The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001 (a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks). Letters containing anthrax bacteria were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. Senators, killing five people and sickening seventeen others. The crime remains unsolved.
Two additional anthrax letters, bearing the same Trenton postmark, were dated October 9, three weeks after the first mailing. The letters were addressed to two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. More potent than the first anthrax letters, the material in the Senate letters was a highly refined dry powder consisting of approximately one gram of nearly pure spores. Some reports described the material in the Senate letters as "weaponized" or "weapons grade" anthrax. The Daschle letter was opened by an aide on October 15, and the government mail service was shut down. The unopened Leahy letter was discovered in an impounded mail bag on November 16. The Leahy letter had been misdirected to the State Department mail annex in Sterling, Virginia, due to a misread Zip code; a postal worker there, David Hose, contracted inhalation anthrax.
Twenty-two people developed anthrax infections, eleven of the life-threatening inhalation variety. Five died of inhalation anthrax. In addition to the death of Robert Stevens in Florida, two died from unknown sources, possibly cross-contamination of mail: Kathy Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant from New York City; and Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year old widow of a prominent judge from Oxford, Connecticut, who was the last known victim. The two other deaths were employees of the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, D.C., Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen.
Thousands of people took a two-month course of the antibiotic Cipro in an effort to preempt anthrax infections. The Associated Press reported that members of Vice President Dick Cheney's staff took Cipro on the night of the September 11 attacks as a precaution, a week before the first anthrax attack. *
As of 2006, the anthrax investigation seems to have gone cold. Authorities have traveled to four different continents, interviewed more than 8,000 individuals and have issued over 5,000 subpoenas. The number of FBI agents assigned to the case is now 21, ten fewer than a year ago. The number of postal inspectors investigating the case is nine.
The FBI and postal inspectors are in the process of preparing an internal report reviewing the history of the investigation. The report will include a list of "persons of interest" and the latest on the scientific tests used on the anthrax material. Investigators still have not determined the lab used to make the anthrax.
("Little Progress In FBI Probe of Anthrax Attacks", The Washington Post, September 16, 2005 "In 4-Year Anthrax Hunt, F.B.I. Finds Itself Stymied and Sued", The New York Times, September 17, 2005 [http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/nyt2.html#nyt50917)
Radiocarbon dating conducted by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in June 2002 established that the anthrax was cultured no more than two years before the mailings.
In September 2003, the FBI disclosed that experiments aimed at reverse engineering the process used to produce the anthrax weapon had failed. [http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1102/111102gsn1.htm
A number of press reports appeared suggesting the Senate anthrax had coatings and additives. * Newsweek reported the anthrax sent to Senator Leahy had been coated with a chemical compound previously unknown to bioweapons experts. [http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/sophisticatedstrainanthrax.html" target="_blank" >*
Two experts on the Soviet anthrax program, Kenneth Alibek and Matthew Meselson, were consultants with the Justice Department and were shown electron micrographs of the anthrax from the Daschle letter. They replied to the Washington Post article "FBI's Theory on Anthrax Is Doubted" (October 28, 2002), reporting that they saw no evidence the anthrax spores had been coated. *.
One week after Meselson and Alibek had their letter published in the Washington Post suggesting there were no silica coatings in the Senate anthrax the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), one of the military labs that analyzed the Daschle anthrax, published an official newsletter stating that silica was a key aerosol enabling component of the Daschle anthrax. The AFIP lab deputy director, Florabel Mullick, said "This [silica was a key component. Silica prevents the anthrax from aggregating, making it easier to aerosolize. Significantly, we noted the absence of aluminum with the silica. This combination had previously been found in anthrax produced by Iraq."
In February 2005, Stephan P. Velsko of Lawrence Livermore National Labs published a paper titled "Physical and Chemical Analytical Analysis: A key component of Bioforensics" *. In this paper, Velsko illustrated that different silica coating processes gave rise to weaponized anthrax simulants that look completely different from one another. He suggested that the difference in the look of products could provide evidence of what method the lab that manufactured the 2001 anthrax used, and thus provide clues to the ultimate origin of the material.
In May 2005, Academic Press published the volume "Microbial Forensics" edited by Roger Breeze, Bruce Budowle and Steven Schutzer. * Bruce Budowle is with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Forensic Science Laboratory. Although the volume does not directly discuss the silica coatings found in the senate anthrax of 2001, the contributors to the chapters discuss in detail the forensics of silica coated weaponized bacterial spores. Pictures are shown of silica weaponized bacillus spores that are both mixed with silica and fully coated with silica. Pictures of weaponized Clostridium spores coated with colloidal (spherical) silica are also shown. Again, the aim of these studies is to define the forensic fingerprints of silica weaponization processes.
