical weapons.
Typically, it accessed documents under the Freedom of Information Act and other open records laws, publishing reports and encouraging action to reduce the risk of biological warfare.
It tracked the construction of high containment laboratory facilities and the dual-use activities of the U.S. biodefense program.
Another focus was on documenting government-sponsored research and development of incapacitating "non-lethal" weapons, such as the chemical used by Russia to end the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002.