USA Today picks up Stephen Hatfill's anthrax study ties of 98/99

posted by ewing2001 on Thursday May 29, @01:00PM

Already started in 1998 at the CFR, Hatfill later worked as an anthrax
researcher at the SAIC -together with Jerome Hauer.
Here from a 1998 meeting:

"Building a 'Biobomb': Terrorist Challenge and U.S. Response"
CFR

USA Today
5/28/2003

Anthrax investigators tail scientist '24/7'

Hatfill's name surfaced in the anthrax probe last summer, when FBI agents searched his former apartment in Frederick and Attorney General John Ashcroft called him "a person of interest" in the probe. The designation has no legal significance....

..."...In February 1999, Hatfill and another scientist commissioned a study of a hypothetical anthrax attack as part of their work for a defense contractor.

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Beyond that, one of the four law enforcement sources says, "there's just nothing to hang our hats on."

So far, investigators cannot rebut Hatfill's claims that he has never been to Trenton or Princeton, N.J., where the anthrax letters were mailed. Nor have they found any traces of anthrax in Hatfill's apartment, his girlfriend's home, his cars, a Dumpster near his home, or several places he visited.

Some investigators thought they had a break in the case when divers searched a pond in Frederick, near Hatfill's former home, in December and January.

The divers found an airtight plastic box and a rope, among other things. Initial tests showed traces of anthrax on the rope, leading some investigators to speculate that the attacker might have put the box in the water and then loaded anthrax powder into the five envelopes that were sent to the media and two U.S. senators. The rope, some investigators thought, could have been used to anchor the box in the pond..."

But the initial tests on the rope soon proved to be wrong, which one of the law enforcement sources blamed on poor lab work. The rope, box and other equipment found in the pond are undergoing more sophisticated tests, the four sources say. Depending on the results, they say, the FBI will decide whether to drain the pond to seek more evidence.

Since Oct. 4, 2001, when Florida photo editor Bob Stevens was diagnosed with the inhalation anthrax that would kill him, the FBI and many top U.S. scientists have worked together to try to solve the case. The FBI is relying on microbiologists and others to invent techniques for identifying anthrax that could be used to present evidence in court.

It's an uneasy alliance because investigators wonder whether the killer could be one of the scientists working on the probe. Hatfill was one of 30 to 40 U.S. scientists the FBI believes had access to anthrax and the expertise to work with it.

One of the law enforcement sources says investigators sometimes wonder whether they focused on Hatfill too soon, and ignored someone who deserved more attention.

So much has gone into investigating Hatfill, the source says, that abandoning the focus on him "would be like starting all over."

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