Anthrax investigation too narrow, congressman says

Source: Los Angeles Times

Anthrax investigation too narrow, congressman says

N.J. Democrat Rush Holt tells an expert panel looking into the 2001 postal attacks that he still questions the FBI version of events. The bureau said a now-deceased Maryland scientist acted alone.

Washington Post
August 1, 2009

Washington -- A key congressional critic of the FBI's investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks called Friday for a broader inquiry into the government's handling of the case, saying he remained deeply skeptical of the bureau's assertion that a Maryland scientist acted alone in carrying out the country's worst bioterrorism attack.

"Our government -- and specifically, the FBI -- suffers from a credibility gap on this issue," Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) told an expert panel that convened in Washington this week to begin reviewing the scientific methods the FBI used to link the attacks to Bruce E. Ivins, a microbiologist who worked in the Army's chief biodefense lab at Ft. Detrick, Md.

..............................

Holt, whose district includes postal facilities that were used to mail some of the letters containing anthrax bacteria, said the panel's focus was too narrow.

"I'd like to be able to assure my constituents in New Jersey that there is no longer a murderer at large, and that we're prepared to deal with the next bioterrorist attack," Holt said in an interview.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anthrax1-2009aug01,0,3257440.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49502-2001Dec15.html

Capitol Hill Anthrax Matches Army's Stocks
5 Labs Can Trace Spores to Ft. Detrick

By Rick Weiss and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 16, 2001; Page A01

Genetic fingerprinting studies indicate that the anthrax spores mailed to Capitol Hill are identical to stocks of the deadly bacteria maintained by the U.S. Army since 1980, according to scientists familiar with the most recent tests.

Although many laboratories possess the Ames strain of anthrax involved in this fall's bioterrorist attacks, only five laboratories so far have been found to have spores with perfect genetic matches to those in the Senate letters, the scientists said. And all those labs can trace back their samples to a single U.S. military source: the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md.

"That means the original source had to have been USAMRIID," said one of the scientists.

Those matching samples are at Fort Detrick; the Dugway Proving Ground military research facility in Utah; a British military lab called Porton Down; and microbial depositories at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Northern Arizona University. Northern Arizona University received its sample from LSU, which received its sample from Porton Down. Dugway and Porton Down got their samples directly from USAMRIID.

In another development yesterday, government health officials said they planned to recommend that about 3,000 people who were exposed to anthrax, including hundreds of Washington postal and Capitol Hill workers, be offered an experimental vaccine as a precaution in case antibiotic treatment alone failed to protect them from getting sick.

The FBI's investigation into the anthrax attacks is increasingly focusing on whether U.S. government bioweapons research programs, including one conducted by the CIA, may have been the source of deadly anthrax powder sent through the mail, according to sources with knowledge of the probe. The results of the genetic tests strengthen that possibility. The FBI is focusing on a contractor that worked with the CIA, one source said.

But it remains unknown which lab may have lost control of the material that apparently ended up in terrorist hands. One of the two scientists familiar with the genetic testing, who has been advising the government on the anthrax scare, said investigators still know little about security at Porton Down, though they have no reason to suppose it has been inadequate. Of the domestic labs, Dugway has attracted the most attention from the FBI, he said.

Dugway is also the only facility known in recent years to have processed anthrax spores into the powdery form that is most easily inhaled.

Scientists have known for some time that bacteria used in the terrorist attacks belong to the Ames strain, a variant of the anthrax bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, that was first isolated from a cow in Iowa and has been under study by military scientists for decades. But the Ames strain comes in various subtypes that can be distinguished from one another by detailed tests on the microbe's genes.

The genetic fingerprinting finding was made by a research team led by geneticist Paul Keim at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which has been comparing the Ames strain bacteria found in the Senate letters to other Ames strain samples retrieved from nature and from various university and government laboratories.

"That's good detective work in the sense of determining the origins; this will narrow the search for the people who had access to the strain," said Jennie Hunter-Cevera, a microbiologist and president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.

