F.B.I. Will Present Scientific Evidence in Anthrax Case to Counter Doubts

[LeighAnn]

Source: New York Times

Growing doubts from scientists about the strength of the government’s case against the late Bruce E. Ivins, the military researcher named as the anthrax killer, are forcing the Justice Department to begin disclosing more fully the scientific evidence it used to implicate him.

<snip>

The bureau presented forensics information to Congressional and government officials this week in a closed-door briefing, but a number of listeners said the briefing left them less convinced that the F.B.I. had the right man, and they said some of the government’s public statements appeared incomplete or misleading.

For instance, the Justice Department said earlier this month in unsealing court records against Dr. Ivins that he had tried to mislead investigators in 2002 by giving them an anthrax sample that did not appear to have come from his laboratory.

But F.B.I. officials acknowledged at the closed-door briefing, according to people who were there, that the sample Dr. Ivins gave them in 2002 did in fact come from the same strain used in the attacks, but, because of limitations in the bureau’s testing methods and Dr. Ivins’s failure to provide the sample in the format requested, the F.B.I. did not realize that it was a correct match until three years later.

In addition, people who were briefed by the F.B.I. said a batch of misprinted envelopes used in the anthrax attacks — another piece of evidence used to link Dr. Ivins to the attacks — could have been much more widely available than bureau officials had initially led them to believe.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/16/washington/16anthrax.html?ref=us

---

My comments at http://www.leighannlittle.com

[Bolo Boffin]

1. No prints on the envelope, no saliva, no traces of anthrax anywhere else

No actual placing Ivins at the mailbox, nothing...

...but Ivins is supposed to have used a single flask that only he controlled and that leads directly back to him and him alone?

Yeah, right.

[mhatrw]

13. Leigh Ann's most recent post on this is exceptional.

http://www.leighannlittle.com/2008/08/defending-dead-part-4-blinding-us-with.html

Wouldn't you agree?

[Mabus]

18. Thank you for that link, mhatrw

As you know, I'm just fascinated with this case.

[LeighAnn]

22. Thank you!!!

I'll be glad when the real culprits are brought to justice!!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. A bogus unproven DNA analysis of some kind.

[Muttocracy]

3. You mean this issue isn't going to die a quiet death? Wow!

[gratuitous]

4. All right, you doubting Thomases want to see your precious "evidence"?

Well, here you go: We got . . . lessee, two coins that add up to thirty cents and one of them is not a nickel. A button off a shirt I think I donated to Goodwill three years ago. There's a piece of string. And . . . . oh, a fortune from a fortune cookie I got at lunch the day after Ivins killed himself.

There! You can't refute any of that, can you? I gotta go, Nancy Grace is on Line 2. But I think the string ties it all together very nicely, huh?

[Bonobo]

5. They should have the Bigfoot guys handle the press conference. nt

[Spiffarino]

6. I see two possibilities here

1. They come out with piles of paper on a Friday or on a day when something big is happening, guaranteeing minimal airtime, or...

2. They tell you there's "a bunch more evidence!" and then do nothing.

Prepare to be Bushed again.

[Mabus]

19. There's a lot of evidence that's out there that they haven't talked about

For example, where is the photocopier located that they tracked down as the one that the letters were copied on? According to 2002 news paper reports it had been located in a publicly accessible area. For some reason, mention of this copier and if it was in a place where either Hatfill or Ivins could be connected to, is left out of the cases against both of them.

What strain of anthrax was the Defense Intelligence Agency planning on using in their experiments when they made their announcement on Sept. 4, 2001 in the following article? And the only reason they announced it was because the NY Times had done an article on it.

Pentagon to Develop Anthrax Strain

By Robert Burns
AP Military Writer

Tuesday, September 04, 2001 9:48 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Defense Intelligence Agency plans to develop small amounts of a potentially more potent variant of the bacterium that causes deadly anthrax, Pentagon officials said Tuesday. ``We plan to proceed'' once internal legal reviews have been completed and Congress has been fully informed, said Victoria Clarke, spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The existence of the project was revealed in Tuesday's New York Times, which said it was part of a broader research effort to improve U.S. defenses against biological agents. Rumsfeld has identified biological weapons as one of the most worrisome national security threats.

Clarke said the purpose of developing a new strain of anthrax is strictly defensive: to ensure that an effective vaccine is available should a biological weapon be used against American troops. She said it was reported publicly in 1997 that Russia may have been developing the new strain. The U.S. government asked Russia for a sample so it could test vaccines, but no samples were provided.

``We have a vaccine that works against all the known anthrax strains,'' she told reporters at the Pentagon. ``What we want to do is make sure we are prepared for any surprises, we're prepared for anything that might happen that might be a threat. So in the early part of this year, the DIA started to look into ... how we could develop that modified anthrax strain so we could test our vaccines against it.'' So far, the DIA has not produced any samples of the new strain, she said.

