Thinking about the Pence thing - something makes sense. The envelopes that the anthrax was maile in were purchased from a vending machine in a post office. The envelopes had certain subtle defects. Other envelopes with the same defects were sent to two post offices in VA, and one in Elkton, MD.
Elkton MD, incidentally is about 2 hours drive from Frederick. It is very near the border of MD/DE. It is NOT on the path from Frederick to Newark, although it is on the path from DC and points south (I-95). It is ALSO on the path from Florida to New York. Florida being the state where the terrorists were supposedly based in the US.
Anyway.. back to the envelopes - they are sold in packages of 5. Although only 2 envelopes were recovered from the initial mailing, which went out on 9/18/01, by following the trail of anthrax infections there is pretty compelling evidence that 5 letters were sent out.
The known letters in the first batch letters were sent to NBC (Tom Brokaw) and the NY Post newspaper. The other three are thought to have been mailed to ABC, CBS and American Media.
The second batch has only ever been mentioned as two envelopes. One to Leahy and one to Daschle. That leaves three extra (unknown) envelopes. And three additional politicians with trace amounts of anthrax found in their office.
So, what does this mean? I have no clue. But I do wonder why the other 3 were sort of swept under the rug?
One thing that I thought of while writing this, is the proximity of Elkton to Ft. Detrick and Trenton NJ. As I said above, it is not on the "normal" path. I do not believe that the killer would have stopped and picked up envelopes on the way to drop off the anthrax. The envelopes had to have been acquired before that. If nothing else, so the mailer could address them in that block printing. Plus, anyone with any familiarity with anthrax would not be carrying it around in their pocket till they got an envelope for it. PLUS it would be risky to do just before the drop time.
So the big question is - why Elkton? And why Princeton? What was the draw?
Here's another thing. Newark is enroute to NY. This guy made at least 2 trips from "wherever" to Newark. Maybe he travels from "wherever" to NY? Maybe he travels it often enough that no one would be suspicious of his travel? That is assuming of course, that the mailer is a legitimately employed person. The other possibility is that the person was a terrorist driving up whenever he felt like, from Florida to NY
Could it be someone who drives from say DC to NY rather frequently, who just hopped off the interstate in Elkton and found a post office and grabbed 2 stacks of envelopes. Then later (days? weeks?) he travelled again and jumped off the interstate again, found a nice mailbox box (In Princeton NJ) and dropped the letters? That would make more sense than someone from Frederick just randomly driving to Elkton to grab envelopes, then heading home. Then later driving up to Princeton on a totally different road, to drop the letters off.
One other thing (again) It just occurred to me that there was a three week gap between the mailings. Something is wrong with that. Why would the mailer have gone back to the same mailbox? He must have been worried that the authorities had figured it out and were keeping quiet about it - maybe watching the mailbox. (Certainly a paranoid person like Ivins would be thinking that.) I sure as heck would not have gone anywhere NEAR that box after the first letters were mailed. So - did the second letters go in that box? Or was it a different box? Or did the mailer have some way to know that it was safe to drop those envelopes in that box?
As with all the questions - who knows?
((disclaimer: I don't know why this case has suddenly caught my interest. I love a good mystery, but I barely paid any attention to it when it happened. Anyway, if the FBI or NSA or anyone else happens to stumble across this - I am not obsessive, I am not homicidal or psychotic. I am just a person who finds this interesting. Oh, and I really don't have anything against what ya'll do. Even though I think you messed this investigation up pretty bad - I don't think it was done with malice.))
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Pence - take 2!
OH HO!!! Pence is pro-life! http://www.ontheissues.org/IN/Mike_Pence_Abortion.htm
Holt - 100% pro-choice http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Rush_Holt_Abortion.htm
Baldacci is interesting - He used to be Republican, then switched to Dem. I remember that, but I don't remember much else. Anyway - he seems pro-choice but not strongly. http://ontheissues.org/Governor/John_Baldacci_Abortion.htm
OK so that breaks the pro-life maniac theory. Score one on the Ivins side.
Holt - 100% pro-choice http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Rush_Holt_Abortion.htm
Baldacci is interesting - He used to be Republican, then switched to Dem. I remember that, but I don't remember much else. Anyway - he seems pro-choice but not strongly. http://ontheissues.org/Governor/John_Baldacci_Abortion.htm
OK so that breaks the pro-life maniac theory. Score one on the Ivins side.
More old stuff - PENCE
Here is another old article. Who is Pence? Why do we never hear that trace amounts of anthrax were found in his office? He is not part of the "big 5", or the "second 2". Why not? Further investigation leads to this: http://edition.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/27/anthrax.congress/index.html WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Investigators have found trace amounts of anthrax in three offices in the Longworth House Office Building, officials said Friday.
Why are these 3 never mentioned? Pence was a REPUBLICAN! Daschle and Leahy were democrats. The other two - Holt and Baldacci are also Dems. They couldn't include Holt and Baldacci without including Pence, but if they could, it would point the finger at a democrat hater, or a right-winger. So, is the opposite true? If our anthrax mailer targeted FIVE politicians, what is the connection? Is there one? That is a "motive" that has been given for Ivins. That he was anti-abortion and targeted Daschle and Leahy for being pro-choice. I wonder what Pences stand on abortion was?
anyway, here is a CNN interview with Pence from 10/2001
http://edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/30/pence/
____________________________________________
By RICK YENCER The Star Press - Muncie, IN June 14, 2002
MUNCIE - Congressman Mike Pence believes the FBI should reconsider international terrorists as the source of anthrax mail attacks. "I am troubled by the apparent lack of progress in the FBI's current investigation," Pence wrote to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft this week.
In that letter, Pence also gave 10 examples of evidence pointing to international, not domestic, sources for anthrax letters that killed five people and closed Pence's office in the Longworth Building for nearly 2 months.
As a result of the letters, Pence, his family and staff took weeks of antibiotics as a precaution. None developed anthrax-like infections.
Last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the investigation had not produced any suspects. Pence said the FBI had apparently concluded the anthrax came from a domestic source instead of from al-Qaida operatives who also were responsible for airplane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The congressman said the material found in his office and others on Capital Hill was weapons-grade anthrax that was genetically modified to increase its virulence.
DNA evidence showed the anthrax originated from the Ames strain that was developed at Fort Detrick, Md., and was later sent to a research facility in England.
In 1988, Iraqi germ warfare scientists attempted to obtain the Ames strain anthrax from England to create biological weapons. And the CIA has reported meetings between Al Qaeda members and Iraqi officials last year, Pence said.
"The FBI has spent most of its resources trying to find a mad scientist," Pence said. "The evidence points to Iraq."
Some 9-11 terrorists were treated for anthrax-type infections, he said.
Democratic congressional candidate Melina Fox said Hoosiers still worried about anthrax attacks, and like Pence, they wanted the people responsible identified and punished.
"We need a broader view than just the problems that touched one congressional office," she said.
Pence will meet with senior officials involved in the investigation next week.
Meanwhile, the Republican congressman gained a powerful position this week to help oversee the war on terrorism and create the new Department of Homeland Defense.
Pence was named to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. The subcommittee will oversee all federal criminal matters relating to new terrorism policies.
"I hope to be a voice for the real world implications of certain terrorist attacks," Pence said.
Why are these 3 never mentioned? Pence was a REPUBLICAN! Daschle and Leahy were democrats. The other two - Holt and Baldacci are also Dems. They couldn't include Holt and Baldacci without including Pence, but if they could, it would point the finger at a democrat hater, or a right-winger. So, is the opposite true? If our anthrax mailer targeted FIVE politicians, what is the connection? Is there one? That is a "motive" that has been given for Ivins. That he was anti-abortion and targeted Daschle and Leahy for being pro-choice. I wonder what Pences stand on abortion was?
anyway, here is a CNN interview with Pence from 10/2001
http://edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/30/pence/
____________________________________________
By RICK YENCER The Star Press - Muncie, IN June 14, 2002
MUNCIE - Congressman Mike Pence believes the FBI should reconsider international terrorists as the source of anthrax mail attacks. "I am troubled by the apparent lack of progress in the FBI's current investigation," Pence wrote to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft this week.
In that letter, Pence also gave 10 examples of evidence pointing to international, not domestic, sources for anthrax letters that killed five people and closed Pence's office in the Longworth Building for nearly 2 months.
As a result of the letters, Pence, his family and staff took weeks of antibiotics as a precaution. None developed anthrax-like infections.
Last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the investigation had not produced any suspects. Pence said the FBI had apparently concluded the anthrax came from a domestic source instead of from al-Qaida operatives who also were responsible for airplane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The congressman said the material found in his office and others on Capital Hill was weapons-grade anthrax that was genetically modified to increase its virulence.
DNA evidence showed the anthrax originated from the Ames strain that was developed at Fort Detrick, Md., and was later sent to a research facility in England.
In 1988, Iraqi germ warfare scientists attempted to obtain the Ames strain anthrax from England to create biological weapons. And the CIA has reported meetings between Al Qaeda members and Iraqi officials last year, Pence said.
"The FBI has spent most of its resources trying to find a mad scientist," Pence said. "The evidence points to Iraq."
Some 9-11 terrorists were treated for anthrax-type infections, he said.
Democratic congressional candidate Melina Fox said Hoosiers still worried about anthrax attacks, and like Pence, they wanted the people responsible identified and punished.
"We need a broader view than just the problems that touched one congressional office," she said.
Pence will meet with senior officials involved in the investigation next week.
Meanwhile, the Republican congressman gained a powerful position this week to help oversee the war on terrorism and create the new Department of Homeland Defense.
Pence was named to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. The subcommittee will oversee all federal criminal matters relating to new terrorism policies.
"I hope to be a voice for the real world implications of certain terrorist attacks," Pence said.
2001 National Journal article
Although the current sentiment is that the anthrax had to have come from Ft. Detrick, I think that it's worth looking at info from way back. I think that the FBI may have kept working on that assumption, and trying to find a suspect to fit with what they think they know. This article from 2001 lends some insight into other possible scenerios.
One other thing. When did info about the 9/11 terrorists start coming out? What I am getting at is the letter that was mailed to American Media in Fl. Everyone wonders why the mailer would have chosen that media outlet. The "common" thought is that it was to "frame" the terrorists. But the letters went out a week to the day after 9/11. So the mailer, in order to frame them, would have had to know where they were from, and then researched what media source was closest. Did he have 6 days to do it? Or 2 days? Or was the info not even public a week after 9/11? Was it sheer coincidence that the anthrax mailer chose to send letters to the BIG news outlets, and the company that spits out tabloid rags? If the mailer wanted to hit the tabloid audience, why didn't he send the letter directly to the National Enquirer?
Note: I started to highlight the relevant parts, and it is ALL relevant!
__________________________
Does Al Qaeda Have Anthrax? Better Assume So
National Journal, June 1, 2002
By Jonathan Rauch
The operatives and allies of Al Qaeda have something in mind for the United States, of that there can be little doubt. Something nasty. Vice President Dick Cheney said in May it is "almost certain" that the terrorists will strike again. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that terrorists "inevitably" will get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, "and they would not hesitate one minute to use them." Question: What if they already did use them and are preparing to do so again? Were last year's anthrax attacks, which caused five fatalities, a preview?
No one knows, of course. That said, there are dots worth connecting.
The perpetrator(s). In November, the FBI issued a suspect profile identifying the likely anthrax attacker as a single adult male, probably an American with a scientific background, lab experience, poor social skills, and a grudge. Some people -- I was one of them -- viewed this interpretation with skepticism. What would be the motive? Why the timing so close to September 11? A number of analysts, including David Tell in a useful article in The Weekly Standard on April 29, have subsequently cast doubt on the disgruntled- scientist hypothesis, and an FBI spokesman said in May that the bureau, far from being "convinced" that the attacks were carried out by an American loner, had "not precluded any category of suspect, motive, or theory."
If anything, hints that anthrax and Al Qaeda may be linked have grown harder to dismiss. Dot one: Several of the hijackers, including their suspected ringleader, Mohamed Atta, are reported to have looked at crop dusters in Belle Glade, Fla. Dot two: Among five targeted media organizations, only one was not nationally prominent -- American Media, of Boca Raton, Fla., which happens to be a few miles from where Atta and other terrorists lived and attended flight school. (Atta rented an apartment from a real estate agent whose husband worked for American Media.) Dot three: In March a doctor in Fort Lauderdale announced that he had treated one of the terrorists for what, in retrospect, he believes was cutaneous anthrax. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University examined the case and concurred that anthrax was "the most probable and coherent interpretation of the data available."
Other recent reports cite captured documents and an unfinished lab in Afghanistan that suggest Al Qaeda was interested -- as presumably it would be -- in producing biological weapons, including anthrax. In 1999, an Arabic-language newspaper in London reported that "elements loyal to [Osama] bin Laden" had, for a few thousand dollars, "managed to obtain an offer for the supply of samples of anthrax and other poisons" from a former Soviet bloc country.
None of that proves anything. The FBI checked the 9/11 terrorists' homes, cars, and personal effects for anthrax. "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been," an FBI spokesman told The New York Times in March.
A point worth noting: The anthrax-laced letters were all mailed after the deaths of Atta and his fellow hijackers. If Al Qaeda did have something to do with the anthrax attacks, whoever did the mailings is still out there.
The material. In April, news reports said that the material used in the attacks was not only "weaponized" but also more sophisticated than anything that U.S. military labs had managed to produce. In May, other news reports said that the material was (in The Times' words) "far less than weapons grade." Good grief. What's the story?
Everyone agrees that all of the anthrax was of the same type, known as the Ames strain. Most sources also agree that the first mailing, to the media organizations, contained a cruder formulation than the second, to Sens. Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. They also concur that the second batch was of impressive purity and concentration. "Very, very pure" is how Matthew Meselson, a Harvard University biologist who has looked at images of the material, described it in an interview. "If you look at it under the electron microscope, you don't see anything but anthrax spores." A cruder preparation, by contrast, would contain so-called vegetative cells and other debris.
One source of ultra-pure anthrax might be a foreign bio-weapons program. An obvious suspect: the former Soviet Union. The Soviets had as many as 2,000 scientists working on anthrax, Tell writes. In 1979, dozens, or hundreds, of Russians died when anthrax leaked from a bio-weapons facility in Sverdlovsk. Subsequent analyses found four or more different anthrax strains in tissue samples taken from the victims.
So does the material used in America last year look Soviet? No, says Ken Alibek, a former Soviet bio-weapons official who is now executive director of the George Mason University Center for Biodefense. He has reviewed images of the material and says it looks like nothing he saw in the Soviet Union. The material, in fact, is of mediocre quality, he told me, and was not produced industrially. It definitely had not been milled, nor did it appear to have any sort of coating to reduce static or otherwise enhance its deadliness. Silica supposedly found in the material, Alibek thinks, may simply be a residue from an unsophisticated drying process. Meselson concurs that the anthrax evinces no sign of special coating or processing. "There is no evidence that I know of," he told me, "that it was treated in any special way."
What about Iraq? It is known to have produced several thousand gallons of anthrax, but that was in liquid form. Stephen D. Bryen, who headed the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration during the Reagan administration and who now is the managing partner of Aurora Defense, says that United Nations inspectors in Iraq found no "dusty" anthrax (the dry, wafting variety used in the U.S. attacks) -- which of course could mean either that the Iraqis didn't (yet) have it or that they hid it well. Bryen also notes that the Iraqis, like the Soviets, tend to mix together various germs (or strains) and chemicals in their weapons, presumably to defeat countermeasures. The U.S. anthrax was all of a single strain.
If the U.S. anthrax was very pure but not specially weaponized, could it have been made by amateurs? In small quantities, yes, according to both Alibek and Meselson. It could be done, Alibek says, with "a very simple, nonindustrial process -- a very primitive process -- that could let you get a trillion spores in one gram. You can't make hundreds of kilos, but you could make hundreds of grams at this concentration."
Meselson concurs. "It's something that could be done by a fair number of people." The necessary glassware, culturing media, centrifuges, and so on "would exist in a large number of places, both hospitals and laboratories -- widespread."
The U.S. attacks, Meselson notes, confirmed what a Canadian simulation had already shown: Even uncoated, nonindustrial-grade anthrax easily suspends itself in the air, floating around and penetrating lungs. No special coating or treatment is necessary. Whoever produced the few grams used last year could presumably produce more. Not enough to fill a crop duster, perhaps, but enough to kill a lot of people.
The outlook. So what to assume? Bryen notes that dropping anthrax in the mail was a very primitive way to distribute it. "It's not how regimes think about dispersing a biological or chemical weapon," he said. "Which should say that the guy distributing it was a total amateur." That, in turn, argues for what Bryen calls the "sample" theory. "The sample theory being that somebody gave these guys a small amount. It has all the characteristics that it was given to people who didn't have any idea how to use it."
Or maybe, on the other hand, not. Paul Ewald, a biologist at Amherst College and the author of Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease, suggests that inefficient distribution might have been exactly the point. "If this attack was caused by the Al Qaeda group -- and I think that's the best explanation, given the evidence available -- this small release would be most useful as a demonstration that they have anthrax on U.S. soil."
If the terrorists are dumb, Ewald says, they made or obtained a few grams of anthrax and mailed off their whole supply. "We'd be wiser if we planned for the smart-terrorist possibility," he says. Smart terrorists would have made or obtained larger quantities of the stuff and stashed it, probably (if they're smart) before setting off alarms by sending out a few grams. Later, with the potency of their weapon proved, they could mount, or threaten to mount, a much larger attack.
