FBI Declares Anthrax Case Solved and Shut

F.B.I has declared the lethal Anthrax case as solved and shut after a lengthy and complex investigation of 7 years. A deep sense of bewilderment widely prevails as FBI could not produce convincing facts to pin down the master mind behind this lethal scientific conspiracy.

The Anthrax case introduced deadly bio-terrorism in 2001, precisely a week after the deadly 9/11 attacks. Harmful anthrax spores were mailed in form of regular letters to media offices and two U.S Senators. It killed 5, infected 17, crippled the national mail service, caused the sealing of the legislative office building and spread tremors of terror across U.S.

FBI targeted scientist Dr. Steven Hatfill for investigations till mid 2008 without any evident clue of his involvement in case. The baseless charges were scraped off Hatfill’s name on June 27, 2008 with a compensation of $4.6 million dollars from govt, for violating his constitutional rights.

On 6 Aug, 2008, FBI concluded that Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, a scientist at Army research centre, Fort Detrick, Maryland, was solely responsible for the attacks.

Ivins, 62, committed suicide on 29 July, 2008 before he was legally taken under charge for inquiry in 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins's death left behind many unsolved puzzles.

Many high profiles like the Senator Patrick Leahy, Rush Holt- a New Jersey Democrat, Brad Smith-a molecular biologist, colleagues etc are still not convinced with forensics information revealed by FBI against Ivins. They see no conclusive facts to stamp Ivins, solely with such fatal charges. The case is built from number of incidental facts and lacks certainty in its conclusion based on following loose ends.

There was no evidence to confirm that Dr. Ivins mailed the letters like-a confession, trace of his DNA on the letters, a video footage to show same etc. FBI could not even point out a single motive that could have been the reason behind his lethal act.

FBI proved anthrax existence and association only with the lab where Ivins worked, so a major point of concern is- how was Ivins singled out for suspect and not the other scientists accessing that lab. FBI got no anthrax spores at Ivins' house or from his personal stuffs either to put him in arc of fire.

FBI released following clues in support of their conclusion in a closed-door briefing to government officials.

DNA tests performed on Ivins made it evident that the anthrax strains used by Ivins in his lab were similar to those used in the 2001 attacks. Reverse-engineering of production and properties of the anthrax spores proved that a person could have easily prepared the attack anthrax with tools available at Fort Detrick lab.

New microbial forensic techniques clearly concluded that the mailed anthrax and the one found in a flask under Ivins charge in his lab were similar. FBI cleared that a police inquiry eliminated all 100 suspects who had access to the same version of anthrax and found circumstantial evidence incriminating Dr. Ivins.

Some other fishy scoops against Ivins were his late night working in his lab for 3 consecutive nights just before the attack, his mental imbalance and his habit of driving to far-off locations at night to mail anonymous posts.
Ivins had confessed to an Army investigator in oral and writing that he failed to report about anthrax contaminations for five months from Dec 2001 to Apr 2002. This raised serious questions on his intentions.

On Tuesday, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said he has asked the National Academy of Sciences to set up an expert panel and review the bureau’s investigation.