Slog to Judgment: Anthrax Case Closed - Or is it?

I've written about this subject before and when I linked to an article last year in my blog entry Anthrax spores don't match dead researcher's samples, I referred to the FBI's implication that Bruce Ivins was the lone nut behind the anthrax mailings in the wake of 9/11 as a "Rush to Judgment", a comparative reference to Mark Lane's book about the sloppiness of the Warren Report in 1964 pinning the same "lone nut" label on Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Well, as it turns out, the official FBI investigation was more of a going-through-the-motions slog to judgment. They concluded their investigation, surprise-surprise, with the judgment that Ivins and Ivins alone was responsible in the anthrax case:

F.B.I., Laying Out Evidence, Closes Anthrax Case

By SCOTT SHANE

Published: February 19, 2010

WASHINGTON — More than eight years after anthrax-laced letters killed five people and terrorized the country, the F.B.I. on Friday closed its investigation, adding eerie new details to its case that the 2001 attacks were carried out by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army biodefense expert who killed himself in 2008.

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Bruce E. Ivins, a biochemist the F.B.I. says was responsible for five anthrax deaths.

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• Times Topics: Bruce E. Ivins | Anthrax

A 92-page report, which concludes what by many measures is the largest investigation in F.B.I. history, laid out the evidence against Dr. Ivins, including his equivocal answers when asked by a friend in a recorded conversation about whether he was the anthrax mailer.
“If I found out I was involved in some way...” Dr. Ivins said, not finishing the sentence. “I do not have any recollection of ever doing anything like that,” he said, adding, “I can tell you, I am not a killer at heart.” But in a 2008 e-mail message to a former colleague, one of many that reflected distress, Dr. Ivins wrote, “I can hurt, kill, and terrorize.” He added: “Go down low, low, low as you can go, then dig forever, and you’ll find me, my psyche.”
The report disclosed for the first time the F.B.I.’s theory that Dr. Ivins embedded in the notes mailed with the anthrax a complex coded message, based on DNA biochemistry, alluding to two female former colleagues with whom he was obsessed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/us/20anthrax.html


So there you have it: FBI closes case with their judgment - Lone Nut Did It.

Not so fast, say others not convinced by the FBI's conclusion. Thanks to EFerrari at Democratic Underground for bringing this article, written by another member of Democratic Underground, Michael Collins, to my attention:

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Anthrax Case Closing Challenged

Shortly after September 11, 2001, mailings containing the lethal toxin anthrax were sent to members of Congress, including then Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, the National Enquirer, and others. The first suspect, Steven Hatfill, was pilloried in the press as the prime FBI suspect. He was subsequently cleared and awarded a multi million dollar settlement by the government for harassment in late June 2008. The mystery remained.
Bruce Edwards Ivins, PhD, a leading bioweapons scientist, was the backup suspect. He worked at Fort Detrick, better known as the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). He had been under heavy surveillance by the FBI for over a year prior to his death. Associated Press reported claims that he'd been "stalked" by FBI agents. There were other stories about his counseling for substance abuse problems and alleged erratic personality. These breaches of Ivin's confidentiality were followed by a less than flattering profile of his counselor, Jean Duley of Frederick, Maryland
Ivins was found dead in his home on July 27, 2008. The death was ruled a suicide. There was no autopsy. Shortly after Ivins' death, the FBI leaked that Ivins was the only suspect in the anthrax mailings case. Scientists at Fort Detrick objected to the bureau's tactics and conclusions. The FBI turned over it's scientific evidence to the National Academy of Sciences for a full review.
The FBI closed the case on February 19 naming Ivins as the lone perpetrator. The announcement came prior to the completion of a National Academy of Science report evaluating the FBI's scientific forensics in the case. Also, yet to be answered are the arguments by Edward Jay Epstein that the presence of silicon in the anthrax mailings virtually ruled out Ivins or Fort Detrick scientists since they lacked the ability to create that combination.

http://agonist.org/nass



Collins later reprints a 16 point critique of the FBI's investigation and conclusions from Dr. Meryl Nass, MD, an expert on anthrax and anthrax vaccines and someone who met with Bruce Ivins regarding research she was doing on Bioport's anthrax vaccine:

Friday, February 19, 2010

Federal Bureau of Invention: CASE CLOSED (and Ivins did it)

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Actually, the 96 page FBI report is predicated on the assumption that the anthrax letters attack was carried out by a "lone nut." The FBI report fails to entertain the possibility that the letters attack could have involved more than one actor. The FBI admits that about 400 people may have had access to Ivins' RMR-1029 anthrax preparation, but asserts all were "ruled out" as lone perpetrators. FBI never tried to rule any out as part of a conspiracy, however.
That is only the first of many holes in FBI's case. Here is a sampling of some more.

