Washington (AFP) – The White House has promised the United States will not use vaccination programs as cover for spy operations — after the move was attempted during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

President Barack Obama’s top White House anti-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco told deans of 13 US schools of public health that CIA chief John Brennan had directed last year that agents would “make no operational use of vaccination programs.”

“Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programs.”

[READ MORE](http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-vows-cia-not-stage-fake-vaccine-220506787.html)