Ewald argues for a policy that assumes this is what's going on and that urgently enlists the public's eyes and ears and memories. "We should be alerting people to let authorities know of any suspicious activity they may have seen that would relate to people hiding canisters or objects or doing something that didn't look right," Ewald says. The question is not whether Ewald is right, but whether we want to bet he is wrong.
One other thing. When did info about the 9/11 terrorists start coming out? What I am getting at is the letter that was mailed to American Media in Fl. Everyone wonders why the mailer would have chosen that media outlet. The "common" thought is that it was to "frame" the terrorists. But the letters went out a week to the day after 9/11. So the mailer, in order to frame them, would have had to know where they were from, and then researched what media source was closest. Did he have 6 days to do it? Or 2 days? Or was the info not even public a week after 9/11? Was it sheer coincidence that the anthrax mailer chose to send letters to the BIG news outlets, and the company that spits out tabloid rags? If the mailer wanted to hit the tabloid audience, why didn't he send the letter directly to the National Enquirer?
Note: I started to highlight the relevant parts, and it is ALL relevant!
__________________________
Does Al Qaeda Have Anthrax? Better Assume So
National Journal, June 1, 2002
By Jonathan Rauch
The operatives and allies of Al Qaeda have something in mind for the United States, of that there can be little doubt. Something nasty. Vice President Dick Cheney said in May it is "almost certain" that the terrorists will strike again. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that terrorists "inevitably" will get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, "and they would not hesitate one minute to use them." Question: What if they already did use them and are preparing to do so again? Were last year's anthrax attacks, which caused five fatalities, a preview?
No one knows, of course. That said, there are dots worth connecting.
The perpetrator(s). In November, the FBI issued a suspect profile identifying the likely anthrax attacker as a single adult male, probably an American with a scientific background, lab experience, poor social skills, and a grudge. Some people -- I was one of them -- viewed this interpretation with skepticism. What would be the motive? Why the timing so close to September 11? A number of analysts, including David Tell in a useful article in The Weekly Standard on April 29, have subsequently cast doubt on the disgruntled- scientist hypothesis, and an FBI spokesman said in May that the bureau, far from being "convinced" that the attacks were carried out by an American loner, had "not precluded any category of suspect, motive, or theory."
If anything, hints that anthrax and Al Qaeda may be linked have grown harder to dismiss. Dot one: Several of the hijackers, including their suspected ringleader, Mohamed Atta, are reported to have looked at crop dusters in Belle Glade, Fla. Dot two: Among five targeted media organizations, only one was not nationally prominent -- American Media, of Boca Raton, Fla., which happens to be a few miles from where Atta and other terrorists lived and attended flight school. (Atta rented an apartment from a real estate agent whose husband worked for American Media.) Dot three: In March a doctor in Fort Lauderdale announced that he had treated one of the terrorists for what, in retrospect, he believes was cutaneous anthrax. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University examined the case and concurred that anthrax was "the most probable and coherent interpretation of the data available."
Other recent reports cite captured documents and an unfinished lab in Afghanistan that suggest Al Qaeda was interested -- as presumably it would be -- in producing biological weapons, including anthrax. In 1999, an Arabic-language newspaper in London reported that "elements loyal to [Osama] bin Laden" had, for a few thousand dollars, "managed to obtain an offer for the supply of samples of anthrax and other poisons" from a former Soviet bloc country.
None of that proves anything. The FBI checked the 9/11 terrorists' homes, cars, and personal effects for anthrax. "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been," an FBI spokesman told The New York Times in March.
A point worth noting: The anthrax-laced letters were all mailed after the deaths of Atta and his fellow hijackers. If Al Qaeda did have something to do with the anthrax attacks, whoever did the mailings is still out there.
The material. In April, news reports said that the material used in the attacks was not only "weaponized" but also more sophisticated than anything that U.S. military labs had managed to produce. In May, other news reports said that the material was (in The Times' words) "far less than weapons grade." Good grief. What's the story?
Everyone agrees that all of the anthrax was of the same type, known as the Ames strain. Most sources also agree that the first mailing, to the media organizations, contained a cruder formulation than the second, to Sens. Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. They also concur that the second batch was of impressive purity and concentration. "Very, very pure" is how Matthew Meselson, a Harvard University biologist who has looked at images of the material, described it in an interview. "If you look at it under the electron microscope, you don't see anything but anthrax spores." A cruder preparation, by contrast, would contain so-called vegetative cells and other debris.
One source of ultra-pure anthrax might be a foreign bio-weapons program. An obvious suspect: the former Soviet Union. The Soviets had as many as 2,000 scientists working on anthrax, Tell writes. In 1979, dozens, or hundreds, of Russians died when anthrax leaked from a bio-weapons facility in Sverdlovsk. Subsequent analyses found four or more different anthrax strains in tissue samples taken from the victims.
So does the material used in America last year look Soviet? No, says Ken Alibek, a former Soviet bio-weapons official who is now executive director of the George Mason University Center for Biodefense. He has reviewed images of the material and says it looks like nothing he saw in the Soviet Union. The material, in fact, is of mediocre quality, he told me, and was not produced industrially. It definitely had not been milled, nor did it appear to have any sort of coating to reduce static or otherwise enhance its deadliness. Silica supposedly found in the material, Alibek thinks, may simply be a residue from an unsophisticated drying process. Meselson concurs that the anthrax evinces no sign of special coating or processing. "There is no evidence that I know of," he told me, "that it was treated in any special way."
What about Iraq? It is known to have produced several thousand gallons of anthrax, but that was in liquid form. Stephen D. Bryen, who headed the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration during the Reagan administration and who now is the managing partner of Aurora Defense, says that United Nations inspectors in Iraq found no "dusty" anthrax (the dry, wafting variety used in the U.S. attacks) -- which of course could mean either that the Iraqis didn't (yet) have it or that they hid it well. Bryen also notes that the Iraqis, like the Soviets, tend to mix together various germs (or strains) and chemicals in their weapons, presumably to defeat countermeasures. The U.S. anthrax was all of a single strain.
If the U.S. anthrax was very pure but not specially weaponized, could it have been made by amateurs? In small quantities, yes, according to both Alibek and Meselson. It could be done, Alibek says, with "a very simple, nonindustrial process -- a very primitive process -- that could let you get a trillion spores in one gram. You can't make hundreds of kilos, but you could make hundreds of grams at this concentration."
Meselson concurs. "It's something that could be done by a fair number of people." The necessary glassware, culturing media, centrifuges, and so on "would exist in a large number of places, both hospitals and laboratories -- widespread."
The U.S. attacks, Meselson notes, confirmed what a Canadian simulation had already shown: Even uncoated, nonindustrial-grade anthrax easily suspends itself in the air, floating around and penetrating lungs. No special coating or treatment is necessary. Whoever produced the few grams used last year could presumably produce more. Not enough to fill a crop duster, perhaps, but enough to kill a lot of people.
The outlook. So what to assume? Bryen notes that dropping anthrax in the mail was a very primitive way to distribute it. "It's not how regimes think about dispersing a biological or chemical weapon," he said. "Which should say that the guy distributing it was a total amateur." That, in turn, argues for what Bryen calls the "sample" theory. "The sample theory being that somebody gave these guys a small amount. It has all the characteristics that it was given to people who didn't have any idea how to use it."
Or maybe, on the other hand, not. Paul Ewald, a biologist at Amherst College and the author of Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease, suggests that inefficient distribution might have been exactly the point. "If this attack was caused by the Al Qaeda group -- and I think that's the best explanation, given the evidence available -- this small release would be most useful as a demonstration that they have anthrax on U.S. soil."
If the terrorists are dumb, Ewald says, they made or obtained a few grams of anthrax and mailed off their whole supply. "We'd be wiser if we planned for the smart-terrorist possibility," he says. Smart terrorists would have made or obtained larger quantities of the stuff and stashed it, probably (if they're smart) before setting off alarms by sending out a few grams. Later, with the potency of their weapon proved, they could mount, or threaten to mount, a much larger attack.
Ewald argues for a policy that assumes this is what's going on and that urgently enlists the public's eyes and ears and memories. "We should be alerting people to let authorities know of any suspicious activity they may have seen that would relate to people hiding canisters or objects or doing something that didn't look right," Ewald says. The question is not whether Ewald is right, but whether we want to bet he is wrong.
ADMIN EDITORIAL - Attorneys say guilty verdict unlikely FNP 08/10/08
I think the DNA evidence would be impeachable, almost without a doubt. The "science" of microbial forensics was created specifically for this case (completed in June of 2003 - American Academy of Microbiology - Abigail A. Salyers) with the goal of giving the science "legitimacy", specifically so it would not be blown out of court when they finally found a suspect. Ms. Salyers is on the record as saying this.
Regardless, assuming that the concepts and the evidence chain is believable (and that is open to doubt, as at least SOME of it was contaminated by bleach during one of the initial tests), they would still have to prove that the DNA could only have come from that vial. And the very basis they are using to "explain" the DNA, would open the possibility that the same DNA was elsewhere. (Some of the spores are basically clones of each other, which is where the DNA match is made - so who is to say that those clones were not removed by someone ELSE and grown/re-cloned?)
And, it ultimately still comes down to the fact that it would be impossible to isolate Dr. Ivins as the only person who could have accessed that vial. The internal security was almost nil in the lab at that time. (External security was good - so people couldn't get IN, but what happened once they were in the lab was basically unchecked).
So, it basically is just at a standstill. They are "pretty" sure the anthrax came from that vial, Ivins had access to it (along with a dozen other people), and Ivins was a bit strange.
Now - here's a quick list of what would blow it out of the water - the envelopes did NOT come from the Frederick PO. They came from Elkton MD or one of two locations in VA; Ivins could almost certainly NOT have been in NJ to mail the letters; Ivins had no motive; and Ivin's mental illness seems to have been seriously exaggarated by the investigators. They apparently fed information from accusers to an unlicenced "therapist" who then, working with the FBI, used her ill-gotten information to stamp a seal of legitimacy on the claims.
Unless there is a whole lot more that they haven't told us (and there doesn't seem to be) the only people who would have possibly voted "guilty" on a jury would be people who have already decided that Ivins is guilty, and refuse to change their mind, no matter what. Hopefully the defense would have striken them off the jury, pronto. but, honestly, I doubt seriously that the Grand Jury would have indicted Ivins in the first place. We will never know now.
Regardless, assuming that the concepts and the evidence chain is believable (and that is open to doubt, as at least SOME of it was contaminated by bleach during one of the initial tests), they would still have to prove that the DNA could only have come from that vial. And the very basis they are using to "explain" the DNA, would open the possibility that the same DNA was elsewhere. (Some of the spores are basically clones of each other, which is where the DNA match is made - so who is to say that those clones were not removed by someone ELSE and grown/re-cloned?)
And, it ultimately still comes down to the fact that it would be impossible to isolate Dr. Ivins as the only person who could have accessed that vial. The internal security was almost nil in the lab at that time. (External security was good - so people couldn't get IN, but what happened once they were in the lab was basically unchecked).
So, it basically is just at a standstill. They are "pretty" sure the anthrax came from that vial, Ivins had access to it (along with a dozen other people), and Ivins was a bit strange.
Now - here's a quick list of what would blow it out of the water - the envelopes did NOT come from the Frederick PO. They came from Elkton MD or one of two locations in VA; Ivins could almost certainly NOT have been in NJ to mail the letters; Ivins had no motive; and Ivin's mental illness seems to have been seriously exaggarated by the investigators. They apparently fed information from accusers to an unlicenced "therapist" who then, working with the FBI, used her ill-gotten information to stamp a seal of legitimacy on the claims.
Unless there is a whole lot more that they haven't told us (and there doesn't seem to be) the only people who would have possibly voted "guilty" on a jury would be people who have already decided that Ivins is guilty, and refuse to change their mind, no matter what. Hopefully the defense would have striken them off the jury, pronto. but, honestly, I doubt seriously that the Grand Jury would have indicted Ivins in the first place. We will never know now.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
absurd! The fake names scandal
tsg http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0806081anthrax7.html has yet another copy of the new & improved search warrant information.
I was trying to grasp what the deal was with Dr. Ivins email addresses and so-called fake names. I am still trying to absorb it all but it is crazy that this is considered any sort of evidence against him. And frankly, it had NOTHING to do with anthrax, or terrorism, or anything. It is simply an invasion of his privacy by authorities who were on a witch hunt!
OK - on TSG - start at page 6. Ivins created an email address of Jimmyflathead, and listed his name as Ed Irving. That would be suspicious except he didn't do anything bad with it! Not only that, but the emails he sent out from that address actually listed his name as Bruce Ivins. So WHAT? I have several email accounts. I don't know that I have ever used a FALSE name, but I have shortened my name, used the wrong DOB and such before. It's not sinister. I don't want a lot of spam on my main email account, so I created a new one to put on cookie sites and such.
Ivins used the Jimmyflathead account to play on Wikipedia. He said derogatory things about that sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) on Wiki. He got into edit wars about KKG on Wiki. So What? He knew alot about KKG. So what? I know a lot about many things. And, if I don't know, I sometimes spend a lot of time learning. (Like about this whole anthrax case). he apparently knew some stuff that was "secret". SO WHAT? My God - it's a freaking sorority, not some top-secret military strategy! And, as additional proof of Ivin's diabolical mind - he actually encouraged people on Wiki to email him. That is just NOT DONE! If you ever edit on Wiki, you must never discuss anything in private with other posters. Sheesh.
I swear, it sounds like middle-school dramatics! I CANNOT believe our GOVERNMENT is involved in this kind of crap.
OK.. the next email address evidence has been heavily redacted, but it seems like it is referring to the fact that he once lived on the same street as the woman from KKG who now says that he was stalking her. There was an incident of VANDALISM!!! Ivins might have done it, but denied it. Since when is the FBI investigating 20 year old graffiti cases? Hello???
The next information is even crazier! Ivins rented a PO box to hide his identity as he traded in illicit porn. No? Not porn? OMG! He was selling that TOP SECRET KKG information! And he claimed that he had STOLEN IT from the sorority house in college! No wonder the FBI is involved! The CIA and Interpol should be notified too.
The document goes on to show how deeply entrenched Ivins was in the secret ways of the KKG. I'm sorry. Maybe I don't get it. But a sorority is just a bunch of snobby girls right? Is there some reason that he was not entitled to either 1) love or 2) hate the KKG?
I'm kidding. I really know why the FBI spent so much time on this KKG "obsession" that Ivins so clearly had. The anthrax was mailed from a blue mailbox. In NJ. In Princeton NJ. That's a college town, you know? And this actual mailbox was 100 yards from the KKG storage house on campus. Not a sorority house. Just a place they stored all their sorority snob shit. So clearly, Ivin's obsession with KKG was the impetus for driving up there to drop off the poison.
By the way FBI guys, I actually thought of a BETTER link for Ivins and Princeton, but it seems to have slipped right by you guys. Did you know that his DAD was a graduate of Princeton? But I guess no one in their right mind would ever give that connection an iota of credit, so you came up with the sorority chick thing. Holy cow.
This is an embarassment. seriously. But not only that, it is a tragedy. Ivins is dead - almost certainly a legally, and most likely a factually, innocent man. And the FBI is trying to sell us this propaganda as evidence. They are just letting the apparent suicide speak for itself. because at least half the viewing audience will think "he must be guilty if he killed himself". The rest of us are not so dense and can envision the torment the guy was living when the walls came crushing down on him - in the form of a greedy, lying therapist.
I was trying to grasp what the deal was with Dr. Ivins email addresses and so-called fake names. I am still trying to absorb it all but it is crazy that this is considered any sort of evidence against him. And frankly, it had NOTHING to do with anthrax, or terrorism, or anything. It is simply an invasion of his privacy by authorities who were on a witch hunt!
OK - on TSG - start at page 6. Ivins created an email address of Jimmyflathead, and listed his name as Ed Irving. That would be suspicious except he didn't do anything bad with it! Not only that, but the emails he sent out from that address actually listed his name as Bruce Ivins. So WHAT? I have several email accounts. I don't know that I have ever used a FALSE name, but I have shortened my name, used the wrong DOB and such before. It's not sinister. I don't want a lot of spam on my main email account, so I created a new one to put on cookie sites and such.
Ivins used the Jimmyflathead account to play on Wikipedia. He said derogatory things about that sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) on Wiki. He got into edit wars about KKG on Wiki. So What? He knew alot about KKG. So what? I know a lot about many things. And, if I don't know, I sometimes spend a lot of time learning. (Like about this whole anthrax case). he apparently knew some stuff that was "secret". SO WHAT? My God - it's a freaking sorority, not some top-secret military strategy! And, as additional proof of Ivin's diabolical mind - he actually encouraged people on Wiki to email him. That is just NOT DONE! If you ever edit on Wiki, you must never discuss anything in private with other posters. Sheesh.
I swear, it sounds like middle-school dramatics! I CANNOT believe our GOVERNMENT is involved in this kind of crap.
OK.. the next email address evidence has been heavily redacted, but it seems like it is referring to the fact that he once lived on the same street as the woman from KKG who now says that he was stalking her. There was an incident of VANDALISM!!! Ivins might have done it, but denied it. Since when is the FBI investigating 20 year old graffiti cases? Hello???
The next information is even crazier! Ivins rented a PO box to hide his identity as he traded in illicit porn. No? Not porn? OMG! He was selling that TOP SECRET KKG information! And he claimed that he had STOLEN IT from the sorority house in college! No wonder the FBI is involved! The CIA and Interpol should be notified too.
The document goes on to show how deeply entrenched Ivins was in the secret ways of the KKG. I'm sorry. Maybe I don't get it. But a sorority is just a bunch of snobby girls right? Is there some reason that he was not entitled to either 1) love or 2) hate the KKG?