1. The report assumes Ivins manufactured, purified and dried the spore prep in the anthrax hot room at US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). His colleagues say the equipment available was insufficient to do so on the scale required.
2. But even more important, the letter spores contained a Bacillus subtilis contaminant, and silicon to enhance dispersal. FBI has never found the Bacillus subtilis strain at USAMRIID, and it has never acknowledged finding silicon there, either. If the letters anthrax was made at USAMRIID, at least small amounts of both would be there.
3. Drs. Perry Mikesell, Ayaad Assaad and Stephen Hatfill were 3 earlier suspects. All had circumstantial evidence linking them to the case. In Hatfill's case, especially, are hints he could have been "set up." Greendale, the return address on the letters, was a suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe where Hatfill attended medical school. Hatfill wrote an unpublished book about a biowarfare attack that bears some resemblance to the anthrax case. So the fact that abundant circumstantial evidence links Ivins to the case might be a reflection that he too was "set up" as a potential suspect, before the letters were sent.
4. FBI fails to provide any discussion of why no autopsy was performed, nor why, with Ivins under 24/7 surveillance from the house next door, with even his garbage being combed through, the FBI failed to notice that he overdosed and went into a coma. Nor is there any discussion of why the FBI didn't immediately identify tylenol as the overdose substance, and notify the hospital, so that a well-known antidote for tylenol toxicity could be given (N-acetyl cysteine, or alternatively glutathione). These omissions support the suggestion that Ivins' suicide was a convenience for the FBI. It enabled them to conclude the anthrax case, in the absence of evidence that would satisfy the courts.
5. The FBI's alleged motive is bogus. In 2001, Bioport's anthrax vaccine could not be (legally) relicensed due to potency failures, and its impending demise provided room for Ivins' newer anthrax vaccines to fill the gap. Ivins had nothing to do with developing Bioport's vaccine, although in addition to his duties working on newer vaccines, he was charged with assisting Bioport to get through licensure.
6. FBI's report claims, "Those who worked for him knew that Nass was one of those topics to avoid discussing around Dr. Ivins" (page 41). The truth is we had friendly meetings at the Annapolis, Maryland international anthrax conference in June 2001, and several phone conversations after that. Bruce occasionally assisted me in my study of the safety and efficacy of Bioport's licensed anthrax vaccine, giving me advice and papers he and others had written. I wonder if I was mentioned negatively to discourage Ivins' other friends and associates from communicating with me, since they have been prohibited from speaking freely? Clever.
7. The FBI's Summary states that "only a limited number of individuals ever had access to this specific spore preparation" and that the flask was under Ivins' sole and exclusive control. Yet the body of the report acknowledges hundreds of people who had access to the spores, and questions remain about the location of the spore prep during the period in question. FBI wordsmiths around this, claiming that no one at USAMRIID "legitimately" used spores from RMR1029 without the "authorization and knowledge" of Bruce Ivins. Of course, stealing spores to terrorize and kill is not a legitimate activity.
8. FBI says that only a small number of labs had Ames anthrax, including only 3 foreign labs. Yet a quick Pub Med search of papers published between 1999 and 2004 revealed Ames anthrax was studied in at least Italy, France, the UK, Israel and South Korea as well as the US. By failing to identify all labs with access to Ames, the FBI managed to exclude potential domestic and foreign perpetrators.
9. FBI claims that "drying anthrax is expressly forbidden by various treaties," therefore it would have to be performed clandestinely. Actually, the US government sponsored several programs that dried anthrax spores. Drying spores is not explicitly prohibited by the Biological Weapons Convention, though many would like it to be.
10. The FBI report claims the anthrax letters envelopes were sold in Frederick, Md. Later it admits that millions of indistinguishable envelopes were made, with sales in Maryland and Virginia.
11. FBI emphasizes Ivins' access to a photocopy machine, but fails to mention it was not the machine from which the notes that accompanied the spores were printed.
12. FBI claims Ivins was able to make a spore prep of equivalent purity as the letter spores. However, Ivins had clumping in his spores, while the spores in the Daschle/Leahy letters had no clumps. Whether Ivins could make a pure dried prep is unknown, but there is no evidence he had ever done so.
13. FBI asserts that Bioport and USAMRIID were nearly out of anthrax vaccine, to the point researchers might not have enough to vaccinate themselves. FBI further asserts this would end all anthrax research, derailing Ivins' career. In fact, USAMRIID has developed many dozens of vaccines (including those for anthrax) that were never licensed, but have been used by researchers to vaccinate themselves. There would be no vaccine shortage for researchers.
14. Ivins certainly had mental problems. But that does not explain why the FBI accompanied Ivins' therapist, Ms. Duley (herself under charges for multiple DUIs) and assisted her to apply for a peace order against him. Nor does it explain why Duley then went into hiding, never to be heard from again.
15. FBI obtained a voluntary collection of anthrax samples. Is that the way to conduct a multiple murder investigation: ask the scientists to supply you with the evidence to convict them? There is no report that spores were seized from anyone but Ivins, about 6 years after the attacks. This is a huge hole in the FBI's "scientific" methodology.
16. FBI claims it investigated Bioport and others who had a financial motive for the letters attack, and ruled them out. However, FBI provides not a shred of evidence from such an investigation.

http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2010/02/fbi-case-closed-and-ivins-did-it.html


Nass is not the only voice of dissent. Just last week, two congressmen, one Democrat and one Republican, weighed in with their doubts:

US House seeks further review of anthrax attacks

February 25, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives is seeking further review of the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people.

House members approved an amendment to an intelligence authorization bill Thursday that would require the government to look for credible evidence of foreign involvement in the attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 others.

The action comes six days after the FBI closed its investigation by concluding Army scientist Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the attacks.
The amendment was offered by New Jersey Democrat Rush Holt, from whose state the letters were mailed, and Maryland Republican Roscoe Bartlett. Maryland is home to Fort Detrick, the Army installation where Ivins worked before he killed himself in 2008.
Both congressmen have expressed doubts about the FBI's conclusions.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100225/UPDATES01/100225084/1002/SPORTS/US+House+seeks+further+review+of+anthrax+attacks+



EFerrari points out an important detail, "The Congressman representing Ivin's home town and the Congressman representing the district that was the scene of the crime. That's a pretty direct rejection of FBI's conclusions, imho."

That would be my humble opinion too.