Other experts were cautious, noting that it is possible that the exact subtype of the Ames strain could have originated elsewhere -- perhaps even isolated from animals or soil in the wild.

"It's an important finding but it's not one of those things that says, 'Aha!' " said Richard Spertzel, a former director of the U.N. biological weapons team in Iraq.

The scientists are still planning to do genetic testing on anthrax bacteria from the Defense Research Establishment Suffield, a Canadian military research facility, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, a government contractor doing research on anthrax vaccines. Those are the only other facilities known to have received samples from USAMRIID.

The researchers also plan to test samples obtained from nature, and from other university labs known to have the Ames strain to see if any others match. But of the few such samples that have been tested so far none has matched the spores used by the terrorists.

In addition, the researchers want to examine other characteristics of the samples, such as proteins, carbohydrates and other substances in the material.

"If there's also a telltale piece or trace of nutrients or chemicals that show the process, that's even better. You start adding the pieces and go from tentative to
confirmative," Hunter-Cevera said.

The CIA's biowarfare program, which was designed to find ways to defend against bioterrorists, involved the use of small amounts of Ames strain, an agency spokesman said yesterday. The CIA declined to say where its Ames strain material came from. The spokesman said, however, that the CIA's anthrax was not milled into the volatile power form found in the letters and that none of it is missing.

Nevertheless, the FBI has turned its attention to learning more about the CIA's work with anthrax, which investigators were told about by the agency within the past few
weeks, government officials said. The CIA has tried to develop defenses against a vaccine-resistant strain of anthrax reportedly developed by the Russians several years ago.

While the CIA has had small amounts of Ames strain anthrax in its labs to "compare and contrast with other strains," a spokesman said, the agency did not "grow, create
or produce the Ames strain." The anthrax contained in the letters under investigation
"absolutely did not" come from CIA labs, the spokesman said.

He also said that the FBI is fully aware of the CIA's work with anthrax and suggested
investigators were satisfied with the information they had been provided. Law enforcement sources, however, said the FBI remains extremely interested in the CIA's
work with anthrax, with one official calling it the best lead they have at this point. The sources said FBI investigators do not yet know much about the CIA program.

Both law enforcement and intelligence officials said the CIA is cooperating with the FBI probe.

Investigators are considering a wide range of possible motives for the anthrax attacks, including vengeance of some sort, profiteering by someone involved in the anthrax cleanup business, or perhaps an effort by someone to cast blame on Iraq, which has an extensive bioweapons arsenal.

Whoever sent the letters could have a strong scientific background, officials said, but they also believe the material could have been stolen and mailed by someone
without such expertise.

A law enforcement source said the FBI did not initially include the CIA on its list of labs working with anthrax because the agency was not among 91 labs registered with
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to transfer anthrax specimens. But as investigators interviewed workers at those known labs, they learned of the CIA's work, and in the past few weeks posed questions about it to the agency.

CIA scientists worked with other government agencies and outside contractors in the defensive biowarfare program, the agency spokesman said. The agency said most of
its defensive work involves simulants, not active biological agents.

"Everything we have done is appropriate and necessary and consistent with our treaty obligations," he said, adding that congressional oversight committees, along with the
National Security Council staff, has been kept abreast of the CIA lab work. "One of our missions is to learn about potential biological warfare threats," he said, adding that research can involve "anthrax and other biological agents."

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http://www.judicialwatch.org/1967.shtml">FBI & BUSH ADMINISTRATION SUED OVER ANTHRAX DOCUMENTS
Judicial Watch Wants to Know Why White House Went on Cipro Beginning September 11th
What Was Known and When?

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said today that it has filed lawsuits against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), the Center for Disease Control (“CDC”), the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (“USAMRIID”) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for those agencies’ failures to produce documents concerning the terrorist anthrax attacks of October 2001, under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”).

Judicial Watch has additional anthrax-related FOIA requests pending with the White House and other government agencies that will see legal action in the next two weeks.