The address is fictitious. Franklin Park, New Jersey exists, but the Zip code 08852 is for nearby Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. There is no Greendale School in New Jersey.
The New York Post and NBC News letters contained the following note:
The second note that was addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy read:
The notes were apparently photocopied and then trimmed. *
Dave Altimari and Jack Dolan A number of articles on the anthrax case have appeared in The Hartford Courant, many written by Dave Altimari and Jack Dolan. In their reporting they found incidents of mismanagement, racism, and missing pathogens at the Army's biodefense lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
William J. Broad William J. Broad writes for the New York Times.
Gary Matsumoto Gary Matsumoto is a television producer for Bloomberg News, and an investigative journalist who specializes in science and military affairs, who wrote, "Anthrax Powder - State of the Art?" (Science, November 28, 2003). He also co-wrote, "FBI's Theory on Anthrax Is Doubted" (The Washington Post, October 28, 2002) with Washington Post science writer, Guy Gugliotta.[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28334-2002Oct27?language=printer Matsumoto discusses the advanced properties of the anthrax found in the Senate letters. In his Science article, Matsumoto reports that the powder in the Senate letters most closely resembled the advanced aerosols now being made in U.S. biodefense labs.
Scott Shane Scott Shane writing for the Baltimore Sun and New York Times has written several articles on the anthrax case.
David Tell
David Tell writes for The Weekly Standard, a neo-conservative publication that has been critical of the FBI's profile of a lone domestic terrorist being involved in the anthrax case.
Kenneth J. Dillon
Kenneth J. Dillon is the author of the article "Was Abderraouf Jdey the Anthrax Mailer?" * He is a former U.S. Department of State intelligence analyst who now has a biomedical device business. In April 2005 the Department of State, on behalf of FBI, offered up to $5 million for information on Jdey, the only al Qaeda operative in North America known to have studied biology (at the University of Montreal). Dillon also argues that the anthrax originated in a clandestine British bioweapons program.
Don Foster
Donald Foster is the author of the article, "The Message in the Anthrax*" (Vanity Fair, October 2003). Unlike other amateur investigators, Foster was an insider in the case and has helped the FBI in the past as a forensic linguistic analyst. Foster believes a series of bioterrorist hoaxes trails his prime suspect, Dr. Steven Hatfill.
According to Hatfill's defamation lawsuit against Foster, Foster had previously argued based on the writing and language of the letters that the perpetrator could be a foreigner who spoke Arabic or Urdu. The lawsuit cited a October 23, 2001 appearance by Foster on ABC’s Good Morning America; an article that quoted him in the November 5, 2001 issue of TIME; and a December 26, 2001 The Times article that quoted him.
Foster has been accused of exaggerating his own importance and providing misleading testimony in other high profile crime cases. [http://liarunlimited.com/page2.html
Ross E. Getman
Ross E. Getman, a New York and District of Columbia attorney, has a web site http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com, "Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman Zawahiri." Getman believes the anthrax attack was exactly what the notes in the letters suggest, namely a follow-up to the September 11, 2001 attacks by individuals connected to Al Qaeda. Getman requested information on Al Qaeda's alleged anthrax program from the Defense Intelligence Agency ("DIA") pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). * It is unclear if the information on his web site came from the DIA or another intelligence agency. Getman was making his claim of Al Qaeda involvement in the anthrax attacks before his April 2005 FOIA request.
Ed Lake
Robert Pate
Robert Pate is the author of the article, "The Anthrax Mystery: Solved." at http://www.anthraxattacks.net. Pate believes Israel's intelligence service was responsible for the anthrax attack and set-up Dr. Hatfill with a series of anthrax hoaxes that occurred, starting in 1997. Pate suggests Israel's motive in the anthrax attack was to get the United States to invade Iraq. A number of Israelis believed to have been spies were arrested on September 11, 2001. "The FBI believes that most of the arrested Israelis belong to an Israeli intelligence unit operating outside New Jersey, near where the Anthrax letters were mailed." *
Barbara Hatch Rosenberg
Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg has been a major figure outside the official investigation. A few months after the anthrax attack, Rosenberg started a campaign to get the FBI to investigate Dr. Steven Hatfill. She gave talks and interviews suggesting the government knew who was responsible for the anthrax attacks, but did not want to charge the individual with the crime. She believed the person responsible was a contractor for the CIA and an expert in bio-warfare. She created a profile of the anthrax attacker that fit Dr. Hatfill. Rosenberg spoke before a committee of Senate staffers suggesting Hatfill was responsible, but did not explicitly provide his name. The highly publicized FBI scrutiny of Dr. Hatfill began shortly thereafter.