I'm kidding. I really know why the FBI spent so much time on this KKG "obsession" that Ivins so clearly had. The anthrax was mailed from a blue mailbox. In NJ. In Princeton NJ. That's a college town, you know? And this actual mailbox was 100 yards from the KKG storage house on campus. Not a sorority house. Just a place they stored all their sorority snob shit. So clearly, Ivin's obsession with KKG was the impetus for driving up there to drop off the poison.
By the way FBI guys, I actually thought of a BETTER link for Ivins and Princeton, but it seems to have slipped right by you guys. Did you know that his DAD was a graduate of Princeton? But I guess no one in their right mind would ever give that connection an iota of credit, so you came up with the sorority chick thing. Holy cow.
This is an embarassment. seriously. But not only that, it is a tragedy. Ivins is dead - almost certainly a legally, and most likely a factually, innocent man. And the FBI is trying to sell us this propaganda as evidence. They are just letting the apparent suicide speak for itself. because at least half the viewing audience will think "he must be guilty if he killed himself". The rest of us are not so dense and can envision the torment the guy was living when the walls came crushing down on him - in the form of a greedy, lying therapist.
Memorial Service AP 08/09/08
Ivins remembered for intelligence, compassion
By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 29 minutes ago
The Army scientist suspected in the anthrax attacks was remembered for his humor, intelligence and compassion at a memorial service Saturday.
Bruce Ivins, 62, died of an apparent suicide late last month after being informed by the FBI that charges likely were being brought against him in connection with the 2001 attacks.
Some mourners wept when speakers at the service talked about Ivins' many hobbies, including juggling, target shooting, practical jokes, cartoons and the weather. Colleagues recalled a talented scientist with a probing mind who loved to debate a wide variety of subjects.
"Bruce was many a thing," said one of his brothers, Charles Ivins, who added that he took some solace in knowing that Bruce's "torment" had ended.
Bruce Ivins also was remembered as a devoted musician at St. John's the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, where he played piano for 28 years and was known to volunteer to clean up after services.
More than 250 people attended the hourlong service. Speakers cited the turnout as evidence of how important Ivins was to the church community.
Some people who knew Ivins have said they cannot believe the scientist who liked to work in his garden and volunteer for the American Red Cross was capable of bioterrorism that killed five people, sickened 17 and scared the nation a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.
John Barnard, who worked with Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick between 1992 and 1994, said he does not believe the government's claims. He said he has written to several members of Congress asking for an inquiry.
"My experience of him during that time is that he was a very loving, giving man, and this doesn't make sense at all," said Barnard, who now lives in Pittsburgh.
Kathleen O'Connor, who met Ivins at a dinner while the two volunteered for the Red Cross, also said she could not believe a man who gave so much of his time to help the community could do something so terrible.
"They haven't got a real case. It's all circumstantial," O'Connor said after the service. "There's just no way he could do it. ... They just grabbed a convenient person."
In the days since his death July 29, friends have recalled his musical skills and eccentric personality as a startling contrast to the dangerously psychotic person described by federal investigators.
Authorities believe Ivins mailed deadly anthrax spores in letters, including ones sent to members of Congress. By 2005, government scientists genetically matched anthrax in his laboratory at Fort Detrick to the fatal toxin. Federal authorities also focused on Ivins' history of paranoia and delusional thinking that prompted doctors to medicate him.
The Justice Department says it could have convicted Ivins, a microbiologist and anthrax vaccine expert who spent 35 years working at the bioweapons lab. Ivins' lawyer, Paul F. Kemp, has disagreed, contending that because it took the government so long to act, its evidence must have been weak.
Co-workers and Ivins' family held a private memorial service Wednesday at Fort Detrick's nondenominational chapel. Frederick is a city of about 58,000 people, 40 miles northeast of Washington.
Ivins is survived by his wife, Diane; a son, Andy; a daughter, Amanda, and brothers Tom Ivins of Middletown, Ohio, and Charles Ivins of Etowah, N.C.
By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 29 minutes ago
The Army scientist suspected in the anthrax attacks was remembered for his humor, intelligence and compassion at a memorial service Saturday.
Bruce Ivins, 62, died of an apparent suicide late last month after being informed by the FBI that charges likely were being brought against him in connection with the 2001 attacks.
Some mourners wept when speakers at the service talked about Ivins' many hobbies, including juggling, target shooting, practical jokes, cartoons and the weather. Colleagues recalled a talented scientist with a probing mind who loved to debate a wide variety of subjects.
"Bruce was many a thing," said one of his brothers, Charles Ivins, who added that he took some solace in knowing that Bruce's "torment" had ended.
Bruce Ivins also was remembered as a devoted musician at St. John's the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, where he played piano for 28 years and was known to volunteer to clean up after services.
More than 250 people attended the hourlong service. Speakers cited the turnout as evidence of how important Ivins was to the church community.
Some people who knew Ivins have said they cannot believe the scientist who liked to work in his garden and volunteer for the American Red Cross was capable of bioterrorism that killed five people, sickened 17 and scared the nation a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.
John Barnard, who worked with Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick between 1992 and 1994, said he does not believe the government's claims. He said he has written to several members of Congress asking for an inquiry.
"My experience of him during that time is that he was a very loving, giving man, and this doesn't make sense at all," said Barnard, who now lives in Pittsburgh.
Kathleen O'Connor, who met Ivins at a dinner while the two volunteered for the Red Cross, also said she could not believe a man who gave so much of his time to help the community could do something so terrible.
"They haven't got a real case. It's all circumstantial," O'Connor said after the service. "There's just no way he could do it. ... They just grabbed a convenient person."
In the days since his death July 29, friends have recalled his musical skills and eccentric personality as a startling contrast to the dangerously psychotic person described by federal investigators.
Authorities believe Ivins mailed deadly anthrax spores in letters, including ones sent to members of Congress. By 2005, government scientists genetically matched anthrax in his laboratory at Fort Detrick to the fatal toxin. Federal authorities also focused on Ivins' history of paranoia and delusional thinking that prompted doctors to medicate him.
The Justice Department says it could have convicted Ivins, a microbiologist and anthrax vaccine expert who spent 35 years working at the bioweapons lab. Ivins' lawyer, Paul F. Kemp, has disagreed, contending that because it took the government so long to act, its evidence must have been weak.
Co-workers and Ivins' family held a private memorial service Wednesday at Fort Detrick's nondenominational chapel. Frederick is a city of about 58,000 people, 40 miles northeast of Washington.
Ivins is survived by his wife, Diane; a son, Andy; a daughter, Amanda, and brothers Tom Ivins of Middletown, Ohio, and Charles Ivins of Etowah, N.C.
Editorial by Admin 2
OMG! I feel like a naive fool!
One thing that kept tugging at me was what Jean C. Duley's motivation was. Something that someone else wrote just gave me that "CLICK". She had 2 and a half million reasons!
Remember how Ivins' son says that the FBI harassed him to rat out his dad - offering him $2.5 million and the car of his choice? The REWARD money! Duuuuuh!
So, Ms. Jean C. Duley - self-professed biker babe/junkie/druggie/alcoholic/DUI arrestee is a hero? According to the interview of her reported husband (later reported "fiancee"). Well, guess what? He is in a whole heap o' crap himself! Michael Duncan McFadden.
I am not an investigator, but a quick search of records finds that 4/2006 he was guilty for driving an unregistered vehicle on a suspended license. In 1996, he was charged (and given a PBJ) for contract fraud! In 2007 it looks like he was sued by a possible family member for a contractual issue. A couple of foreclosures in 2006. In 2004 - another guilty verdict for a contract dispute.
So, it looks like the hero's lover boy is a bit skitchy himself, eh? He doesn't pay his bills, or keep his promises. He lost the right to drive and said "screw you" and drove anyway. He refused to pay for his car, and lost at least one home. Does that make HIM a bad guy? Not necessarily. But it sure is nice to know what kind of people were influencing our "hero" when we are trying to figure out if she destroyed a man unfairly.
This is getting stinlier and stinkier by the minute. And it all comes back to why? And, I think it goes further back, to $2.5 million.
One thing that kept tugging at me was what Jean C. Duley's motivation was. Something that someone else wrote just gave me that "CLICK". She had 2 and a half million reasons!
Remember how Ivins' son says that the FBI harassed him to rat out his dad - offering him $2.5 million and the car of his choice? The REWARD money! Duuuuuh!
So, Ms. Jean C. Duley - self-professed biker babe/junkie/druggie/alcoholic/DUI arrestee is a hero? According to the interview of her reported husband (later reported "fiancee"). Well, guess what? He is in a whole heap o' crap himself! Michael Duncan McFadden.
I am not an investigator, but a quick search of records finds that 4/2006 he was guilty for driving an unregistered vehicle on a suspended license. In 1996, he was charged (and given a PBJ) for contract fraud! In 2007 it looks like he was sued by a possible family member for a contractual issue. A couple of foreclosures in 2006. In 2004 - another guilty verdict for a contract dispute.
So, it looks like the hero's lover boy is a bit skitchy himself, eh? He doesn't pay his bills, or keep his promises. He lost the right to drive and said "screw you" and drove anyway. He refused to pay for his car, and lost at least one home. Does that make HIM a bad guy? Not necessarily. But it sure is nice to know what kind of people were influencing our "hero" when we are trying to figure out if she destroyed a man unfairly.
This is getting stinlier and stinkier by the minute. And it all comes back to why? And, I think it goes further back, to $2.5 million.
Editorial by Admin
This is really starting to piss me off! The latest story about the microbiologist who claims she was stalked by Dr. Bruce Ivins for 20 years, seems to support the FBI/DOJ claims against him. But, what no one else seems to understand is THIS IS WHERE THEY GOT THEIR INFORMATION initially!
In other words, everything that has been published so far has been information by people who were working together for a common goal.
It sounds so damning. Ivins was a STALKER for 20 years!! Well, first off, read the story. He was not exactly a "stalker". He was a guy who kept writing to a woman who didn't really like him, but kept writing back anyway. That's STALKING? I don't think so.
He moved into her neighborhood? OMG!! That's stalking, right? Not necessarily - the article says that he lived there after she moved out. I know that area. Montgomery Village. It was THE place to live for techies in the 80's. All of the tech and bio jobs were moving out to this part of the county - along Route I-270. Montgomery Village was a new "planned" development with affordable safe housing that appealed to the up-and-coming educated people who were working in those jobs. That he lived a block away "after she moved out" is nothing. Nada. Zip. i would bet that 20 people from wherever they were working lived within a 1/4 mile area at the same time. We are talking probably 600 people living on the same street. That is NOT a significant statistical improbability.
Now heres the part that starts to sound like a conspiracy.
-Duley (the questionably-licensed therapist) accuses Ivins of (among other things) harrassing women - going back to his graduate days.
- This woman says that she told the FBI about his stalking her, going back to that timeframe
- The FBI uses the "therapists" accusations to facillitate the approval of a search warrant.
Why? The FBI would never get approval for a search warrant based on a former colleague/friend/whatever, saying that he bugs her. BUT - put the stamp of approval from a THERAPIST on this allegation, and it takes on a whole different aura.
Now, lather, rinse, repeat. Do this over and over and over. Look at all the accusations that are being made in this case. And apply that circular process to every item. It seems that in most cases, it FITS. That means that it is TAINTED. It is not clean evidence. It has been chopped up and fed to others, then regurgitated back to become the basis for more allegations.
There is SOMETHING wrong here!
In other words, everything that has been published so far has been information by people who were working together for a common goal.
It sounds so damning. Ivins was a STALKER for 20 years!! Well, first off, read the story. He was not exactly a "stalker". He was a guy who kept writing to a woman who didn't really like him, but kept writing back anyway. That's STALKING? I don't think so.
He moved into her neighborhood? OMG!! That's stalking, right? Not necessarily - the article says that he lived there after she moved out. I know that area. Montgomery Village. It was THE place to live for techies in the 80's. All of the tech and bio jobs were moving out to this part of the county - along Route I-270. Montgomery Village was a new "planned" development with affordable safe housing that appealed to the up-and-coming educated people who were working in those jobs. That he lived a block away "after she moved out" is nothing. Nada. Zip. i would bet that 20 people from wherever they were working lived within a 1/4 mile area at the same time. We are talking probably 600 people living on the same street. That is NOT a significant statistical improbability.
Now heres the part that starts to sound like a conspiracy.
-Duley (the questionably-licensed therapist) accuses Ivins of (among other things) harrassing women - going back to his graduate days.
- This woman says that she told the FBI about his stalking her, going back to that timeframe
- The FBI uses the "therapists" accusations to facillitate the approval of a search warrant.
Why? The FBI would never get approval for a search warrant based on a former colleague/friend/whatever, saying that he bugs her. BUT - put the stamp of approval from a THERAPIST on this allegation, and it takes on a whole different aura.
Now, lather, rinse, repeat. Do this over and over and over. Look at all the accusations that are being made in this case. And apply that circular process to every item. It seems that in most cases, it FITS. That means that it is TAINTED. It is not clean evidence. It has been chopped up and fed to others, then regurgitated back to become the basis for more allegations.
There is SOMETHING wrong here!
AP 08/09/08 KKG sister claims stalking
Microbiologist says anthrax suspect was stalker
By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press WriterSat Aug 9, 7:12 AM ET
A microbiologist claims she was stalked for decades by Bruce Ivins, the suspect in the deadly anthrax mailings of 2001 who, according to court documents, was obsessed with the sorority she joined in college.
Nancy L. Haigwood and her former husband, Carl J. Scandella, also think Ivins may have wanted to get close to her when he moved in down the street from the couple in the suburbs of Washington in the early 1980s.
Ivins, an Army scientist, committed suicide last week as federal authorities prepared to charge him with killing five people by sending anthrax spores in the mail. The letters were dropped in a mailbox near a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority office in Princeton, N.J., and prosecutors have suggested Ivins chose that location because of its proximity to the office.
In another development, the Justice Department sent a letter to the lawyer for Steven Hatfill, another military scientist who was a colleague of Ivins, formally exonerating Hatfill after saying earlier this week that Ivins was the only suspect. In 2002, law enforcement officials called Hatfill a "person of interest" in the investigation, a claim that brought a lawsuit from Hatfill the following year.
The federal government awarded Hatfill $5.8 million to settle his violation of privacy lawsuit against the Justice Department earlier this year. Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.
In the case of Haigwood, now the director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, she said she suspected Ivins in the anthrax mailings as early as November 2001, when he e-mailed her, his immediate family and other scientists a photo of himself working with what he called "the now infamous 'Ames' strain" of anthrax, which was used in the attacks. She reported her suspicions to the FBI in 2002 and, at the behest of investigators, kept in touch with Ivins by e-mail and shared their correspondence with investigators.
Haigwood, 56, met Ivins in the late 1970s when he was doing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, where she earned her doctorate. She was cordial to him, but she noticed that he took an unusual interest in her Kappa membership.
In the summer of 1982, Haigwood moved in with Scandella, then her fiancee, in a townhouse in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Montgomery Village. On Nov. 30 that year, Scandella awoke to find the Greek letters "KKG" spray-painted on the rear window of his car and on the sidewalk and fence in front of the home. Although a police report filed by Scandella does not mention any possible suspects, Haigwood quickly concluded that Ivins was responsible.
"My address wasn't published, and I only lived there a short while before Carl and I got married and moved out of state," Haigwood said Friday. "No one knew my address or my phone number. You had to stalk me to figure this stuff out."
Records show that Ivins was living on the same street, about a block away, shortly after the incident. It was not clear when he moved in. Scandella did not know that Ivins had been their neighbor until he was told Friday by a reporter.
"I was blown away by that," Scandella said. "I had no idea he lived anywhere in the vicinity ... I wonder if it's possible that Ivins moved to that location to be close to Nancy."
Soon after the vandalism, Haigwood bumped into Ivins — she doesn't remember where — and accused him.
"I said, 'This happened and I'm sure you're the one who did it,' and he denied it," Haigwood said. "And I said, 'Well, I'm still sure you did.' What can you do at that point?"
Ivins kept in touch with Haigwood via phone calls, letters and e-mails, and while some of the correspondence made her uncomfortable, she never cut off contact with him, a decision she later regretted. She said she sent him polite but curt replies.
"He seemed to know a lot about myself, my children, things I never remembered telling him, which always disturbed me," she said. "I kept him at arm's length as best I could."
She also suspected Ivins of writing a letter in her name to The Frederick News-Post that defended hazing by Kappa members.
Haigwood passed on her suspicions about Ivins to the FBI after the American Society for Microbiology noted that a microbiologist was probably responsible for the anthrax mailings and asked its members to think of possible suspects.
Their e-mail correspondence from 2002 on was brief and cordial, although Ivins did reveal that he was under a lot of stress.
Investigators have said that between 2000 and 2006, Ivins was prescribed antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs. The Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., where Ivins worked, has offered no explanation for why he was allowed to work with some of the world's most dangerous toxins while suffering from serious mental health problems.
It wasn't until November 2007, after the FBI raided his Frederick home, that Fort Detrick revoked his laboratory access, effectively putting him on desk duty. In the meantime, Haigwood said she worried about what Ivins was up to in the lab.
"After a while, after I decided that he was probably the perpetrator, I was afraid of him," Haigwood said. "I thought that if he found out I had turned him in, he would go after me. And he knew how to do that. This is something his colleagues don't seem to recognize in him."
Haigwood said she was not aware of Ivins stalking any other Kappa sisters.