Judicial Watch represents hundreds of postal workers from the Brentwood Postal Facility in Washington, DC. Until the Brentwood facility was finally condemned by the CDC, Brentwood postal workers handled all of the mail for Washington, DC, including the “official mail” that contained the anthrax-laden envelopes addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy. While Capitol Hill workers received prompt medical care, Brentwood postal workers were ordered by USPS officials to continue working in the contaminated facility. Two Brentwood workers died from inhalation anthrax, and dozens more are suffering from a variety of ailments related to the anthrax attacks. A variety of legal actions are being planned for the disparate treatment and reckless endangerment the Brentwood postal workers faced.

In October 2001, press reports revealed that White House staff had been on a regimen of the powerful antibiotic Cipro since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Judicial Watch is aggressively pursuing the disclosure of the facts and the decision for White House staff, and President Bush as well, to begin taking Cipro nearly a month before anthrax was detected on Capitol Hill.

“The American people deserve a full accounting from the Bush administration, the FBI , and other agencies concerning the anthrax attacks. The FBI’s investigation seems to have dead-ended, and frankly, that is not very reassuring given their performance with the September 11th hijackers,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. “One doesn’t simply start taking a powerful antibiotic for no good reason. The American people are entitled to know what the White House staffers knew nine months ago, “ he added.

to 9/11 terrorism legislation and an up coming war declaration over WMD's. Such as "cubic tons of anthrax." What better way to reduce or eliminate Congressional Resistance to empowering a "unitary executive" than making them the victims of a terrorist WMD attack? You now have a highly motivated Congress wanting to strike back. Congress did swallow the bait hook, line and sinker. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar7DgREshAk">That just leaves one question, who was holding the Fishing Pole?

I know they did have anthrax samples there, having worked there myself and still having friends who work there. And arguably if the "Ames" strain is right from across the state it would seem they would have this strain there...

When I was there shortly after 9/11 for a football game that had just started up that weekend following the cancellations of the games the week previous, they hadn't locked down that facility just yet as the anthrax attacks hadn't started in full yet. Later on though, they had it surrounded by national guard security and locked down.

Coincidentally the same week I was there they also arrested Youssef Hmimssa in Cedar Rapids, who was a part of a Detroit-based terror cell that intelligence forces first went after right after 9/11...

http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=997E63B9-DB02-4514-B69A1A0F303A13B1

The FBI's investigation into the anthrax attacks is increasingly focusing on whether U.S. government bioweapons research programs, including one conducted by the CIA, may have been the source of deadly anthrax powder sent through the mail, according to sources with knowledge of the probe. The results of the genetic tests strengthen that possibility. The FBI is focusing on a contractor that worked with the CIA, one source said.

But it remains unknown which lab may have lost control of the material that apparently ended up in terrorist hands. One of the two scientists familiar with the genetic testing, who has been advising the government on the anthrax scare, said investigators still know little about security at Porton Down, though they have no reason to suppose it has been inadequate. Of the domestic labs, Dugway has attracted the most attention from the FBI, he said.

Dugway is also the only facility known in recent years to have processed anthrax spores into the powdery form that is most easily inhaled.

and . . . I thought the motives were fairly clear -- !!!

Investigators are considering a wide range of possible motives for the anthrax attacks, including vengeance of some sort, profiteering by someone involved in the anthrax cleanup business, or perhaps an effort by someone to cast blame on Iraq, which has an extensive bioweapons arsenal.

Whoever sent the letters could have a strong scientific background, officials said, but they also believe the material could have been stolen and mailed by someone
without such expertise.

Keep in mind that whatever Iraq had in the way of chemicals/bioweapons . . . we gave them!

a major national security issue??!! Who would have ever thought that? After all, that's what they've been doing since the J. Edmund Groover days. Some things will never change.

A real investigation would just rip the window dressing right off the CIA/FBI domestic political interference that now seems to be their major role.

Good for Rep. Holt that he's at least trying to get a serious investigation done.

Recommend.

Pardon the sarcasm, please. I'm reading "Legacy of Secrecy" by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. The book is basically an expose of the collusion of the CIA and FBI and numerous Presidents in covering up the CIA and FBI's failures and involvement with organized crime. It's a depressing read at times, but it really helps the "pieces of the puzzle" to fall together regarding the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassinations.

"JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters," by James Douglass. Best book I've ever read about it.

Thanks for the tip on the Waldron/Hartmann book.

Warning: "Legacy of Secrecy" is a tome. Very thoroughly researched and detailed. A cast of hundreds. But it's one of the best to pull it all together.

If you have not already read "Mafia Kingfish; Carlos Marcello and the JFK Assassination" you should read that, probably before Legacy since it covers a lot of ground that Waldron and Hartmann refer to.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3783961

The article also describes the birth of the "Jefferson Project" where the CIA was tasked with developing a more deadly version of anthrax for testing vaccines, after Russia denied having ever developed such a strain. BMI was chosen to host the project which likely supplied the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and which then ultimately supplied Dr. Ivins at Fort Detrick.

...

Finally the article describes the CIA's Clear Vision project which focused on weapons systems that would deliver the germs. BMI was again chosen for this project, and it is speculated that this is related to "dirty bomb" development.

The article makes the point that the CIA is off limits to the FBI, so all they can do is find a lone suspect who matches their profile.

Also thanks to UpInArms for the old WP story.

:kick:

The battle continues.

Dead Silence—the first in-depth look into the new biological arms race—tells the inside story of the U.S. anthrax attacks and their connection to the existence of a frightening global germ warfare underworld.

Dead Silence follows a journalist and a private eye as they pursue leads that take them across four continents, inside classified labs in the U.S., and to an off-limits Russian military compound. In South Africa they track down “Doctor Death,” the apartheid army scientist who—using the expertise of his U.S. and U.K. intelligence contacts—worked on an array of germ weapons, including one targeting black people, a weapon that may be for sale on the black market today.

Their investigation intensifies to include the mysterious deaths of some of the world’s leading germ war scientists in the wake of 9/11, including that of Bruce Ivins—the man the tabloids called “Doctor Doom” and the FBI controversially insists is the lone perpetrator of the anthrax attacks.

__________


Here's a link to the authors' website -- there's videos and a trailer for the movie.
http://www.anthraxwar.com/1/

Having said that, I think a sociopath could still lie under torture.

I suspect that Obama would have no choice but to throw him in jail if the true details of the anthrax attacks ever came out.

The recent demand for further investigation into Kelly's death on top of the investigation of Cheney's assassination squad seemed to timed "coincidentally" with this by Rush Holt... Kelly was working on a book on anthrax right before his "suicide"...

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4904.shtml

Apparently Ruppert found this:



Hadron and DynCorp linked to PROMIS through court records.

fall on the investigators as they stumble from one culprit to another, looking to blame those with the flimsiest of evidence.

:sarcasm:

that's what's being covered up.

Take bACK our Countries law enforcement agency & restore some justice & LAW & ORDER in America.

You can do it!

but as virtually done nothing.

He needs to STEP it up. Our local newspaper the Princeton Packet has done ZERO worthwhile investigation work. They sent the letters out from Nassau Ave in Princeton.

10 cent question, Where did Donald Rumsfield go to college?....

Gonzo, if I remember correctly. Seems Representative Holt never got any satisfaction from this investigation.
Like the rest of us.....

Dear Director Mueller:

I am writing to express my deep concern and apprehension about the lack of progress made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in solving the 2001 anthrax bioterrorism attacks. I was very upset to learn that the FBI came to the conclusion only recently that the anthrax used in the attacks was far less sophisticated than initially believed. This case has been mishandled from the very beginning, and I have lost confidence in your ability to find and bring to justice the guilty party or parties. As you know, it has now been five years since the anthrax attacks of 2001 killed five people, paralyzed the nation and the workings of the Congress, resulted in the closure of a number of Congressional offices (including my own), severely interrupted mail service to my Central New Jersey constituents and millions across the country, and cost businesses in New Jersey millions. Yet, this bioterrorism case remains unsolved.