Richard M. Smith Richard M. Smith is a computer expert who publishes on his web site, http://www.computerbytesman.com, which includes a number of articles about the anthrax case. Smith suggested that if the perpetrator looked up information such as addresses on the Internet, web server logs may contain valuable evidence.
"I would say preliminarily that they terrorists are not very highly trained professionals." "It could be homegrown or foreign. I cannot answer this question."
"It was a primitive process, but it was a workable process."*
"It’s high-grade."
"It’s free flowing. It’s electrostatic free. And it’s in high concentration.
"It appears to have an additive that keeps the spores from clumping."
"The only difference between this and weapons grades is the size of the production. You can produce a very good grade of anthrax in the lab. The issue is whether those efforts can be expanded in scale, so you can make large quantities." *
"The fact that they have selected the Ames strain, a hot strain of anthrax, indicates to me that they know what the hell they are doing."
"Sometimes, I feel that a disgruntled professor who didn't get tenure is working at night in his little laboratory and producing this crud." "But I can't discount the possibility that it could be coming in by diplomatic pouch from a large supply. I can't answer it. I can't make up my mind. I really don't know." *
"In my opinion, there are maybe four or five people in the whole country who might be able to make this stuff, and I'm one of them." "And even with a good lab and staff to help run it, it might take me a year to come up with a product as good." *
"I do not believe science will identify the laboratory or country from which the present anthrax spores are derived. The quality of the product contained in the letter to Senator Daschle was better than that found in the Soviet, U.S. or Iraqi program, certainly in terms of the purity and concentration of spore particles."
"I have maintained from the first descriptions of the material contained in the Daschle letter that the quality appeared to be such that it could be produced only by some group that was involved with a current or former state program in recent years. The level of knowledge, expertise, and experience required and the types of special equipment required to make such quality product takes time and experimentation to develop. Further, the nature of the finished dried product is such that safety equipment and facilities must be used to protect the individuals involved and to shield their clandestine activity from discovery." *
Tom Carey
Tom Carey was inspector in charge of the FBI Amerithrax investigation from October 2001 to April 2002.
On the mailings of the letters,
"What we do have and what we do know is that the anthrax was mailed here in the United States; we know it was mailed from 10 Nassau Street, Princeton, New Jersey, from a mailbox. We know the flow of the mail flow, we know the dates that the letters were sent, and it would appear to many of us that have worked this investigation, that it’s much more consistent with someone being an American-born, and having some level of familiarity with the Princeton-Clinton New Jersey area versus a foreign operative coming into the U.S. and being able to successfully conduct such an attack."
On an Iraqi connection,
"What I would say is the information that came out there that led weapons inspectors and others to suspect the Iraq connection was wrong information. Now it doesn’t say we still wouldn’t look for any potential connection to Iraq, or rather any other States sponsored terrorist, but what they specifically referred to didn’t exist, and it was misinformation." ("Anthrax: a Political Whodunit", ABC Radio National, November 17, 2002. *)
James Fitzgerald
"We don't have any evidence at this point linking this to any more than one person." "We're not ruling anything out." "But we're looking in the direction of that being domestic." "He is an opportunist and took advantage of this as a veil of secrecy." *
Ari Fleischer White House Press Secretary
"The quality anthrax sent to Senator Daschle's office could be produced by a Ph.D. microbiologist and a sophisticated laboratory." *
Van A. Harp
Van A. Harp was Assistant Director in charge of the Washington Field Office of the FBI.
"The person knew what they were doing. Contrary to what was initially out there at the beginning of the investigation, this anthrax, we do not believe, was made up in a garage or a bathtub. There are only so many people, so many places that this can be done." *
"Regarding the hijacker who some believe may have had anthrax, exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been." *
The principal means of decontamination is fumigation with chlorine dioxide gas.
Some claim the hysteria and fear caused by the anthrax attacks was a key factor in the passage of the now controversial USA PATRIOT Act and the United States Senate authorizing President Bush to go to war against Iraq. *
Many states across the U.S. passed laws making hoaxes more serious crimes than they were previous to the attacks.
A postal inspector, William Paliscak, became severely ill and disabled after removing an anthrax-contaminated air filter from the Brentwood mail facility on October 19, 2001. Although his doctors, Tyler Cymet and Gary Kerkvliet, believe that the illness was caused by anthrax exposure, blood tests did not find anthrax bacteria or antibodies, and therefore the CDC does not recognize it as a case of inhalation anthrax. ("After a Shower of Anthrax, an Illness and a Mystery", The New York Times, June 7, 2005) *
2001 anthrax attacks | History of New Jersey | Terrorist incidents in 2001 | Terrorist incidents in the United States | Unsolved murders | Anti-terrorism policy of the United States
Enveloppes contaminées au bacille du charbon | Pernaruttokirjeet
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