In an interview Friday, Kappa Kappa Gamma executive director Lauren Sullivan Paitson said the FBI asked in August 2007 for help documenting decades' worth of Ivins' contacts with the sorority, including breaking into the now-closed chapter house at the University of Maryland. The sorority disbanded at Maryland in 1992.
But before being contacted by the FBI, Paitson had been engaged in an editing war on Wikipedia.com with a writer by the name of "jimmyflathead" who threatened to post secret rituals and bad publicity about the sorority on the Web site. Court affidavits listed "jimmyflathead@yahoo.com" among Ivins personal e-mail addresses.
Only after the government asked for the sorority's help did Paitson realize that the online Kappa nemesis was the top suspect in the anthrax investigation.
"We already had firsthand experience with him, going back and forth," she said.
The sorority did not threaten Ivins with legal action as a result of the Wikipedia editing dispute, and Paitson said she was assured by the FBI that none of the Kappa chapters or members nationwide would be targeted with anthrax letters.
She declined to give more details, citing the privacy of the members of the sorority.
By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press WriterSat Aug 9, 7:12 AM ET
A microbiologist claims she was stalked for decades by Bruce Ivins, the suspect in the deadly anthrax mailings of 2001 who, according to court documents, was obsessed with the sorority she joined in college.
Nancy L. Haigwood and her former husband, Carl J. Scandella, also think Ivins may have wanted to get close to her when he moved in down the street from the couple in the suburbs of Washington in the early 1980s.
Ivins, an Army scientist, committed suicide last week as federal authorities prepared to charge him with killing five people by sending anthrax spores in the mail. The letters were dropped in a mailbox near a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority office in Princeton, N.J., and prosecutors have suggested Ivins chose that location because of its proximity to the office.
In another development, the Justice Department sent a letter to the lawyer for Steven Hatfill, another military scientist who was a colleague of Ivins, formally exonerating Hatfill after saying earlier this week that Ivins was the only suspect. In 2002, law enforcement officials called Hatfill a "person of interest" in the investigation, a claim that brought a lawsuit from Hatfill the following year.
The federal government awarded Hatfill $5.8 million to settle his violation of privacy lawsuit against the Justice Department earlier this year. Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.
In the case of Haigwood, now the director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, she said she suspected Ivins in the anthrax mailings as early as November 2001, when he e-mailed her, his immediate family and other scientists a photo of himself working with what he called "the now infamous 'Ames' strain" of anthrax, which was used in the attacks. She reported her suspicions to the FBI in 2002 and, at the behest of investigators, kept in touch with Ivins by e-mail and shared their correspondence with investigators.
Haigwood, 56, met Ivins in the late 1970s when he was doing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, where she earned her doctorate. She was cordial to him, but she noticed that he took an unusual interest in her Kappa membership.
In the summer of 1982, Haigwood moved in with Scandella, then her fiancee, in a townhouse in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Montgomery Village. On Nov. 30 that year, Scandella awoke to find the Greek letters "KKG" spray-painted on the rear window of his car and on the sidewalk and fence in front of the home. Although a police report filed by Scandella does not mention any possible suspects, Haigwood quickly concluded that Ivins was responsible.
"My address wasn't published, and I only lived there a short while before Carl and I got married and moved out of state," Haigwood said Friday. "No one knew my address or my phone number. You had to stalk me to figure this stuff out."
Records show that Ivins was living on the same street, about a block away, shortly after the incident. It was not clear when he moved in. Scandella did not know that Ivins had been their neighbor until he was told Friday by a reporter.
"I was blown away by that," Scandella said. "I had no idea he lived anywhere in the vicinity ... I wonder if it's possible that Ivins moved to that location to be close to Nancy."
Soon after the vandalism, Haigwood bumped into Ivins — she doesn't remember where — and accused him.
"I said, 'This happened and I'm sure you're the one who did it,' and he denied it," Haigwood said. "And I said, 'Well, I'm still sure you did.' What can you do at that point?"
Ivins kept in touch with Haigwood via phone calls, letters and e-mails, and while some of the correspondence made her uncomfortable, she never cut off contact with him, a decision she later regretted. She said she sent him polite but curt replies.
"He seemed to know a lot about myself, my children, things I never remembered telling him, which always disturbed me," she said. "I kept him at arm's length as best I could."
She also suspected Ivins of writing a letter in her name to The Frederick News-Post that defended hazing by Kappa members.
Haigwood passed on her suspicions about Ivins to the FBI after the American Society for Microbiology noted that a microbiologist was probably responsible for the anthrax mailings and asked its members to think of possible suspects.
Their e-mail correspondence from 2002 on was brief and cordial, although Ivins did reveal that he was under a lot of stress.
Investigators have said that between 2000 and 2006, Ivins was prescribed antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs. The Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., where Ivins worked, has offered no explanation for why he was allowed to work with some of the world's most dangerous toxins while suffering from serious mental health problems.
It wasn't until November 2007, after the FBI raided his Frederick home, that Fort Detrick revoked his laboratory access, effectively putting him on desk duty. In the meantime, Haigwood said she worried about what Ivins was up to in the lab.
"After a while, after I decided that he was probably the perpetrator, I was afraid of him," Haigwood said. "I thought that if he found out I had turned him in, he would go after me. And he knew how to do that. This is something his colleagues don't seem to recognize in him."
Haigwood said she was not aware of Ivins stalking any other Kappa sisters.
In an interview Friday, Kappa Kappa Gamma executive director Lauren Sullivan Paitson said the FBI asked in August 2007 for help documenting decades' worth of Ivins' contacts with the sorority, including breaking into the now-closed chapter house at the University of Maryland. The sorority disbanded at Maryland in 1992.
But before being contacted by the FBI, Paitson had been engaged in an editing war on Wikipedia.com with a writer by the name of "jimmyflathead" who threatened to post secret rituals and bad publicity about the sorority on the Web site. Court affidavits listed "jimmyflathead@yahoo.com" among Ivins personal e-mail addresses.
Only after the government asked for the sorority's help did Paitson realize that the online Kappa nemesis was the top suspect in the anthrax investigation.
"We already had firsthand experience with him, going back and forth," she said.
The sorority did not threaten Ivins with legal action as a result of the Wikipedia editing dispute, and Paitson said she was assured by the FBI that none of the Kappa chapters or members nationwide would be targeted with anthrax letters.
She declined to give more details, citing the privacy of the members of the sorority.
Katherine Heerbrandt 08/08/08 FNP
Finding Dr. EvilOriginally published August 08, 2008By Katherine Heerbrandt
A USA Today article in October 2004, opens with a description of Bruce Ivins' mindset during the anthrax leaks at USAMRIID:
"Bruce Ivins was troubled by the dust, dirt and clutter on his officemate's desk, and not just because it looked messy. He suspected the dust was laced with anthrax."
Given years of sloppy practices, highlighted in a 361-page Army report, some experts questioned the ability of prosecutors to ultimately make a case against the anthrax killer.
"Any defense lawyer should read this report carefully and keep it in mind when DNA results are being quoted against his (or) her client," says Martin Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University, a leading expert on anthrax.
Fast forward four years. The FBI is satisfied. Case closed. The deadly missives were apparently sent by none other than a researcher who'd assisted in the investigation.
So the perpetrator was in the FBI's own backyard from the start, just not the one it investigated for years. Not until some breakthrough science technique was developed did the FBI go back to square one.
Never mind the mile-wide holes concerning motive, opportunity and the lack of direct evidence in the case. (Nothing turned up in the search of Ivins' home or car that ties him to the mailings. The new science that nailed him has yet to be vetted by outside experts. He cannot be placed in Trenton, N.J., when the letters were mailed, and his extracurricular lab work began in August 2001, making it possible Ivins was working on his anthrax vaccine that had just lost FDA approval.)
Forget that Ivins was convicted without contributing to his defense. And as Hugh-Jones said, a defense attorney could have a field day with the case.
That's only part of the problem.
The FBI zeroed in on another kooky scientist, pouring millions into sniffing after him for any connection to the crime. This is the same agency that waited nine months to canvass New Jersey drop boxes, the same agency that believed the anthrax came from Detrick, but entrusted a large part of its investigation to Detrick scientists.
When doubts surfaced about Ivins, why was he allowed anywhere near the labs? From FBI accounts, Ivins was a dangerous man who became increasingly crazed when he came under the FBI microscope, yet he was allowed to continue his work at Detrick. Talk about insanity.
Whether you believe the FBI got its man or there's more to the story, a review of the investigation is in order. If in fact Ivins was the country's own Dr. Evil, what does that say about our ability to be victorious in the "war against terror?"
The killer targeted government and the media and the FBI embarked on its most costly and exhaustive investigation in history. Fear helped catapult us into the Patriot Act and a war that's cost the lives of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilians. This deserves more than pinning it on a dead man and walking away.
House Republican and chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Panel Rush Holt is skeptical and he should be.
In an e-mail statement, Holt wants to know "why investigators remained focused on Dr. Hatfill long after they had begun to suspect Dr. Ivins of the crime and why investigators are so certain that Ivins acted alone. In addition, there are important policy questions for handling any future incidents of bioterrorism. I will continue to conduct additional oversight on this issue over the course of the next several months."
We'll be watching.
kheerbrandt@yahoo.com
A USA Today article in October 2004, opens with a description of Bruce Ivins' mindset during the anthrax leaks at USAMRIID:
"Bruce Ivins was troubled by the dust, dirt and clutter on his officemate's desk, and not just because it looked messy. He suspected the dust was laced with anthrax."
Given years of sloppy practices, highlighted in a 361-page Army report, some experts questioned the ability of prosecutors to ultimately make a case against the anthrax killer.
"Any defense lawyer should read this report carefully and keep it in mind when DNA results are being quoted against his (or) her client," says Martin Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University, a leading expert on anthrax.
Fast forward four years. The FBI is satisfied. Case closed. The deadly missives were apparently sent by none other than a researcher who'd assisted in the investigation.
So the perpetrator was in the FBI's own backyard from the start, just not the one it investigated for years. Not until some breakthrough science technique was developed did the FBI go back to square one.
Never mind the mile-wide holes concerning motive, opportunity and the lack of direct evidence in the case. (Nothing turned up in the search of Ivins' home or car that ties him to the mailings. The new science that nailed him has yet to be vetted by outside experts. He cannot be placed in Trenton, N.J., when the letters were mailed, and his extracurricular lab work began in August 2001, making it possible Ivins was working on his anthrax vaccine that had just lost FDA approval.)
Forget that Ivins was convicted without contributing to his defense. And as Hugh-Jones said, a defense attorney could have a field day with the case.
That's only part of the problem.
The FBI zeroed in on another kooky scientist, pouring millions into sniffing after him for any connection to the crime. This is the same agency that waited nine months to canvass New Jersey drop boxes, the same agency that believed the anthrax came from Detrick, but entrusted a large part of its investigation to Detrick scientists.
When doubts surfaced about Ivins, why was he allowed anywhere near the labs? From FBI accounts, Ivins was a dangerous man who became increasingly crazed when he came under the FBI microscope, yet he was allowed to continue his work at Detrick. Talk about insanity.
Whether you believe the FBI got its man or there's more to the story, a review of the investigation is in order. If in fact Ivins was the country's own Dr. Evil, what does that say about our ability to be victorious in the "war against terror?"
The killer targeted government and the media and the FBI embarked on its most costly and exhaustive investigation in history. Fear helped catapult us into the Patriot Act and a war that's cost the lives of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilians. This deserves more than pinning it on a dead man and walking away.
House Republican and chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Panel Rush Holt is skeptical and he should be.
In an e-mail statement, Holt wants to know "why investigators remained focused on Dr. Hatfill long after they had begun to suspect Dr. Ivins of the crime and why investigators are so certain that Ivins acted alone. In addition, there are important policy questions for handling any future incidents of bioterrorism. I will continue to conduct additional oversight on this issue over the course of the next several months."
We'll be watching.
kheerbrandt@yahoo.com
Info on Maryland certified supervised counselor license
DESCRIPTION: An Alcohol and Drug Associate Counselor Provisional is the entry level of work, at the non-certified Bachelor’s Degree level, counseling clients with substance use disorders by using intervention, treatment and rehabilitation. Employees in this classification do not supervise. Employees in this classification receive close supervision from an Alcohol and Drug Professional Counselor Supervisor or other supervisor approved by the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. Employees in this classification may be required to work evenings and on weekends. The work is performed in addictions programs located in State institutions and facilities, such as inpatient and outpatient facilities, jails, detention centers, prisons, halfway house facilities and community-based programs.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
EDUCATION: Possession of a bachelor’s degree in a health or human services counseling field from an accredited educational institution approved by the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists or completion of a program of studies judged by the Board to be substantially equivalent in subject matter and training.
EXPERIENCE: None. (Grade 12)
LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS: In accordance with Health Occupations Title 17 and Code of Maryland Regulations 10.58.07, candidates must apply for and received a letter of authorization to practice as a trainee from the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists within 90 days of their date of hire.
NOTES: Candidates appointed to positions in this classification may be assigned duties which require the operation of a motor vehicle. Employees assigned such duties will be required to possess a valid motor vehicle operator’s license valid in the State of Maryland. Employees must successfully obtain certification or licensure from the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists as a Certified Associate Counselor-Alcohol and Drug within one year of meeting the experience requirements for Certified Associate Counselor-Alcohol and Drug, 4201 Patterson Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215 (410) 764-4740.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THIS CLASSIFICATION: Employees are subject to substance abuse testing in accordance with Code of Maryland Regulations 17.04.09, testing for Illegal Use of Drugs.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
EDUCATION: Possession of a bachelor’s degree in a health or human services counseling field from an accredited educational institution approved by the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists or completion of a program of studies judged by the Board to be substantially equivalent in subject matter and training.
EXPERIENCE: None. (Grade 12)
LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS: In accordance with Health Occupations Title 17 and Code of Maryland Regulations 10.58.07, candidates must apply for and received a letter of authorization to practice as a trainee from the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists within 90 days of their date of hire.
NOTES: Candidates appointed to positions in this classification may be assigned duties which require the operation of a motor vehicle. Employees assigned such duties will be required to possess a valid motor vehicle operator’s license valid in the State of Maryland. Employees must successfully obtain certification or licensure from the Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists as a Certified Associate Counselor-Alcohol and Drug within one year of meeting the experience requirements for Certified Associate Counselor-Alcohol and Drug, 4201 Patterson Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215 (410) 764-4740.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF THIS CLASSIFICATION: Employees are subject to substance abuse testing in accordance with Code of Maryland Regulations 17.04.09, testing for Illegal Use of Drugs.
FNP Jean Duley 08/08/08
When do threats supersede the rules of confidentiality?Originally published August 09, 2008
All mental health workers are bound by confidentiality rules. But when clients threaten to harm themselves or others, state law allows therapists to ask police to step in.
Therapist Jean Duley did just that last month, after Ivins reportedly said he planned to kill co-workers and others.
Duley told a Frederick County District Court judge last month that she called police for a welfare check on Ivins July 10, the day after the reported threats. FBI documents released this week confirm that Duley made the call, but Frederick police said they cannot release details of the emergency evaluation petition or reveal who called them regarding Ivins.
Frederick police officers escorted Ivins from his office at Fort Detrick to Frederick Memorial Hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation that day. He was kept at FMH for two days before being transferred to Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital in Baltimore.
Lt. Clark Pennington, public information officer for the Frederick Police Department, said anyone can call police to request an emergency evaluation for someone, but that requests made by law enforcement officials, doctors, and licensed clinicians are regarded as the most reliable.
Aileen Taylor, executive director of the state Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, said only licensed clinical professional counselors can request emergency evaluations. Duley holds only a certified supervised counselor license and must practice under another clinician. FBI documents refer to Duley as a licensed clinical social worker; however, a search of licensees at the state Board of Social Work Examiners website returns no results for Duley.
While Taylor said that clinicians who do request emergency evaluations for clients are to reveal as little confidential information as possible, she said she is unsure how the law applies to mental health workers who seek personal protection or peace orders against clients.
"There are incidents unfortunately where the therapist is the intended victim, and we support their taking appropriate steps to protect themselves," said Sherri Morgan, associate counsel to the National Association of Social Workers' Legal Defense Fund, and part of the organization's Office of Ethics and Professional Review. Duley testified that FBI agents told her to obtain the peace order against Ivins.
In her peace order petition, filed July 24, Duley wrote that Ivins had "a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats and actions towards theripist (sic)" and that another psychiatrist had called Ivins "homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions." During her hearing, she described threatening calls Ivins had made to her home July 11 and 12 and told the judge that Ivins had been planning to poison people since 2000. She also said she was "scared to death" of Ivins.
Morgan said that while confidentiality regulations are in place to protect both clients and therapists, the latter must use his or her clinical skills to assess the potential for danger and decide how much information to reveal.
"These are difficult decisions to make," Morgan said. "It's important that therapists are highly trained and skilled to do the best clinical assessment that they can. You can't always predict the future."
______________________________________________________
August 09, 2008 @ 09:39 AM: steven09Wow....She didn't have a license?
August 09, 2008 @ 10:32 AM: Barkia http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0801081anthrax1.html "Spelling" is definitely not her forte'......."theripist", "Dietrich", "tetisfy", "homicidale" and she couldn't manage to add the "ed" to "subpoena", making it past tense. Notice she did not check a box under Sexual Assault. How is it that she knows about his "graduate days"? Why was her BOYFRIEND making statements to the press? What makes him think she is a "hero"? Either he's confused about the definition of that word or someone has planted a preconceived notion. Nothing about this woman holds much stock; her "testimony" would have been laughed out of a courtroom.