As The Washington Post reported this week, the FBI now acknowledges that the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks was commonly available and not weaponized, contrary to previous reports that the anthrax was specially processed and could have come only from a small number of people with special training. This error meant that resources were diverted and countless agents wasted their time investigating a small pool of suspects, instead of the broader search we now know was needed. The Washington Post article also makes clear that despite having assigned 17 full-time investigators and 10 postal inspectors who have conducted 9,100 interviews and issued 6,000 subpoenas, the FBI is no closer to solving this act of bioterrorism than you were five years ago. As a scientist, it is clear to me that this investigation was botched from the start. Nothing else can explain why it took the FBI so long to come to the basic determination that the anthrax used in the attacks was far less sophisticated than initially reported. As you know, Douglas J. Beecher, a scientist in the FBI's Hazardous Materials Response Unit, recently wrote an article in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In the article Mr. Beecher writes that "a widely circulated misconception is that the spores were produced using additives and sophisticated engineering supposedly akin to military weapons production."


The FBI should have been able to determine within days of the attack that the anthrax used was not weaponized. Because of this initial failure, investigators wrongly focused their attention on a small group of suspects. From what news reports indicate, only recently have you broadened the investigation to look at potential suspects who have been ignored for past five years. We can only hope that the trail is not so cold as to make capturing the culprit or culprits impossible. This not the first mistake that the FBI has committed during its investigation of this bioterrorist attack. As I wrote you before, it was not until August of 2002, months after the October 2001 bioterrorism attacks, that FBI agents identified a mailbox on Nassau Street in Princeton as being contaminated with anthrax. This is astonishing in light of the fact that the FBI knew the contaminated letters were mailed from Mercer County, New Jersey. Only then, almost 10 months later, did FBI authorities begin interviewing potential witnesses in Princeton. It will never be known what this unconscionable delay cost the investigation.

Today, I demand that you provide me with a classified briefing about the current status of this investigation. I also demand that you make Douglas J. Beecher available to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His understanding and insight about the anthrax used in the 2001 attack will be vital for the Committee to determine the status of the investigation, the science behind it, and the errors that have plagued it. In the past, I have been denied such briefings despite being the only member of Congress from New Jersey to serve on the Intelligence Committee, the representative of the area from which the attacks were launched, and an unintended (and unharmed) victim of the attack.

As a committee member, this information is essential for me to provide oversight of the FBI and its investigation into the largest bioterrorism attack in United States history. I appreciate that this is an ongoing criminal investigation and understand that the answers to these questions cannot be aired publicly. That is why it is essential that a classified briefing be provided to the Intelligence Committee immediately. I expect to hear from you about scheduling a classified briefing about the anthrax investigation with top FBI officials, including Dr. Beecher, in a timely manner. I am sorry to say that this investigation of major national significance, which has been bungled repeatedly while under your direction, has shaken my confidence in your ability to lead the FBI. I hope that the upcoming briefings can restore my sense that answers will be found and the culprits brought to justice. The importance of this matter goes far beyond this particular case. It goes to the very best heart of the FBI's ability to protect America from terrorism.

Sincerely,
RUSH HOLT
Member of Congress


http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:zbzGlp9RSXQJ:abcnews.go.com/images/WNT/Holt_Mueller_Letter.pdf+holt+letter+%2B+anthrax&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us



oh yeah
Leahy go fuck yourself.

Leahy "somebody tried to kill me and I want to know why".

Just asking :shrug:

I think Oswald acted alone, the 9-11 hijackers brought down those buildings with airplanes, and that the official record on Pearl Harbor is accurate. But I refuse to believe that a Ph.D microbiologist with thirty years experience didn't know how to spell "penicillin." That smells just a little too strongly for me to buy.

one of the official stories will lead you --

"Oswald acted alone . .. " ????!!!!

Democrats were the targets and they should be on fire to find out how anyone

gained access to government labs and grabbed Anthrax . . . ???!!!

Maybe they were running some training exercises that day --- ????

Hello . . . NORAD . . . anyone home yet??

It was on the National Geographic channel, I think. Very thought-provoking.