The investigation of the origin of the anthrax linked envelops created a most complex investigation, which the federal bureau of investigation had not witnessed throughout its operational years. Letters that were packed with anthrax spores were mailed to seniors public officials killing atleast five people and infecting others in the process.
ANTHRAX MAILINGS TIMELINE SERIES
The anthrax attacks began few weeks after the September 11 attacks in a series of sustained attacks from al Qaeda the leading terror group that planned and executed these attacks to the people of United States. He sued the department, which settled the case in June.The anthrax attacks in the year 2001 brought great fear to the people of the United States considering the sophisticated manner in which the attacks were being done. Steven Hatfill, another government scientist who was named by the Justice Department as a "person of interest" in the attacks, was never charged. The woman told the court in her complaint that Ivins had been treated at a mental health facility. She accused him of having harassed, stalked and threatened her with violence. Since Ivins' death, suspicions about his involvement in the anthrax attacks have surfaced alongside questions about his sanity.Īt the time of his death, the 62-year-old scientist was under a temporary restraining order sought by a social worker who had counseled him in private and group sessions. Some of the anthrax-laced letters, written in crude block letters, included the words, "Take penacilin (sic) now," according to photographs released by the FBI. official familiar with the investigation said.Īuthorities were looking at whether Ivins may have released anthrax to test a vaccine he was working on, another official said. The FBI had traced the anthrax used in the attacks to the lab by using a new technology, a U.S. Ivins had worked for decades in the biodefense lab at Fort Detrick, where he was trying to develop a better vaccine against the toxin. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, said a source who is familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly about the case. He became a suspect after investigators found DNA evidence from the 2001 anthrax mailings on a flask used in his laboratory at the U.S. Ivins, who is expected to be blamed for the mailings of the toxin, which killed five people and sickened more than a dozen others - died July 27 at a hospital in Frederick, Maryland, from an apparent suicide attempt two days earlier. government lab could have produced such high quality anthrax in secret. Spertzel said a more advanced machine would have been needed, and that no one working at a U.S.
Richard Spertzel, a former biodefense scientist who worked with Ivins at the lab at Fort Detrick, said there was "no way" a lyophilizer could have created the fine anthrax spores used in the 2001 letters. "I wouldn't necessarily make the conclusion that, just because he had access to a lyophilizer and used a lyophilizer, that that provides a smoking gun, that he must be using this for sinister purposes," said Peter Hotez, chairman of microbiology at George Washington University in Washington. Therapist: Ivins described plot to kill colleagues.
Source: DNA links man to anthrax mailings.Ex-senator has doubts about anthrax probe.Such machines, called lyophilizers, are not usually used at Fort Detrick, where Ivins worked, though they are easy to obtain.Įxperts said the report may have no significance. The tabloid photo editor died after inhaling anthrax that investigators believe was in a letter sent to American Media Inc., the publisher of the Sun and National Enquirer tabloids, at its offices in Boca Raton, Florida.Īnother source familiar with the investigation said Tuesday that in the fall of 2001, Ivins borrowed a machine that can convert wet anthrax, the kind used at Fort Detrick, into dry powder, which was found in the anthrax letters. WASHINGTON (CNN) - Federal investigators will declare the 2001 anthrax case solved on Wednesday, when they make public their case against government researcher Bruce Ivins, a government source familiar with the case told CNN on Tuesday.īut the case will not be considered closed, because administrative details remain incomplete, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.īefore making the information public, the FBI is expected to share the evidence of Ivins' involvement with survivors and relatives of victims in the anthrax attacks, the source said.Ī lawyer for Maureen Stevens, the widow of Bob Stevens, the first victim of the 2001 attacks, said she was invited to the session and will attend.
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