So, not to go all tinfoil and what not but Ivins may not have been the only one with an interest in culturing anthrax at Ft. Detrick for vaccines. Here's some information from sourcewatch about the DIA and the location of its offices. If you note, there are three major activities with the one in Maryland being a medical center.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a "Department of Defense combat support agency and an important member of the United States Intelligence Community. With over 7000 military and civilian employees worldwide, DIA is a major producer and manager of foreign military intelligence. We provide military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners, in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition." <1>

"DIA is headquartered at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., with major operational activities at the Defense Intelligence Analysis Center (DIAC), Washington, D.C., the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center (AFMIC), Frederick, Maryland, and the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), Huntsville, Alabama."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defense_Intelligence_Agency

Here's a link show that DIA's medical offices are located in Ft. Detrick.

Fort Detrick

Fort Detrick is located in Frederick, Maryland, in the heart of Frederick County, the third fastest growing county in Maryland. Fort Detrick is the center of the biomedical technology growth that has occurred in the county. Fort Detrick is located approximately one hours drive from Washington D.C. metro area and Baltimore, Maryland, easily accessible by major interstate highways. As an Army Medicine Installation. Fort Detrick is home to the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and 36 other tenant organizations. The primary missions include biomedical research and development, medical materiel management and global telecommunications.

***

The Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center is a field production activity of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the sole DoD producer of medical intelligence. The center provides all-source intelligence on worldwide infectious diseases and environmental health risks, foreign military and civilian health care systems and infrastructures, and foreign biomedical development and life science technologies of military medical significance.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-detrick.htm

:tinfoilhat:

There are, in my mind, a lot of holes in the FBI's story.

[DRoseDARs]

7. Unless they're about to unveil the time machine Ivins used to fit their timeline...

...they're going to have a hard time proving jack shit to anyone who isn't stupid.

[DCKit]

16. I heard he had a flying car - alternatively, that he'd stolen a transporter...

from the set of the latest Star Trek movie.

[Archae]

8. What do you expect?

From a bunch of dipwits that use pseudo-science like the polygraph and profiling?

Who "profiled" Richard Jewell, even though it was far-right asshole Eric Rudolph who set off the bomb at the 1996 Olympics?

J. Edgar would be SOOOOO proud...

[FormerOstrich]

9. K & R

and another viewpoint.

I posted an excellent article in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3806938


:kick:

[Frank Cannon]

10. I don't give a fuck what they present. The man is DEAD.

He was never arrested, tried, or convicted. He never received due process and therefore remains not guilty.


Isn't this the excuse they gave to let Ken Lay and his family off the hook for his crimes?

[judasdisney]

11. You see, he had a subscription to "Icky Porn Magazine" and "Creepy Terrorist Newsletter" = proof

[mhatrw]

12. KUDOS ON YOUR COMMENTS!

IMHO, this is your best post yet (out of a lot of worthy competition):

http://www.leighannlittle.com/2008/08/defending-dead-part-4-blinding-us-with.html

Keep up the great work!

[EFerrari]

21. Seconded. A good distillation of what this article is doing.

Thanks, Leigh Ann. :)

[FreepFryer]

14. As soon as they're finished falsifying it, that is. (n/t)

[DCKit]

15. "...the F.B.I. did not realize that it was a correct match until three years later."

Then how did the rest of us learn it was the same strain kept at Ft. Detrick less than two weeks after the attacks?

Guess the DOJ, FDA, FEMA, DHS, USDA, EPA, BIA, DoI, CIA, DoD and MSM aren't the only federal agencies thoroughly trashed by incompetent political hiring, corporate collaboration, the quest to control the message by any means necessary and political vendetta.

Another quote from the NYT article:

"The bureau’s lab work has come under sharp criticism in recent years for problems over DNA analysis, bullet tracing and other important forensic technology. In 2004, the laboratory mismatched a fingerprint taken from the Madrid terror bombings to a lawyer in Portland, Ore., Brandon Mayfield, who was then arrested. He won a $2.8 million settlement."

Heckuva job fellas.

[EFerrari]

17. So, FBI STILL claimed Ivins gave the wrong sample AFTER

they knew better and thry sed this false claim to make their case to the American people.

And the envelopes were more broadly available than they claimed.

Good grief, they're not even trying.

[Solly Mack]

20. so..uh..they are now going to tell what they said they couldn't tell before?

LMAO

Because the guy at the press conference said that there were some details they couldn't share with the public...and now? what's changed?

LMAO

Suddenly those details can be shared with the public? Suddenly those details aren't off limits? Because the rules that applied at the time of the press conference have been overturned?

LMAO