Federal authorities defended their investigation into the 2001 anthrax deaths, arguing that the nearly seven-year probe had undergone rigorous scientific review and helped create a new field of molecular forensics.
The FBI acknowledged that it made mistakes, including tossing out what could have been a key piece of evidence. But officials strongly defended the science used to link the attacks that killed five people to Army microbiologist Bruce E. Ivins.
Ivins, who worked at the laboratory in Fort Detrick, killed himself as the Justice Department was preparing an indictment against him. Internet skeptics have assailed the FBI’s conclusion that Ivins acted alone, while others have claimed Ivins was framed.
“I don’t think that we’ll ever put the suspicions to bed,” said FBI Assistant Director Vahid Majidi. “There’s always going to be a spore on the grassy knoll.”
Majidi, flanked by nearly 20 scientists and law enforcement officials, admitted that early in the case authorities threw out a sample of anthrax that could have connected Ivins to 2001 mailings.
Ivins had provided the sample to investigators in February 2002, but authorities destroyed it because he didn’t follow the protocols required by a proposed subpoena. Ivins provided a second sample two months later that did not match the fatal strain, an apparent attempt to mislead investigators.
Three years later, after investigators traced the strain used in the attacks to Ivins’ lab, authorities found a copy of Ivins’ initial sample. Tests using new technology and methods that hadn’t been available three years earlier confirmed that the sample contained the same genetic markings found in the 2001 mailings.
Investigators collected more than 1,070 samples of anthrax from all over the world. Ivins helped the FBI analyze samples, Majidi said.
In 2006, scientists developed DNA testing that allowed them to determine that eight samples contained four unique genetic markings found in the attack anthrax. Those positive hits pointed back to Fort Detrick and a second lab that investigators refused to identify Monday. In all, about 100 people would have had access to the strain, Majidi said.
Investigators still haven’t determined how all of the 22 victims came into contact with the anthrax and have never found the envelope used in the death of a Florida photographer, Majidi said.
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