August 09, 2008 @ 10:49 AM: mjaz62Washington post: "The counselor he saw for group therapy and biweekly individual sessions, who would eventually tell a judge that he was a "sociopathic, homicidal killer," had a troubled past. Jean C. Duley, who worked until recent days for Comprehensive Counseling Associates in Frederick, is licensed as an entry-level drug counselor and was, according to one of her mentors, allowed to work with clients only under supervision of a more-seasoned professional. Shortly before she sought a "peace order" against Ivins, Duley had completed 90 days of home detention after a drunken-driving arrest in December, and she has acknowledged drug use in her past. In a 1999 interview with The Washington Post, Duley described her background as a motorcycle gang member and a drug user. "Heroin. Cocaine. PCP," said Duley, who then used the name Jean Wittman. "You name it, I did it." ((SEE NEXT POST))
August 09, 2008 @ 10:56 AM: mjaz62This is very important, so I gave it a separate post. It is from the same Wash. Post article: in MARCH 2008 "... Ivins angrily told a former colleague that he suspected his therapist was cooperating with the FBI..." Think about that. In March, Ivins says he doesn't trust his therapist. In JULY she claims that he told her specific details of how he was going to kill a bunch of people. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? He didn't trust her in March. Why would he tell her such damaging stuff in July? She claims that there are witnesses. Where are the witnesses? Even if she can't give their names, certainly some of them would voluntarily come forward and confirm it, right? If he scared HER badly enough to break confidence, he must have scared others, too. Where are they?
August 09, 2008 @ 11:09 AM: mjaz62Here is another thing that makes NO SENSE: Duley was not qualified to work alone, without the direct supervision of a "seasoned professional". What gave her the legal authority to have a man COMMITTED? There is a reason that professionals (in any field) are required to undergo years of schooling and licensure. Why in the world would any legal authority take HER word for it? If I was a phlebotomist (a blood-taker) in a doctors office I would be considered "a medical professional", with roughly the same required education as Duley. So could I have someone committed on my say-so? I don't think so. Or, I should say - I HOPE not.
August 09, 2008 @ 11:31 AM: mjaz62OK this will be my last post for a bit - but this is an interesting coincidence! One of the job ads on the right side of this article is for a Substance Abuse Clinician in Loudan County. The job description is mainly for paperword and case handling. And they want someone with a MASTER'S in Social Work! So how exactly did Duley get such an important job? I have one more question about Jean C. Duley. Did she have any OTHER patients that she saw privately? And did she lead any other group therapy sessions that did not include Dr. Ivins? (Ok that was 2 questions). Follow my thinking here... we have an unqualified person "treating" Dr. Ivins. This person is not just unqualified, she has a very unsavory past history. The person whom she is "counseling" is suspicious that she is an FBI plant. She then inserts herself directly into the FBI's case. The FBI/DOJ is asking us to believe their "pattern of coincidences" to prove Ivins was guilty. Maybe we should look at the "pattern of coincidences" of how they "caught" the guy.
All mental health workers are bound by confidentiality rules. But when clients threaten to harm themselves or others, state law allows therapists to ask police to step in.
Therapist Jean Duley did just that last month, after Ivins reportedly said he planned to kill co-workers and others.
Duley told a Frederick County District Court judge last month that she called police for a welfare check on Ivins July 10, the day after the reported threats. FBI documents released this week confirm that Duley made the call, but Frederick police said they cannot release details of the emergency evaluation petition or reveal who called them regarding Ivins.
Frederick police officers escorted Ivins from his office at Fort Detrick to Frederick Memorial Hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation that day. He was kept at FMH for two days before being transferred to Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital in Baltimore.
Lt. Clark Pennington, public information officer for the Frederick Police Department, said anyone can call police to request an emergency evaluation for someone, but that requests made by law enforcement officials, doctors, and licensed clinicians are regarded as the most reliable.
Aileen Taylor, executive director of the state Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, said only licensed clinical professional counselors can request emergency evaluations. Duley holds only a certified supervised counselor license and must practice under another clinician. FBI documents refer to Duley as a licensed clinical social worker; however, a search of licensees at the state Board of Social Work Examiners website returns no results for Duley.
While Taylor said that clinicians who do request emergency evaluations for clients are to reveal as little confidential information as possible, she said she is unsure how the law applies to mental health workers who seek personal protection or peace orders against clients.
"There are incidents unfortunately where the therapist is the intended victim, and we support their taking appropriate steps to protect themselves," said Sherri Morgan, associate counsel to the National Association of Social Workers' Legal Defense Fund, and part of the organization's Office of Ethics and Professional Review. Duley testified that FBI agents told her to obtain the peace order against Ivins.
In her peace order petition, filed July 24, Duley wrote that Ivins had "a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats and actions towards theripist (sic)" and that another psychiatrist had called Ivins "homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions." During her hearing, she described threatening calls Ivins had made to her home July 11 and 12 and told the judge that Ivins had been planning to poison people since 2000. She also said she was "scared to death" of Ivins.
Morgan said that while confidentiality regulations are in place to protect both clients and therapists, the latter must use his or her clinical skills to assess the potential for danger and decide how much information to reveal.
"These are difficult decisions to make," Morgan said. "It's important that therapists are highly trained and skilled to do the best clinical assessment that they can. You can't always predict the future."
______________________________________________________
August 09, 2008 @ 09:39 AM: steven09Wow....She didn't have a license?
August 09, 2008 @ 10:32 AM: Barkia http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0801081anthrax1.html "Spelling" is definitely not her forte'......."theripist", "Dietrich", "tetisfy", "homicidale" and she couldn't manage to add the "ed" to "subpoena", making it past tense. Notice she did not check a box under Sexual Assault. How is it that she knows about his "graduate days"? Why was her BOYFRIEND making statements to the press? What makes him think she is a "hero"? Either he's confused about the definition of that word or someone has planted a preconceived notion. Nothing about this woman holds much stock; her "testimony" would have been laughed out of a courtroom.
August 09, 2008 @ 10:49 AM: mjaz62Washington post: "The counselor he saw for group therapy and biweekly individual sessions, who would eventually tell a judge that he was a "sociopathic, homicidal killer," had a troubled past. Jean C. Duley, who worked until recent days for Comprehensive Counseling Associates in Frederick, is licensed as an entry-level drug counselor and was, according to one of her mentors, allowed to work with clients only under supervision of a more-seasoned professional. Shortly before she sought a "peace order" against Ivins, Duley had completed 90 days of home detention after a drunken-driving arrest in December, and she has acknowledged drug use in her past. In a 1999 interview with The Washington Post, Duley described her background as a motorcycle gang member and a drug user. "Heroin. Cocaine. PCP," said Duley, who then used the name Jean Wittman. "You name it, I did it." ((SEE NEXT POST))
August 09, 2008 @ 10:56 AM: mjaz62This is very important, so I gave it a separate post. It is from the same Wash. Post article: in MARCH 2008 "... Ivins angrily told a former colleague that he suspected his therapist was cooperating with the FBI..." Think about that. In March, Ivins says he doesn't trust his therapist. In JULY she claims that he told her specific details of how he was going to kill a bunch of people. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? He didn't trust her in March. Why would he tell her such damaging stuff in July? She claims that there are witnesses. Where are the witnesses? Even if she can't give their names, certainly some of them would voluntarily come forward and confirm it, right? If he scared HER badly enough to break confidence, he must have scared others, too. Where are they?
August 09, 2008 @ 11:09 AM: mjaz62Here is another thing that makes NO SENSE: Duley was not qualified to work alone, without the direct supervision of a "seasoned professional". What gave her the legal authority to have a man COMMITTED? There is a reason that professionals (in any field) are required to undergo years of schooling and licensure. Why in the world would any legal authority take HER word for it? If I was a phlebotomist (a blood-taker) in a doctors office I would be considered "a medical professional", with roughly the same required education as Duley. So could I have someone committed on my say-so? I don't think so. Or, I should say - I HOPE not.
August 09, 2008 @ 11:31 AM: mjaz62OK this will be my last post for a bit - but this is an interesting coincidence! One of the job ads on the right side of this article is for a Substance Abuse Clinician in Loudan County. The job description is mainly for paperword and case handling. And they want someone with a MASTER'S in Social Work! So how exactly did Duley get such an important job? I have one more question about Jean C. Duley. Did she have any OTHER patients that she saw privately? And did she lead any other group therapy sessions that did not include Dr. Ivins? (Ok that was 2 questions). Follow my thinking here... we have an unqualified person "treating" Dr. Ivins. This person is not just unqualified, she has a very unsavory past history. The person whom she is "counseling" is suspicious that she is an FBI plant. She then inserts herself directly into the FBI's case. The FBI/DOJ is asking us to believe their "pattern of coincidences" to prove Ivins was guilty. Maybe we should look at the "pattern of coincidences" of how they "caught" the guy.
Genetics Led to Anthrax Researcher Wpost 8/6
FBI to Show How Genetics Led to Anthrax Researcher
By Marilyn W. Thompson, Carrie Johnson and Rob SteinWashington Post Staff WritersWednesday, August 6, 2008; A03
The FBI today will begin to unveil how it exploited the rapidly advancing science of genetics to link a single bioweapons researcher to samples taken from the victims of the 2001 anthrax attacks and to powder from the letters that killed them.
The bureau scheduled briefings with Senate leaders who were among the targets and with survivors and relatives of those who died after anthrax-laced mail passed through their hands. It also plans to release about 50 pages of documents offering some details of the case.
The FBI said it will share those details with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Chairman Patrick J. Leahy(D-Vt.), who was the addressee on one of the letters that set off panic on Capitol Hill.
Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who was also a target, received a phone call Monday from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to set up a meeting, one day after Daschle questioned "the overall caliber and quality of the investigation." Daschle said Mueller cited "grand jury limitations" in what he could discuss. It will be Daschle's first briefing on the attacks in five years.
Much of what the FBI will say will involve the scientific trail, which included 19 outside laboratories at a cost of $10 million, that led investigators to bacteriologist Bruce E. Ivins, a noted anthrax researcher at the Army's bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md. The evidence gave them enough confidence to move toward charging Ivins with murder before he committed suicide last week. The Justice Department yesterday continued to discuss whether it can shutter one of the most perplexing investigations in FBI history and unseal the bulky case files.
"We crossed a number of scientific barriers in this case," said one senior FBI official who has been ordered not to talk about the case publicly. "We literally were inventing science as we went along."
Law enforcement sources and published scientific papers indicate that the investigation gained traction through technological and scientific advances that dramatically speeded up the process of differentiating the genetic makeup of hundreds of distinct but closely related strains of bacteria.
Coupled with a fresh scientific understanding of the subtle differences between the strains and a new system for analyzing them, the rapid "sequencing" machines made it possible to detect the minuscule differences and link the one used in the attacks to a single laboratory.
At the time of the attacks, the knowledge to accomplish this in less than decades of laborious work did not exist. But the science of reading and analyzing DNA was on the verge of an explosion, one that the anthrax attacks may have helped to speed up.
Bruce Budowle, an FBI scientist at its lab in Quantico, reported to an international conference in September 2003 that a new field of forensic science -- known as microbial forensics -- had evolved as a result of the investigation. The letter attacks, he said, showed the "need to enhance our capabilities for forensic attribution."
The FBI has boasted publicly only in general terms about the scientific accomplishments in the case. Laboratories and researchers involved in the work under FBI contracts signed agreements not to discuss their contributions, but some relevant insights have emerged in scientific papers published over the past six years as work progressed on decoding the genetic composition of Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacterium.
Still, many details of the FBI's work remain fuzzy. The bureau shared none of the details that its consultants reported back, even among the other trusted laboratories.
"I don't think anybody involved knew who all the partners were," said Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, a former president of the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville and a top scientist in her field. Her lab provided information to develop new assays, or tests, that the FBI could use to match the strain used in the attack to samples elsewhere. She said she did not know how the bureau specifically used the information.
When the deadly letters first surfaced along the East Coast after passing through the U.S. Postal Service, geneticists had not yet decoded the full genetic code, or genome, of the spore-forming anthrax bacteria, usually found in animal hides. Timothy Read, a DNA researcher who worked with Fraser-Liggett, had begun work on a sample from Porton Down, a defense research center in Britain. His incomplete research soon took on urgency.
Authorities had learned that they were dealing with one of 89 strains of anthrax bacteria. They identified their culprit as the Ames strain, cultivated in Ames, Iowa, from a sample taken from a dead cow in Texas. They had learned this by performing autopsies on the victims, which was, in itself, controversial.
The victims in Florida, Washington, New York and Connecticut died from inhalation anthrax, the most serious form of anthrax disease, and performing autopsies in such cases is highly discouraged. Once an incision is made, bacterial spores can escape from a corpse and become airborne, threatening medical personnel with infection. Military doctors are warned that in the event of a biological assault on the battleground, they should leave corpses behind.
After much debate and precautions, doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta finally autopsied the first victim, Robert Stevens, a photojournalist from Florida. They sent samples to the Rockville genomics laboratory.
Sequencing samples from the other victims confirmed that the Ames strain was involved in all of them, narrowing the field of possible laboratories from which the material could have come. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, the Fort Detrick research center, was on a short list of possibilities.
By 2003, researcher Read, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, had focused his genetic analysis on the Ames strain. He published a paper in the journal Nature that concluded that the Ames strain DNA included more than 5 million chemical "bases" or "letters" that could serve as identifiers. He further noted that a difference of just 11 letters separated two samples of Ames that he analyzed, one a sample from the bacteria used in the postal attacks.
Other projects done at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff and Integrated Genomics in Chicago enhanced Read's findings. Several experts yesterday said Paul Keim of Northern Arizona probably played a crucial role in the investigation. In 2004, a team he led published a paper describing a three-step method of analyzing samples that allowed them to winnow 1,067 B. anthracis samples down to 476 genetic sub-subtypes that could be distinguished from one another. Keim did not return calls seeking comment, and a university spokesman referred queries to the FBI.
The bureau did other tests to narrow the field of possible sources to USAMRIID, then concentrated its energies on scientists working within the bacteriology division. They made unannounced visits to gather samples and equipment, leading to a heightened anxiety among the division workers.
The most time-consuming process came as the FBI, in a frenzy of genetic analysis, shipped to the outside laboratories thousands of Ames strain samples from around the world. The bureau thought that it had to be able to convince a jury that its analysis of the material was foolproof.
As the investigation continued, the time and cost of doing genetic analysis plummeted, allowing the flood of samples to be turned around more quickly.
J. Craig Venter, former head of the Institute for Genomic Research, said such investigation was impossible before the recent advances. "This is just applying that same technology to forensic purposes. It's more the use of it to solve a particular criminal problem rather than [to] make advances in science," he said.
As the investigation gained focus, the samples from USAMRIID scientists offered the first real chance of pinning the material in the lethal mail to a specific scientist or team. Scientists had concluded that the formulation in the letters contained a genetic anomaly -- a flipped DNA sequence -- indicating that it was made from a combination of materials. This offered a scientific fingerprint that allowed them to compare it to formulations prepared by individual scientists.
"Just as we as humans have slight genetic variations, if there were particular anomalies used by a particular researcher, then you might be able to produce a perfect match," said a law enforcement source involved in the case.
Sources have said that the genetic trail eventually led agents to Ivins, who prepared formulations for anthrax vaccine tests at USAMRIID and other Army labs. But as elaborate and painstaking as it was, the science leaves open the possibility that someone else had access to a flask of bacteria Ivins prepared.
Sources have said that as many as 10 people worked with Ivins and could have handled his material.
By Marilyn W. Thompson, Carrie Johnson and Rob SteinWashington Post Staff WritersWednesday, August 6, 2008; A03
The FBI today will begin to unveil how it exploited the rapidly advancing science of genetics to link a single bioweapons researcher to samples taken from the victims of the 2001 anthrax attacks and to powder from the letters that killed them.
The bureau scheduled briefings with Senate leaders who were among the targets and with survivors and relatives of those who died after anthrax-laced mail passed through their hands. It also plans to release about 50 pages of documents offering some details of the case.
The FBI said it will share those details with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Chairman Patrick J. Leahy(D-Vt.), who was the addressee on one of the letters that set off panic on Capitol Hill.
Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who was also a target, received a phone call Monday from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to set up a meeting, one day after Daschle questioned "the overall caliber and quality of the investigation." Daschle said Mueller cited "grand jury limitations" in what he could discuss. It will be Daschle's first briefing on the attacks in five years.
Much of what the FBI will say will involve the scientific trail, which included 19 outside laboratories at a cost of $10 million, that led investigators to bacteriologist Bruce E. Ivins, a noted anthrax researcher at the Army's bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md. The evidence gave them enough confidence to move toward charging Ivins with murder before he committed suicide last week. The Justice Department yesterday continued to discuss whether it can shutter one of the most perplexing investigations in FBI history and unseal the bulky case files.
"We crossed a number of scientific barriers in this case," said one senior FBI official who has been ordered not to talk about the case publicly. "We literally were inventing science as we went along."
Law enforcement sources and published scientific papers indicate that the investigation gained traction through technological and scientific advances that dramatically speeded up the process of differentiating the genetic makeup of hundreds of distinct but closely related strains of bacteria.
Coupled with a fresh scientific understanding of the subtle differences between the strains and a new system for analyzing them, the rapid "sequencing" machines made it possible to detect the minuscule differences and link the one used in the attacks to a single laboratory.
At the time of the attacks, the knowledge to accomplish this in less than decades of laborious work did not exist. But the science of reading and analyzing DNA was on the verge of an explosion, one that the anthrax attacks may have helped to speed up.
Bruce Budowle, an FBI scientist at its lab in Quantico, reported to an international conference in September 2003 that a new field of forensic science -- known as microbial forensics -- had evolved as a result of the investigation. The letter attacks, he said, showed the "need to enhance our capabilities for forensic attribution."
