The U.S. Army Medical Unit (USAMU or AMU) was originally established on 20 June 1956 as a separate Class II activity under the jurisdiction of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC).
One of the USAMU's first responsibilities was to oversee all aspects of Project CD-22, the exposure of volunteers to aerosols containing a highly pathogenic strain of Coxiella burnetii, the causal agent of Q fever.
(It was a medical research program using volunteer enlisted personnel – all conscientious objectors.)
Modern principles of biosafety and biocontainment were pioneered at Fort Detrick throughout the 1960s by a number of scientists led by Arnold G. Wedum.
6, dated 27 January 1969, Office of The Surgeon General, redesignated the USAMU as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) still assigned to USAMRDC.