Word: anthrax
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...Hartford Courant revealed last week that some 27 samples of anthrax, Ebola and other pathogens were missing during a 1992 inventory at USAMRIID. According to several former employees and at least one current one--as well as internal Army documents released in response to a 1998 lawsuit and first made public in December--it was surprisingly easy for employees to get hold of highly infectious bacteria. Walking out with some in your pocket would have been no problem...
...though, didn't stop with his departure from the lab. In late September, he was the subject of an anonymous letter that was forwarded to the FBI. The note had highly specific details about Assaad and claimed he was preparing a biological attack. It was sent before the first anthrax case broke...
...Egyptian born, he would seem to make a perfect fall guy. FBI agents met with him on Oct. 3 and, after a 45-minute interview, told him they were convinced the letter was a hoax. Assaad says he is sure he was being set up by the real anthrax killer to take the blame for the attacks...
...more detailed than anything the FBI has released. She thinks the killer is a middle-aged American who works for a CIA contractor in the Washington area but has had access in the past to the labs at Fort Detrick. She believes he or she has been vaccinated against anthrax and knows how to conceal forensic evidence. Says Rosenberg: "It's highly probable that the perpetrator is someone who was known in the lab, someone who was thought to be O.K." Based on the composition of the anthrax, she thinks, it is likely that the killer knows William Patrick...
Biodefense insiders have given the bureau a list of roughly 50 scientists with the expertise to have carried out the anthrax attacks, says Rosenberg. The FBI said in December that it was looking for someone who fit many of Rosenberg's criteria, but the bureau has not said much since. "I certainly haven't seen any evidence that they have followed up on all the clues," Rosenberg complains. Despite its public silence, says FBI spokesman Mike Kor-tan, the bureau is in fact pushing forward...