The FBI has boasted publicly only in general terms about the scientific accomplishments in the case. Laboratories and researchers involved in the work under FBI contracts signed agreements not to discuss their contributions, but some relevant insights have emerged in scientific papers published over the past six years as work progressed on decoding the genetic composition of Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacterium.
Still, many details of the FBI's work remain fuzzy. The bureau shared none of the details that its consultants reported back, even among the other trusted laboratories.
"I don't think anybody involved knew who all the partners were," said Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, a former president of the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville and a top scientist in her field. Her lab provided information to develop new assays, or tests, that the FBI could use to match the strain used in the attack to samples elsewhere. She said she did not know how the bureau specifically used the information.
When the deadly letters first surfaced along the East Coast after passing through the U.S. Postal Service, geneticists had not yet decoded the full genetic code, or genome, of the spore-forming anthrax bacteria, usually found in animal hides. Timothy Read, a DNA researcher who worked with Fraser-Liggett, had begun work on a sample from Porton Down, a defense research center in Britain. His incomplete research soon took on urgency.
Authorities had learned that they were dealing with one of 89 strains of anthrax bacteria. They identified their culprit as the Ames strain, cultivated in Ames, Iowa, from a sample taken from a dead cow in Texas. They had learned this by performing autopsies on the victims, which was, in itself, controversial.
The victims in Florida, Washington, New York and Connecticut died from inhalation anthrax, the most serious form of anthrax disease, and performing autopsies in such cases is highly discouraged. Once an incision is made, bacterial spores can escape from a corpse and become airborne, threatening medical personnel with infection. Military doctors are warned that in the event of a biological assault on the battleground, they should leave corpses behind.
After much debate and precautions, doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta finally autopsied the first victim, Robert Stevens, a photojournalist from Florida. They sent samples to the Rockville genomics laboratory.
Sequencing samples from the other victims confirmed that the Ames strain was involved in all of them, narrowing the field of possible laboratories from which the material could have come. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, the Fort Detrick research center, was on a short list of possibilities.
By 2003, researcher Read, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, had focused his genetic analysis on the Ames strain. He published a paper in the journal Nature that concluded that the Ames strain DNA included more than 5 million chemical "bases" or "letters" that could serve as identifiers. He further noted that a difference of just 11 letters separated two samples of Ames that he analyzed, one a sample from the bacteria used in the postal attacks.
Other projects done at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff and Integrated Genomics in Chicago enhanced Read's findings. Several experts yesterday said Paul Keim of Northern Arizona probably played a crucial role in the investigation. In 2004, a team he led published a paper describing a three-step method of analyzing samples that allowed them to winnow 1,067 B. anthracis samples down to 476 genetic sub-subtypes that could be distinguished from one another. Keim did not return calls seeking comment, and a university spokesman referred queries to the FBI.
The bureau did other tests to narrow the field of possible sources to USAMRIID, then concentrated its energies on scientists working within the bacteriology division. They made unannounced visits to gather samples and equipment, leading to a heightened anxiety among the division workers.
The most time-consuming process came as the FBI, in a frenzy of genetic analysis, shipped to the outside laboratories thousands of Ames strain samples from around the world. The bureau thought that it had to be able to convince a jury that its analysis of the material was foolproof.
As the investigation continued, the time and cost of doing genetic analysis plummeted, allowing the flood of samples to be turned around more quickly.
J. Craig Venter, former head of the Institute for Genomic Research, said such investigation was impossible before the recent advances. "This is just applying that same technology to forensic purposes. It's more the use of it to solve a particular criminal problem rather than [to] make advances in science," he said.
As the investigation gained focus, the samples from USAMRIID scientists offered the first real chance of pinning the material in the lethal mail to a specific scientist or team. Scientists had concluded that the formulation in the letters contained a genetic anomaly -- a flipped DNA sequence -- indicating that it was made from a combination of materials. This offered a scientific fingerprint that allowed them to compare it to formulations prepared by individual scientists.
"Just as we as humans have slight genetic variations, if there were particular anomalies used by a particular researcher, then you might be able to produce a perfect match," said a law enforcement source involved in the case.
Sources have said that the genetic trail eventually led agents to Ivins, who prepared formulations for anthrax vaccine tests at USAMRIID and other Army labs. But as elaborate and painstaking as it was, the science leaves open the possibility that someone else had access to a flask of bacteria Ivins prepared.
Sources have said that as many as 10 people worked with Ivins and could have handled his material.
Wash Post 08/08/08
Tales of Addiction, Anxiety, Ranting
Scientist, Counselor Recount Recent Turmoil in Anthrax Suspect's Life
By Amy Goldstein, Nelson Hernandez and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 6, 2008; A01
Late last fall, Bruce E. Ivins was drinking a liter of vodka some nights, taking large doses of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs, and typing out rambling e-mails into the early morning hours, according to a fellow scientist who helped him through this period.
It was around the time that FBI agents showed Ivins's 24-year-old daughter pictures of the victims who had died in the 2001 anthrax attacks and told her, "Your father did this," the scientist said. The agents also offered her twin brother the $2.5 million reward for solving the anthrax case -- and the sports car of his choice.
Ivins "was e-mailing me late at night with gobbledygook, ranting and raving" about what he called the "persecution" of his family, said the scientist, a recovering alcohol and drug user who had been sober for more than a decade. The scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he had been contacted by a co-worker of Ivins's at the sprawling Army biodefense laboratory in Fort Detrick and that the co-worker said the veteran anthrax researcher "has really gone down the tubes."
The scientist agreed to help Ivins, focusing on a 12-step recovery program. He was one of many people who intervened in Ivins's life before he committed suicide last week as law officials were preparing to indict him in the anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Before he died July 29 of a Tylenol overdose, Ivins, 62, had two inpatient stays at Maryland hospitals for detoxification and rehabilitation and attended two sets of therapy sessions with a counselor who eventually sought court protection from him.
Ivins had just returned from a four-week stay at a psychiatric hospital in Western Maryland in late May when he wrote the fellow scientist in recovery a calm, six-sentence e-mail. "I hope," it said, "that both of us avoid relapsing into our previous substance abuse." Since his death, Ivins's long-term mental health and the psychological effects of the investigation have become increasingly prominent questions.
The counselor he saw for group therapy and biweekly individual sessions, who would eventually tell a judge that he was a "sociopathic, homicidal killer," had a troubled past. Jean C. Duley, who worked until recent days for Comprehensive Counseling Associates in Frederick, is licensed as an entry-level drug counselor and was, according to one of her mentors, allowed to work with clients only under supervision of a more-seasoned professional.
Shortly before she sought a "peace order" against Ivins, Duley had completed 90 days of home detention after a drunken-driving arrest in December, and she has acknowledged drug use in her past.
In a 1999 interview with The Washington Post, Duley described her background as a motorcycle gang member and a drug user. "Heroin. Cocaine. PCP," said Duley, who then used the name Jean Wittman. "You name it, I did it."
Ivins starting working with Duley after a stint in rehabilitation about six months ago. It was not the first time, though, that people sensed that he had an addiction problem. W. Russell Byrne, an infectious disease specialist who worked with Ivins in the bacteriology division at Fort Detrick until Byrne's 2000 retirement from the Army, has kept up with his former colleagues. Byrne said he remembers offering Ivins a beer one night several years ago when Ivins made a rare appearance at a party at Bushwaller's, an Irish pub in the heart of Frederick where their crowd of scientists sometimes gathered. "He declined," Byrne recalled. "He said he had a family history of alcoholism."
Gerry Andrews, who worked with Ivins at Fort Detrick for nine years and was the bacteriology division's chief from 2000 to 2003, said that it was rare for Ivins to join the other researchers after work for beer and that Ivins drank so little he was kidded about being a teetotaler.
Andrews said that after he retired from the Army, he kept in touch with Ivins via e-mail, sharing jokes and pondering scientific questions. Then in fall 2007, Andrews said, "he kind of fell off the radar screen. I found out that there was some issues with his house being surveilled."
According to the scientist, who said he spent about 80 hours with Ivins to help him recover from his addiction, the FBI agents pressured Ivins's children, and they were pressuring Ivins in public places. One day in March, when Ivins was at a Frederick mall with his wife and son, the agents confronted the researcher and said, "You killed a bunch of people." Then they turned to his wife and said, "Do you know he killed people?" according to the scientist.
The same week, Ivins angrily told a former colleague that he suspected his therapist was cooperating with the FBI. On March 19, police were called to Ivins's home and found him unconscious. He was evaluated at Frederick Memorial Hospital.
Ivins was an inpatient in April at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, the scientist said, and it was during that time that Ivins and the scientist had especially intense visits. And in a late morning e-mail to him on May 26, Ivins wrote: "I just came back from 4 weeks of rehab at the Massie Unit of the Finan Center in Cumberland. It was a good program. . . . They talk about relapse triggers, relapse prevention, stress management, etc."
It is unclear when Ivins began to see Duley at Comprehensive Counseling, 1 1/2 miles from his home. According to a court filing last month, Duley said she had known Ivins for six months. Another source said Ivins began to see her after he left Suburban Hospital.
A spokeswoman at Suburban, while not confirming whether Ivins had been a patient, said the behavioral medicine department there sometimes gives patients lists of places near their homes where they can pursue outpatient therapy, including Comprehensive Counseling.
According to court records, Ivins also saw a psychiatrist, David Irwin, at Shady Grove Psychiatric Group in Gaithersburg, although it is unclear when he was a patient there. Neither Irwin nor Duley have returned repeated phone calls. Allan Levy, Duley's boss and the director of Comprehensive Counseling, declined to comment.
Duley, seeking the protective order against Ivins, testified before a Frederick County judge last month, saying that Ivins had said during a July group therapy session that he had bought a bulletproof vest and a gun to carry out "a very detailed plan to kill his co-workers." When she sought to have him committed, she said, he threatened her. To this day, Duley is the only person who has said publicly that Ivins intended to kill. In court testimony, she said she was cooperating with the FBI.
Scientist, Counselor Recount Recent Turmoil in Anthrax Suspect's Life
By Amy Goldstein, Nelson Hernandez and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 6, 2008; A01
Late last fall, Bruce E. Ivins was drinking a liter of vodka some nights, taking large doses of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs, and typing out rambling e-mails into the early morning hours, according to a fellow scientist who helped him through this period.
It was around the time that FBI agents showed Ivins's 24-year-old daughter pictures of the victims who had died in the 2001 anthrax attacks and told her, "Your father did this," the scientist said. The agents also offered her twin brother the $2.5 million reward for solving the anthrax case -- and the sports car of his choice.
Ivins "was e-mailing me late at night with gobbledygook, ranting and raving" about what he called the "persecution" of his family, said the scientist, a recovering alcohol and drug user who had been sober for more than a decade. The scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he had been contacted by a co-worker of Ivins's at the sprawling Army biodefense laboratory in Fort Detrick and that the co-worker said the veteran anthrax researcher "has really gone down the tubes."
The scientist agreed to help Ivins, focusing on a 12-step recovery program. He was one of many people who intervened in Ivins's life before he committed suicide last week as law officials were preparing to indict him in the anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Before he died July 29 of a Tylenol overdose, Ivins, 62, had two inpatient stays at Maryland hospitals for detoxification and rehabilitation and attended two sets of therapy sessions with a counselor who eventually sought court protection from him.
Ivins had just returned from a four-week stay at a psychiatric hospital in Western Maryland in late May when he wrote the fellow scientist in recovery a calm, six-sentence e-mail. "I hope," it said, "that both of us avoid relapsing into our previous substance abuse." Since his death, Ivins's long-term mental health and the psychological effects of the investigation have become increasingly prominent questions.
The counselor he saw for group therapy and biweekly individual sessions, who would eventually tell a judge that he was a "sociopathic, homicidal killer," had a troubled past. Jean C. Duley, who worked until recent days for Comprehensive Counseling Associates in Frederick, is licensed as an entry-level drug counselor and was, according to one of her mentors, allowed to work with clients only under supervision of a more-seasoned professional.
Shortly before she sought a "peace order" against Ivins, Duley had completed 90 days of home detention after a drunken-driving arrest in December, and she has acknowledged drug use in her past.
In a 1999 interview with The Washington Post, Duley described her background as a motorcycle gang member and a drug user. "Heroin. Cocaine. PCP," said Duley, who then used the name Jean Wittman. "You name it, I did it."
Ivins starting working with Duley after a stint in rehabilitation about six months ago. It was not the first time, though, that people sensed that he had an addiction problem. W. Russell Byrne, an infectious disease specialist who worked with Ivins in the bacteriology division at Fort Detrick until Byrne's 2000 retirement from the Army, has kept up with his former colleagues. Byrne said he remembers offering Ivins a beer one night several years ago when Ivins made a rare appearance at a party at Bushwaller's, an Irish pub in the heart of Frederick where their crowd of scientists sometimes gathered. "He declined," Byrne recalled. "He said he had a family history of alcoholism."
Gerry Andrews, who worked with Ivins at Fort Detrick for nine years and was the bacteriology division's chief from 2000 to 2003, said that it was rare for Ivins to join the other researchers after work for beer and that Ivins drank so little he was kidded about being a teetotaler.
Andrews said that after he retired from the Army, he kept in touch with Ivins via e-mail, sharing jokes and pondering scientific questions. Then in fall 2007, Andrews said, "he kind of fell off the radar screen. I found out that there was some issues with his house being surveilled."
According to the scientist, who said he spent about 80 hours with Ivins to help him recover from his addiction, the FBI agents pressured Ivins's children, and they were pressuring Ivins in public places. One day in March, when Ivins was at a Frederick mall with his wife and son, the agents confronted the researcher and said, "You killed a bunch of people." Then they turned to his wife and said, "Do you know he killed people?" according to the scientist.
The same week, Ivins angrily told a former colleague that he suspected his therapist was cooperating with the FBI. On March 19, police were called to Ivins's home and found him unconscious. He was evaluated at Frederick Memorial Hospital.
Ivins was an inpatient in April at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, the scientist said, and it was during that time that Ivins and the scientist had especially intense visits. And in a late morning e-mail to him on May 26, Ivins wrote: "I just came back from 4 weeks of rehab at the Massie Unit of the Finan Center in Cumberland. It was a good program. . . . They talk about relapse triggers, relapse prevention, stress management, etc."
It is unclear when Ivins began to see Duley at Comprehensive Counseling, 1 1/2 miles from his home. According to a court filing last month, Duley said she had known Ivins for six months. Another source said Ivins began to see her after he left Suburban Hospital.
A spokeswoman at Suburban, while not confirming whether Ivins had been a patient, said the behavioral medicine department there sometimes gives patients lists of places near their homes where they can pursue outpatient therapy, including Comprehensive Counseling.
According to court records, Ivins also saw a psychiatrist, David Irwin, at Shady Grove Psychiatric Group in Gaithersburg, although it is unclear when he was a patient there. Neither Irwin nor Duley have returned repeated phone calls. Allan Levy, Duley's boss and the director of Comprehensive Counseling, declined to comment.
Duley, seeking the protective order against Ivins, testified before a Frederick County judge last month, saying that Ivins had said during a July group therapy session that he had bought a bulletproof vest and a gun to carry out "a very detailed plan to kill his co-workers." When she sought to have him committed, she said, he threatened her. To this day, Duley is the only person who has said publicly that Ivins intended to kill. In court testimony, she said she was cooperating with the FBI.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Library warrants
The FBI confiscated 2 computers without a warrant, from the Frederick library last weekend. They filed search warrants today. It is very interesting, in that - the computers have already been searched, and the information in the warrants has been carefully crafted to release information that the authorities want released, and to correct errors that they made before, that have been questioned.
One notable chnge is that the "knife" that was claimed earlier has been downgraded to a "sharp pen". Also, where in earlier warrants Ivins was called "a suspect" now he is called "a person that necessitated further investigation."
I wonder what all that means.
Oh and the "therapist" has been promoted to a licensed clinical social worker, although there does not seem to be any such license on file for her in Maryland.
here are the new warrants: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/media/pdfs/08-497.PDF and http://www.fredericknewspost.com/media/pdfs/08-496.PDF
One notable chnge is that the "knife" that was claimed earlier has been downgraded to a "sharp pen". Also, where in earlier warrants Ivins was called "a suspect" now he is called "a person that necessitated further investigation."
I wonder what all that means.
Oh and the "therapist" has been promoted to a licensed clinical social worker, although there does not seem to be any such license on file for her in Maryland.
here are the new warrants: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/media/pdfs/08-497.PDF and http://www.fredericknewspost.com/media/pdfs/08-496.PDF
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
AP 08/06/08
Feds say Irvins alone caused 2001 anthrax attacks By LARA JAKES JORDAN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers
29 minutes ago
Army scientist Bruce Ivins "was the only person responsible" for anthrax attacks in 2001 that killed five and rattled the nation, the Justice Department said Wednesday, buttressing its claim with the release of dozens of documents all pointing to his guilt.
Ivins, who committed suicide last week, had sole custody of highly purified anthrax spores with "certain genetic mutations identical" to the poison used in the attacks, according to the documents. Investigators also said they had traced back to his lab the type of envelopes used to send the deadly powder through the mails.
Ivins killed himself last week as investigators closed in, and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said, "We regret that we will not have the opportunity to present evidence to the jury."
Ivins' attorney, Paul Kemp, has repeatedly asserted his late client's innocence.
The prosecutor's news conference capped a fast-paced series of events in which the government partially lifted its veil of secrecy in the investigation of the poisonings that followed closely after the airliner terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The newly released records depict the scientist as deeply troubled, increasingly so as he confronted the possibility of being charged.
"He said he was not going to face the death penalty, but instead had a plan to kill co-workers and other individuals who had wronged him," according to one affidavit. In e-mails to colleagues, Ivins described a feeling of dual personalities, the material said.
The affidavits also said Ivins submitted false anthrax samples to the FBI, was unable to give investigators "an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of" the attacks and sought to frame unnamed co-workers.
In addition, he was said to have received immunizations against anthrax and yellow fever in early September 2001, several weeks before the first anthrax-laced envelope was received in the mail.
Authorities say that language Ivins used in an e-mail days before the 2001 anthrax attacks was similar to the messages in anthrax-laced letters to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.
In the e-mail, Ivins wrote that "Bin Laden terrorists for sure have anthrax and sarin gas" and have "just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans." The letters to Daschle and Leahy said: "WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX . . . DEATH TO AMERICA . . . DEATH TO ISRAEL."
Wednesday's documents were released as the FBI held a private briefing for families of the victims of the attacks and officials said the agency was preparing to close the case.
As for motive, investigators seemed to offer two possible reasons for the attacks: that the brilliant scientist wanted to bolster support for a vaccine he helped create and that the anti-abortion Catholic targeted two pro-choice Catholic lawmakers.
"We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks," Taylor told a news conference at the Justice Department.
Noting that Ivins would have been entitled to a presumption of innocence, Taylor nevertheless said prosecutors were confident "we could prove his guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt."
The events in Washington unfolded as a memorial service was held for Ivins at Fort Detrick, the secret government installation in Frederick, Md., where he worked. Reporters were barred.
More than 200 pages of documents were made public by the FBI, virtually all of them describing the government's attempts to link Ivins to the crimes.
"It is a very compelling case," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who attended a briefing for lawmakers and staff.
The government material describes at length painstaking scientific efforts to trace the source of the anthrax that was used in the attacks.
It says that in his lab, Ivins had custody of a flask of anthrax termed "the genetic parent" to the powder involved — a source that investigators say was used to grow spores for the attacks on "at least two separate occasions."
Anthrax culled from the letters was quickly discovered to be the so-called Ames strain of bacteria, but with genetic mutations that made it distinct. Scientists developed more sophisticated tests for four of those mutations, and concluded that all the samples that matched came from a single batch, code-named RMR-1029, stored at Fort Detrick.
Ivins "has been the sole custodian of RMR-1029 since it was first grown in 1997," said one affidavit.
Powder from anthrax-laden letters sent to the New York Post and Tom Brokaw of NBC contained a bacterial contaminant not found in the anthrax-containing envelopes mailed to Sens. Patrick Leahy or Tom Daschle, the affidavit said.
Investigators concluded that "the contaminant must have been introduced during the production of the Post and Brokaw spores," the affidavit said.
The documents disclosed that authorities searched Ivins' home on Nov. 2, 2007, taking 22 swabs of vacuum filters and radiators and seizing dozens of items. Among them were video cassettes, family photos, information about guns and a copy of "The Plague" by Albert Camus.
Investigators also reported seizing three cardboard boxes labeled "Paul Kemp ... attorney client privilege."
Ivins' cars and his safe deposit box also were searched as investigators closed in on the respected government scientist who had been troubled by mental health problems for years.
According to an affidavit filed by Charles B. Wickersham, a postal inspector, the scientist told an unnamed co-worker "that he had `incredible paranoid, delusional thoughts at times' and 'feared that he might not be able to control his behavior.'"
A mental health worker who was involved in treating Ivins disclosed last week that she was so concerned about his behavior that she recently sought a court order to keep him away from her.
Allegations that Ivins sought to mislead investigators ran through the material made public.
One FBI document said Ivins "repeatedly named other researchers as possible mailers and claimed that the anthrax used in the attacks resembled that of another researcher" at the same facility.
The name of the other researcher was not disclosed.
Stephen A. Hatfill's career as a bioscientist was ruined after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft named him a "person of interest" in the probe. The government recently paid $6 million to settle a lawsuit by Hatfill, who worked in the same lab.
The documents made public painted a picture of Ivins seeking to mislead investigators beginning in 2002, when he allegedly submitted the wrong samples to FBI investigators.
It wasn't until more than two years later, in March 2005, that he was confronted with the alleged switch, according to U.S. Postal Inspector Thomas Dellafera, who added that Ivins insisted he had not sought to deceive.
The documents were released following an order from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. Among them were more than a dozen search warrants issued as the government closed in on Ivins in an investigation into the terrifying mail poisonings a few weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Lamberth ordered the release after consultation with Amy Jeffress, a national security prosecutor at the Department of Justice.
The investigation dates to 2001, when anthrax-laced mail turned up in two Senate offices as well as news media offices and elsewhere. At the time, the events were widely viewed as the work of terrorists, and delivery of mail was crippled when anthrax spores were discovered in mailing equipment that had processed the contaminated envelopes.
The FBI's investigation had dragged on for years, tarnishing the reputation of the agency in the process.
29 minutes ago
Army scientist Bruce Ivins "was the only person responsible" for anthrax attacks in 2001 that killed five and rattled the nation, the Justice Department said Wednesday, buttressing its claim with the release of dozens of documents all pointing to his guilt.
Ivins, who committed suicide last week, had sole custody of highly purified anthrax spores with "certain genetic mutations identical" to the poison used in the attacks, according to the documents. Investigators also said they had traced back to his lab the type of envelopes used to send the deadly powder through the mails.
Ivins killed himself last week as investigators closed in, and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said, "We regret that we will not have the opportunity to present evidence to the jury."
Ivins' attorney, Paul Kemp, has repeatedly asserted his late client's innocence.
The prosecutor's news conference capped a fast-paced series of events in which the government partially lifted its veil of secrecy in the investigation of the poisonings that followed closely after the airliner terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The newly released records depict the scientist as deeply troubled, increasingly so as he confronted the possibility of being charged.
"He said he was not going to face the death penalty, but instead had a plan to kill co-workers and other individuals who had wronged him," according to one affidavit. In e-mails to colleagues, Ivins described a feeling of dual personalities, the material said.
The affidavits also said Ivins submitted false anthrax samples to the FBI, was unable to give investigators "an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of" the attacks and sought to frame unnamed co-workers.
In addition, he was said to have received immunizations against anthrax and yellow fever in early September 2001, several weeks before the first anthrax-laced envelope was received in the mail.
Authorities say that language Ivins used in an e-mail days before the 2001 anthrax attacks was similar to the messages in anthrax-laced letters to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.
In the e-mail, Ivins wrote that "Bin Laden terrorists for sure have anthrax and sarin gas" and have "just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans." The letters to Daschle and Leahy said: "WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX . . . DEATH TO AMERICA . . . DEATH TO ISRAEL."
Wednesday's documents were released as the FBI held a private briefing for families of the victims of the attacks and officials said the agency was preparing to close the case.
As for motive, investigators seemed to offer two possible reasons for the attacks: that the brilliant scientist wanted to bolster support for a vaccine he helped create and that the anti-abortion Catholic targeted two pro-choice Catholic lawmakers.
"We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks," Taylor told a news conference at the Justice Department.
Noting that Ivins would have been entitled to a presumption of innocence, Taylor nevertheless said prosecutors were confident "we could prove his guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt."
The events in Washington unfolded as a memorial service was held for Ivins at Fort Detrick, the secret government installation in Frederick, Md., where he worked. Reporters were barred.
More than 200 pages of documents were made public by the FBI, virtually all of them describing the government's attempts to link Ivins to the crimes.
"It is a very compelling case," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who attended a briefing for lawmakers and staff.
The government material describes at length painstaking scientific efforts to trace the source of the anthrax that was used in the attacks.
It says that in his lab, Ivins had custody of a flask of anthrax termed "the genetic parent" to the powder involved — a source that investigators say was used to grow spores for the attacks on "at least two separate occasions."
Anthrax culled from the letters was quickly discovered to be the so-called Ames strain of bacteria, but with genetic mutations that made it distinct. Scientists developed more sophisticated tests for four of those mutations, and concluded that all the samples that matched came from a single batch, code-named RMR-1029, stored at Fort Detrick.
Ivins "has been the sole custodian of RMR-1029 since it was first grown in 1997," said one affidavit.
Powder from anthrax-laden letters sent to the New York Post and Tom Brokaw of NBC contained a bacterial contaminant not found in the anthrax-containing envelopes mailed to Sens. Patrick Leahy or Tom Daschle, the affidavit said.
Investigators concluded that "the contaminant must have been introduced during the production of the Post and Brokaw spores," the affidavit said.
The documents disclosed that authorities searched Ivins' home on Nov. 2, 2007, taking 22 swabs of vacuum filters and radiators and seizing dozens of items. Among them were video cassettes, family photos, information about guns and a copy of "The Plague" by Albert Camus.
Investigators also reported seizing three cardboard boxes labeled "Paul Kemp ... attorney client privilege."
Ivins' cars and his safe deposit box also were searched as investigators closed in on the respected government scientist who had been troubled by mental health problems for years.
According to an affidavit filed by Charles B. Wickersham, a postal inspector, the scientist told an unnamed co-worker "that he had `incredible paranoid, delusional thoughts at times' and 'feared that he might not be able to control his behavior.'"
A mental health worker who was involved in treating Ivins disclosed last week that she was so concerned about his behavior that she recently sought a court order to keep him away from her.
Allegations that Ivins sought to mislead investigators ran through the material made public.
One FBI document said Ivins "repeatedly named other researchers as possible mailers and claimed that the anthrax used in the attacks resembled that of another researcher" at the same facility.
The name of the other researcher was not disclosed.
Stephen A. Hatfill's career as a bioscientist was ruined after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft named him a "person of interest" in the probe. The government recently paid $6 million to settle a lawsuit by Hatfill, who worked in the same lab.
The documents made public painted a picture of Ivins seeking to mislead investigators beginning in 2002, when he allegedly submitted the wrong samples to FBI investigators.
It wasn't until more than two years later, in March 2005, that he was confronted with the alleged switch, according to U.S. Postal Inspector Thomas Dellafera, who added that Ivins insisted he had not sought to deceive.
The documents were released following an order from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. Among them were more than a dozen search warrants issued as the government closed in on Ivins in an investigation into the terrifying mail poisonings a few weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Lamberth ordered the release after consultation with Amy Jeffress, a national security prosecutor at the Department of Justice.
The investigation dates to 2001, when anthrax-laced mail turned up in two Senate offices as well as news media offices and elsewhere. At the time, the events were widely viewed as the work of terrorists, and delivery of mail was crippled when anthrax spores were discovered in mailing equipment that had processed the contaminated envelopes.
The FBI's investigation had dragged on for years, tarnishing the reputation of the agency in the process.
Washington opst 8/2/08
A Scientist's Quiet Life Took a Darker Turn
By Joby Warrick, Marilyn W. Thompson and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 2, 2008; A01
For most of his career, he was a casting agent's vision of a bench scientist: shy, eccentric, nerdy, soft-spoken. But sometime this spring, with the FBI closing in on him, Bruce E. Ivins's life took a dark turn that frightened his closest friends.
In March, police officers summoned to a quiet Frederick neighborhood found the 62-year-old microbiologist unconscious in his home. Four months later, he was admitted to a psychiatric clinic after making wild threats against co-workers at the Army research institute where he kept his lab. Then, a week ago, his therapist urgently petitioned a judge for protection from Ivins. She described a man spiraling out of control, making "homicidal threats, actions, plans."
His death Tuesday from a drug overdose was followed by a revelation even more jarring to those who knew him: a report that Ivins had been implicated in the 2001 anthrax attacks, one of the FBI's biggest unsolved mysteries and most baffling technical cases. Ivins, a leading expert on anthrax vaccines, was on the verge of being indicted in the case, according to officials familiar with the investigation, and took his life by swallowing a large quantity of acetaminophen.
The allegations of a possible link to the case known as "Amerithrax" dumbfounded friends and co-workers who knew Ivins as a gentle, bighearted family man who raised two children in Frederick, volunteered for community charities and played keyboards for the local Catholic church. His work with the deadly anthrax bacteria was devoted to developing more effective vaccines that could save lives in a future biological attack.
"He was passionate about it -- he really cared," said a fellow scientist who co-authored studies with Ivins.
Yet, slowly over the past two years, FBI investigators began to focus on Ivins under the theory that he had used his knowledge of anthrax bacteria to pull off the nation's deadliest episode of biological terrorism. As a researcher for the Army's main lab for studying bioterror agents, Ivins had easy access to anthrax bacteria, including the specific strain of Bacillus anthracis used in the attacks on media outlets and congressional offices in the fall of 2001. His expertise eventually earned him a front-row seat for the FBI's investigation, as he was called upon to help the bureau with its analysis of the wispy powder used in the attacks.
Despite the allegations -- and even after Ivins's apparent plunge into mental illness -- longtime friends and colleagues say it is inconceivable that Ivins could have been a bioterrorist. Many contend that he was driven to depression and suicide because of months of hounding by federal investigators.
"He just looked worried, depressed, anxious, way turned into himself," recalled W. Russell Byrne, an infectious-disease specialist who last saw Ivins on a recent Sunday at St. John the Evangelist, the Roman Catholic church in Frederick to which they both belonged. "It would be overstating it to say he looked like a guy who was being led to his execution, but it's not far off."
Added another co-worker: "Almost everybody . . . believes that he had absolutely nothing to do with Amerithrax."
Ivins was born in 1946, the youngest of three sons who grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. His father owned a drugstore and was active in the local Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, while his mother stayed at home and volunteered in her sons' PTAs, according to his eldest brother. The family went regularly to Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
"He was a bookworm," said Tom Ivins, 72, of Middletown, Ohio, who said he had been estranged from his youngest brother for two decades. "He liked things like science."
The 1964 yearbook from Lebanon High School shows a thin-faced young man with oversize, dark-rimmed glasses and a raft of extracurricular activities under his name: National Honor Society. Science fair. Current events club. The scholarship team all four years. He ran on the track and cross-country teams, worked on the yearbook and school newspaper, and was in the school choir and the junior and senior class plays.
Ivins entered the University of Cincinnati that fall and earned three degrees there: a B.S. with honors in 1968 and master's and doctoral degrees in microbiology in 1971 and 1976, respectively. His dissertation focused on different aspects of toxicity in disease-causing bacteria.
When he applied to Fort Detrick in the late 1980s, he had "an impressive résumé," said John Ezzell, a former top scientist there who was part of a hiring committee that selected Ivins to work on the human anthrax vaccine. "We thought he worked out really well. He was a critical part of our vaccine studies." Ezzell said Ivins participated in numerous animal experiments testing how the vaccine protected against various types of anthrax exposure.
Ezzell considered Ivins a friend and said they sometimes shared hotel rooms when they traveled to professional conferences. "Most of the time, he was very happy and outgoing," he said. "He did good work. He was very conscientious, and he worked long hours to get the work done."
Ezzell said the experiments did not involve anthrax in its dried form, the type found in the letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) that was so finely ground it could immediately become airborne. Ivins worked with small teams of scientists; their findings had global significance in the field of anthrax studies and were later used by opponents of a mandatory vaccination program instituted by the Pentagon that has been highly controversial.
Meryl Nass, a physician and leader in the vaccine opposition movement, met Ivins at a conference in the early 1990s, and they talked regularly over the next decade. She said Ivins told her he had a chronic blood disorder and feared that it might be linked to the anthrax vaccine booster shots he had to take to work in the Fort Detrick laboratory.
"He had some issues with work," Nass said in an interview.
Ivins eventually would be awarded the Defense Department's highest honor for civilian performance for helping to resurrect a controversial vaccine that could protect against anthrax. At a March 2003 ceremony, Ivins described the award, which he received along with several colleagues, as unexpected. "Awards are nice. But the real satisfaction is knowing the vaccine is back on-line," he told a military publication.
After the anthrax mailings in October 2001, the Fort Detrick labs went into a frenetic response, testing suspicious mail and packages virtually round-the-clock. Ivins was part of a team that analyzed the handwritten letter sent to Daschle, packed with Bacillus anthracis spores that matched the primary strain used in Fort Detrick research.
In early 2002, without notifying his supervisors, Ivins began sampling areas in the Detrick lab space that he believed might be contaminated with anthrax. He took unauthorized samples from the lab containment areas and later acknowledged to Army officials that he had violated protocol.
Ivins's odd behavior was detailed in an Army investigation of the matter, but he did not surface as a potential suspect in the mailings case. "He was not on my radar," said a Senate source whose office was briefed on the FBI's progress.
In fact, in early June 2003, when the FBI drained a pond in rural Maryland in search of clues to the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, Ivins was one of the Red Cross volunteers who brought investigators coffee and donuts. Investigators, however, singled him out and asked him to leave "because he was somebody involved in the investigation," said Byrne, Ivins's former colleague and fellow parishioner.
Outside the lab, Ivins's neighbors, friends and pastor say, he played the piano every Sunday at what he jokingly called "the hippie Mass" in the school hall at St. John the Evangelist. He played keyboards in a Celtic band and founded the Frederick Jugglers.
Robert and Bonnie Duggan, who live six houses away from Ivins's family -- his wife, Diane, and their daughter and son -- recalled that they once asked to borrow his chainsaw to cut down trees along their back fence. Ivins insisted on cutting down the trees for them.
Over the past two years, many who knew him saw the effects of accumulating pressure as the anthrax investigation veered toward him. "He would tell stories about how he would come home and everything he owned would be in piles," said a Fort Detrick employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because workers there had been instructed not to talk with reporters. The employee said his files, lab samples and equipment were frequently seized by authorities.
He was finding it harder and harder to work and was planning to retire in September. But even as his troubles mounted and his mood darkened, "a lot of people cared about him," Byrne said. "He is not Timothy McVeigh. He's not the Unabomber."
Still, by spring, Ivins's life seemed to be falling apart. Police were first called to his house on March 19, when he was discovered unconscious and briefly admitted to a hospital. On July 10, they encountered Ivins again, this time after a counselor called from Fort Detrick to report that the scientist was a danger to himself, and was ranting about weapons and making death threats. He went peacefully with police to Frederick Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
He was later released voluntarily, but his erratic behavior prompted his therapist, Jean C. Duley, to seek a protective order. Duley wrote that Ivins "has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats & actions toward therapists." She quoted his psychiatrist, Dr. David Irwin, as calling him "homicidal, sociopathic, with clear intentions." Irwin could not be reached for comment.
Early Sunday, police were again summoned to Ivins's house and found him unconscious on the bathroom floor. They took him to Frederick Memorial Hospital, where he died two days later.
That same day, the court dismissed Duley's case. A clerk explained the reason in a brief, handwritten note:
"Respondent deceased."
By Joby Warrick, Marilyn W. Thompson and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 2, 2008; A01
For most of his career, he was a casting agent's vision of a bench scientist: shy, eccentric, nerdy, soft-spoken. But sometime this spring, with the FBI closing in on him, Bruce E. Ivins's life took a dark turn that frightened his closest friends.
In March, police officers summoned to a quiet Frederick neighborhood found the 62-year-old microbiologist unconscious in his home. Four months later, he was admitted to a psychiatric clinic after making wild threats against co-workers at the Army research institute where he kept his lab. Then, a week ago, his therapist urgently petitioned a judge for protection from Ivins. She described a man spiraling out of control, making "homicidal threats, actions, plans."
His death Tuesday from a drug overdose was followed by a revelation even more jarring to those who knew him: a report that Ivins had been implicated in the 2001 anthrax attacks, one of the FBI's biggest unsolved mysteries and most baffling technical cases. Ivins, a leading expert on anthrax vaccines, was on the verge of being indicted in the case, according to officials familiar with the investigation, and took his life by swallowing a large quantity of acetaminophen.
The allegations of a possible link to the case known as "Amerithrax" dumbfounded friends and co-workers who knew Ivins as a gentle, bighearted family man who raised two children in Frederick, volunteered for community charities and played keyboards for the local Catholic church. His work with the deadly anthrax bacteria was devoted to developing more effective vaccines that could save lives in a future biological attack.
"He was passionate about it -- he really cared," said a fellow scientist who co-authored studies with Ivins.
Yet, slowly over the past two years, FBI investigators began to focus on Ivins under the theory that he had used his knowledge of anthrax bacteria to pull off the nation's deadliest episode of biological terrorism. As a researcher for the Army's main lab for studying bioterror agents, Ivins had easy access to anthrax bacteria, including the specific strain of Bacillus anthracis used in the attacks on media outlets and congressional offices in the fall of 2001. His expertise eventually earned him a front-row seat for the FBI's investigation, as he was called upon to help the bureau with its analysis of the wispy powder used in the attacks.
Despite the allegations -- and even after Ivins's apparent plunge into mental illness -- longtime friends and colleagues say it is inconceivable that Ivins could have been a bioterrorist. Many contend that he was driven to depression and suicide because of months of hounding by federal investigators.
"He just looked worried, depressed, anxious, way turned into himself," recalled W. Russell Byrne, an infectious-disease specialist who last saw Ivins on a recent Sunday at St. John the Evangelist, the Roman Catholic church in Frederick to which they both belonged. "It would be overstating it to say he looked like a guy who was being led to his execution, but it's not far off."
Added another co-worker: "Almost everybody . . . believes that he had absolutely nothing to do with Amerithrax."
Ivins was born in 1946, the youngest of three sons who grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. His father owned a drugstore and was active in the local Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, while his mother stayed at home and volunteered in her sons' PTAs, according to his eldest brother. The family went regularly to Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
"He was a bookworm," said Tom Ivins, 72, of Middletown, Ohio, who said he had been estranged from his youngest brother for two decades. "He liked things like science."
The 1964 yearbook from Lebanon High School shows a thin-faced young man with oversize, dark-rimmed glasses and a raft of extracurricular activities under his name: National Honor Society. Science fair. Current events club. The scholarship team all four years. He ran on the track and cross-country teams, worked on the yearbook and school newspaper, and was in the school choir and the junior and senior class plays.
Ivins entered the University of Cincinnati that fall and earned three degrees there: a B.S. with honors in 1968 and master's and doctoral degrees in microbiology in 1971 and 1976, respectively. His dissertation focused on different aspects of toxicity in disease-causing bacteria.
When he applied to Fort Detrick in the late 1980s, he had "an impressive résumé," said John Ezzell, a former top scientist there who was part of a hiring committee that selected Ivins to work on the human anthrax vaccine. "We thought he worked out really well. He was a critical part of our vaccine studies." Ezzell said Ivins participated in numerous animal experiments testing how the vaccine protected against various types of anthrax exposure.
Ezzell considered Ivins a friend and said they sometimes shared hotel rooms when they traveled to professional conferences. "Most of the time, he was very happy and outgoing," he said. "He did good work. He was very conscientious, and he worked long hours to get the work done."
Ezzell said the experiments did not involve anthrax in its dried form, the type found in the letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) that was so finely ground it could immediately become airborne. Ivins worked with small teams of scientists; their findings had global significance in the field of anthrax studies and were later used by opponents of a mandatory vaccination program instituted by the Pentagon that has been highly controversial.
Meryl Nass, a physician and leader in the vaccine opposition movement, met Ivins at a conference in the early 1990s, and they talked regularly over the next decade. She said Ivins told her he had a chronic blood disorder and feared that it might be linked to the anthrax vaccine booster shots he had to take to work in the Fort Detrick laboratory.
"He had some issues with work," Nass said in an interview.
Ivins eventually would be awarded the Defense Department's highest honor for civilian performance for helping to resurrect a controversial vaccine that could protect against anthrax. At a March 2003 ceremony, Ivins described the award, which he received along with several colleagues, as unexpected. "Awards are nice. But the real satisfaction is knowing the vaccine is back on-line," he told a military publication.
After the anthrax mailings in October 2001, the Fort Detrick labs went into a frenetic response, testing suspicious mail and packages virtually round-the-clock. Ivins was part of a team that analyzed the handwritten letter sent to Daschle, packed with Bacillus anthracis spores that matched the primary strain used in Fort Detrick research.
In early 2002, without notifying his supervisors, Ivins began sampling areas in the Detrick lab space that he believed might be contaminated with anthrax. He took unauthorized samples from the lab containment areas and later acknowledged to Army officials that he had violated protocol.
Ivins's odd behavior was detailed in an Army investigation of the matter, but he did not surface as a potential suspect in the mailings case. "He was not on my radar," said a Senate source whose office was briefed on the FBI's progress.
In fact, in early June 2003, when the FBI drained a pond in rural Maryland in search of clues to the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, Ivins was one of the Red Cross volunteers who brought investigators coffee and donuts. Investigators, however, singled him out and asked him to leave "because he was somebody involved in the investigation," said Byrne, Ivins's former colleague and fellow parishioner.
Outside the lab, Ivins's neighbors, friends and pastor say, he played the piano every Sunday at what he jokingly called "the hippie Mass" in the school hall at St. John the Evangelist. He played keyboards in a Celtic band and founded the Frederick Jugglers.
Robert and Bonnie Duggan, who live six houses away from Ivins's family -- his wife, Diane, and their daughter and son -- recalled that they once asked to borrow his chainsaw to cut down trees along their back fence. Ivins insisted on cutting down the trees for them.
Over the past two years, many who knew him saw the effects of accumulating pressure as the anthrax investigation veered toward him. "He would tell stories about how he would come home and everything he owned would be in piles," said a Fort Detrick employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because workers there had been instructed not to talk with reporters. The employee said his files, lab samples and equipment were frequently seized by authorities.
He was finding it harder and harder to work and was planning to retire in September. But even as his troubles mounted and his mood darkened, "a lot of people cared about him," Byrne said. "He is not Timothy McVeigh. He's not the Unabomber."
Still, by spring, Ivins's life seemed to be falling apart. Police were first called to his house on March 19, when he was discovered unconscious and briefly admitted to a hospital. On July 10, they encountered Ivins again, this time after a counselor called from Fort Detrick to report that the scientist was a danger to himself, and was ranting about weapons and making death threats. He went peacefully with police to Frederick Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
He was later released voluntarily, but his erratic behavior prompted his therapist, Jean C. Duley, to seek a protective order. Duley wrote that Ivins "has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats & actions toward therapists." She quoted his psychiatrist, Dr. David Irwin, as calling him "homicidal, sociopathic, with clear intentions." Irwin could not be reached for comment.
Early Sunday, police were again summoned to Ivins's house and found him unconscious on the bathroom floor. They took him to Frederick Memorial Hospital, where he died two days later.
That same day, the court dismissed Duley's case. A clerk explained the reason in a brief, handwritten note:
"Respondent deceased."
more coworkers comments
Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a physician who worked with Ivins in the bacteriology division of the Fort Detrick research facility for 15 years, said he does not believe Ivins was behind the anthrax attacks. Byrne of Frederick said he believes that Ivins was “hounded” by aggressive FBI agents who raided his home twice. He said Ivins was forcefully removed from his job by local police recently because of fears that he had become a danger to himself or others. The investigation led to Ivins being hospitalized for depression earlier this month, Byrne said.
He described Ivins as “eccentric,” but not dangerous.
“If he was about to be charged, no one who knew him well was aware of that, and I don’t believe it,” said Byrne, who attended the same Catholic church as Ivins, who played the keyboards and led the church’s musical program.
Norman Covert, a retired Fort Detrick spokesman who served with Ivins on an animal-care and protocol committee, said Ivins was “a very intent guy” at their meetings.
He described Ivins as “eccentric,” but not dangerous.
“If he was about to be charged, no one who knew him well was aware of that, and I don’t believe it,” said Byrne, who attended the same Catholic church as Ivins, who played the keyboards and led the church’s musical program.
Norman Covert, a retired Fort Detrick spokesman who served with Ivins on an animal-care and protocol committee, said Ivins was “a very intent guy” at their meetings.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Interview w/ Anderson
Ivins colleague rejects therapist’s description
Originally published August 04, 2008
By Marge Neal
News-Post Staff
While counselor Jean Duley said the late Bruce E. Ivins expressed homicidal intentions, threatened her and said he "would go out in a blaze of glory" in the face of a pending FBI indictment, as least one former colleague believes the Fort Detrick scientist is being used as a scapegoat in the high profile anthrax poisoning case that paralyzed the nation -- again -- shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Arthur O. Anderson, a medical doctor and scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, said Duley's description of Ivins doesn't match his impressions of a man with whom he worked for many years.
Ivins, who was about to be indicted by the FBI in the anthrax mailings that killed five people and injured 17 others, was described by Anderson as a hard-working individual with a high level of integrity and pride in both his workplace and his individual work.
The only perceived weakness that Anderson could discern, and not all people would consider it a weakness, he said, was that Ivins "had relatively thin skin."
"His personality style was such that he was sensitive to public opinion," Anderson said Sunday. "There are individuals in our community whose lives are centered around protesting government programs. They're not necessarily interested in facts, but pushing an agenda."
Ivins would take it personally when seemingly unfounded criticism was aimed at something he believed in, Anderson said.
"He was concerned with how the Institute was perceived and how he was perceived," Anderson said. "That manifested itself in the care he took in conducting his research."
As a health care professional and bioethicist -- he heads USAMRIID's Office of Human Use and Ethics -- Anderson said he takes issue with what he views as Duley's professional betrayal of Ivins.
"I can tell you very clearly that the minute a conflict of interest occurs in the caregiver-client relationship É she has to withdraw as the caregiver," he said. "She can't ethically continue to gather information or share information -- betray that trust -- without disclosing to her client that she is sharing what he believes is confidential, privileged information."
Anderson said that if he was to betray a patient's trust in such a manner, he would be subject to medical disciplinary procedures.
In commenting about remarks made by Duley when she applied to the District Court of Maryland for a Peace Order, Anderson said he was amazed that a judge would allow hearsay to be entered on the record.
Duley referred to comments allegedly made by Ivins' psychiatrist about Ivins' homicidal and sociopathic tendencies, without confirmation to the court that the doctor actually made the comments.
"The remaining allegations about murderous ideas and plans sound so foreign to me that in the absence of contemporaneously documented evidence I would have to consider them items of Ms. Duley's vivid imagination or information fed to her by the people she communicated with outside the therapeutic environment," Anderson wrote in an e-mail to the News-Post. "It is not at all surprising to me that a patient whose therapist is serving as a double agent 'therapist' and 'accuser' would become very angry with the therapist and might make some rather dramatic expressions of that anger."
The doctor and scientist paused briefly after being asked if he believes Ivins committed suicide.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "I think all of the circumstances put him in a place where he felt he had no place to go."
Anderson said he became aware in June that the FBI had taken items out of Ivins' lab.
"The FBI took all of the stored things in his lab freezer," Anderson said. "They basically destroyed his life's work. I think that's what upset him the most."
Anderson said it is "highly incomprehensible" to him that Ivins would be regarded as the perpetrator in this case simply because he had access to anthrax.
He said he last saw Ivins around July 6. Ivins told him the FBI was stalking him, following him everywhere, Anderson said.
"He was animated and appropriately concerned, but certainly not out of control."
Anderson does not believe Ivins is responsible for the 2001 anthrax deaths.
"Now that he can't defend himself against the allegations, this will play out the way it will play out," he said.
But he firmly believes it wasn't guilt that killed his colleague and friend.
"I think it was the sense of betrayal and complete abandonment by those around him," Anderson said. "He cared so much and had so much pride in the work he did -- I don't think he could handle that sense of abandonment."
Originally published August 04, 2008
By Marge Neal
News-Post Staff
While counselor Jean Duley said the late Bruce E. Ivins expressed homicidal intentions, threatened her and said he "would go out in a blaze of glory" in the face of a pending FBI indictment, as least one former colleague believes the Fort Detrick scientist is being used as a scapegoat in the high profile anthrax poisoning case that paralyzed the nation -- again -- shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Arthur O. Anderson, a medical doctor and scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, said Duley's description of Ivins doesn't match his impressions of a man with whom he worked for many years.
Ivins, who was about to be indicted by the FBI in the anthrax mailings that killed five people and injured 17 others, was described by Anderson as a hard-working individual with a high level of integrity and pride in both his workplace and his individual work.
The only perceived weakness that Anderson could discern, and not all people would consider it a weakness, he said, was that Ivins "had relatively thin skin."
"His personality style was such that he was sensitive to public opinion," Anderson said Sunday. "There are individuals in our community whose lives are centered around protesting government programs. They're not necessarily interested in facts, but pushing an agenda."
Ivins would take it personally when seemingly unfounded criticism was aimed at something he believed in, Anderson said.
"He was concerned with how the Institute was perceived and how he was perceived," Anderson said. "That manifested itself in the care he took in conducting his research."
As a health care professional and bioethicist -- he heads USAMRIID's Office of Human Use and Ethics -- Anderson said he takes issue with what he views as Duley's professional betrayal of Ivins.
"I can tell you very clearly that the minute a conflict of interest occurs in the caregiver-client relationship É she has to withdraw as the caregiver," he said. "She can't ethically continue to gather information or share information -- betray that trust -- without disclosing to her client that she is sharing what he believes is confidential, privileged information."
Anderson said that if he was to betray a patient's trust in such a manner, he would be subject to medical disciplinary procedures.
In commenting about remarks made by Duley when she applied to the District Court of Maryland for a Peace Order, Anderson said he was amazed that a judge would allow hearsay to be entered on the record.
Duley referred to comments allegedly made by Ivins' psychiatrist about Ivins' homicidal and sociopathic tendencies, without confirmation to the court that the doctor actually made the comments.
"The remaining allegations about murderous ideas and plans sound so foreign to me that in the absence of contemporaneously documented evidence I would have to consider them items of Ms. Duley's vivid imagination or information fed to her by the people she communicated with outside the therapeutic environment," Anderson wrote in an e-mail to the News-Post. "It is not at all surprising to me that a patient whose therapist is serving as a double agent 'therapist' and 'accuser' would become very angry with the therapist and might make some rather dramatic expressions of that anger."
The doctor and scientist paused briefly after being asked if he believes Ivins committed suicide.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "I think all of the circumstances put him in a place where he felt he had no place to go."
Anderson said he became aware in June that the FBI had taken items out of Ivins' lab.
"The FBI took all of the stored things in his lab freezer," Anderson said. "They basically destroyed his life's work. I think that's what upset him the most."
Anderson said it is "highly incomprehensible" to him that Ivins would be regarded as the perpetrator in this case simply because he had access to anthrax.
He said he last saw Ivins around July 6. Ivins told him the FBI was stalking him, following him everywhere, Anderson said.
"He was animated and appropriately concerned, but certainly not out of control."
Anderson does not believe Ivins is responsible for the 2001 anthrax deaths.
"Now that he can't defend himself against the allegations, this will play out the way it will play out," he said.
But he firmly believes it wasn't guilt that killed his colleague and friend.
"I think it was the sense of betrayal and complete abandonment by those around him," Anderson said. "He cared so much and had so much pride in the work he did -- I don't think he could handle that sense of abandonment."
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