Anthrax, the FBI, and Absolute Certainty

The 2001 anthrax attack - or attacks, since quite a few anthrax-loaded items were sent through the mail - is in the news again. Looks like it isn't absolutely, positively, totally possible to pinpoint exactly how anthrax got loose in the mail system: killing a number of people, making more ill, and scaring a fair fraction of the American population.

If this was a show inspired by the X-Files, there'd be at least one sinister conspiracy: and quite likely space aliens. If I was doing the writing, I might be tempted to have those shape-shifting, space-alien lizard men be the heavies.

But we're not in a television drama. This is the real world: and folks who commit heinous acts aren't always obliging enough to leave a clear trail of evidence. Preferably with written notes on what they did. And a confession recorded on video.

The FBI and Absolute Certainty

I've gotten the impression that there are folks who assume that anything FBI agents say is true. I've also gotten the impression that there are others who assume that everything FBI agents say isn't true.

I'm definitely not among the dreadfully earnest bunch who fear the FBI and CIA more than Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Iran's ayatollahs. I also don't think every branch of the American government is staffed entirely by paragons of virtue and rectitude. I don't even think that everyone on the federal payroll is competent.

What I do think is that folks investigating the anthrax attacks probably discovered where the lethal microcritters came from - originally, at any rate. I also think there's a pretty good chance that the fellow they finally fingered, Dr. Bruce Ivins, actually was responsible for putting anthrax in the mail.

Too bad he (just happened?) to die as the FBI was about to take him in. That sort of thing makes for a rousing good thriller - in fiction. In situations like this, Dr. Ivin's inconvenient - or convenient - death adds more uncertainty to a high-profile terrorist attack.

Like I said, complete notes and a video confession would have been nice.

Fingering the Wrong Man - on Silly Evidence

Remember Steven Hatfill? He's the man that federal investigators tried to pin the anthrax attack on. Maybe that's putting it unfairly. On the other hand, as I wrote back in 2008:

"...The methodical, fact-based, reasoned approach that the FBI has been using lately is a welcome relief from the comic opera antics that led to Steven Hatfill being fingered as suspect number one. In large part, apparently, because he was seen in Charley's Place with a few of a Sultan's bodyguards.

"That Keystone Cops act was an unpleasant reminder of how law enforcement and the news media jumped on Richard Jewel with both feet, after the Olympic Park bombing...."
(September 17, 2008)

Conspiracy Theories, Anyone?

Space-alien lizard men aren't needed for a rousing good conspiracy theory. I could say that a cabal of Rosicrucians and Shriners joined forces with the Girl Scouts in a plot to make everybody wear funny hats. Their original plan was to spread anthrax in cookies - until someone pointed out how easily that'd lead back to the conspirators.

So they used subliminal messages imprinted on latte served in the DC area, to make FBI agents suspect first one innocent dupe and then another - and you get the idea.

The way I put it sounds silly. But I didn't bother to use emotional terms and muddle up the claims I was making.

I really do not think that the Girl Scouts is involved in the anthrax attacks, by the way. Or the Shriners, or Rosecrutians, by the way.

I'm even reasonably certain that Dr Ivins really is solely responsible for the attacks.

Or, maybe he was involved, along with others - who decided to drop that sort of attack after federal investigators worked their way around to Ivins.

Or, and I really do not think this is the case, the Girl Scouts, Shriners and Rosecrutians control the FBI, the CIA, and Turner Network Television. Now that would make a story.

Attention-Grabbing Headline, A Fair Amount of Explanation

From today's news:

"Panel Finds No Conclusive Evidence to Identify Source of 2001 Anthrax Attacks"
Catherine Herridge, State & Local, Politics, FoxNews.com (February 15, 2011)

"Despite the FBI's conclusion that an Army scientist sent anthrax letters sent to Congress and the media in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, a new report casts doubt on the bureau's findings.

"After a lengthy review, the National Research Council said the source of the anthrax powder could not be definitively identified.

"While evidence supports the FBI's contention that it came from Ft. Detrick, a U.S. Army installation outside Frederick, Md., a report by the NRC released Tuesday found that based on the science alone, no conclusion could be reached.

"The report is a significant blow to the FBI's long-standing case against Army scientist Bruce Ivins, who died of a suspicious Tylenol overdose in 2008..."

"...Among the findings by the congressionally chartered committee released Tuesday:

"* The FBI correctly identified the dominant organism found in the letters as the Ames strain of B. anthracis....
"* Spores in the mailed letters and in RMR-1029, a flask found at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), share a number of genetic similarities consistent with the FBI finding that the spores in the letters were derived from RMR-1029. However, the committee found that other possible explanations for the similarities -- such as independent, parallel evolution -- were not definitively explored during the investigation.
"* Flask RMR-1029, identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as the 'parent material' for the anthrax in the attack letters, was not the immediate source of spores used in the letters. As noted by the FBI, one or more derivative growth steps would have been required to produce the anthrax in the attack letters. Furthermore, the contents of the New York and Washington letters had different physical properties.
"* Although the FBI's scientific data provided leads as to the origin of anthrax spores in the letters, the committee found that the data did not rule out other possible sources. The committee recommended that realistic expectations and limitations regarding the use of forensic science need to be clearly communicated to the public...."

That article also lists some of the evidence the FBI sorted out, including:

• 10,000 witness interviews
• 80 searches
• 26,000 e-mail reviews
• Analyses of 4 million megabytes of computer memory

Bottom line? I think the least-unlikely explanation for how anthrax wound up in the U. S. mail is that Dr. Ivins put it there. I also think this is going to have folks coming up with imaginative alternatives for decades.

Related posts:

• "Anthrax Letters: Dotting the 'I's, Crossing the 'T's"
  (September 17, 2008)
• "Assumptions; the Ames Anthrax Strain; Ames, Iowa, and Fort Deterick"
  (August 15, 2008)
• "FBI: Bruce Ivins Worked Alone in Anthrax Attack"
  (August 6, 2008)
• "President Bush Responsible for Lax Security at Bioterrorism Labs"
  (August 4, 2008)
  • The anthrax attack happened during his presidency
  • It's possible that different executive decisions could have prevented the attack
• "Anthrax Suspect: Mad Scientist? Frustrated Businessman? Victim of Conspiracy?"
  (August 2, 2008)
• "Mad Scientist's Test of Anthrax Cure Terrifies Nation"
  (August 1, 2008)
  • Well, maybe
• "Anthrax Suspect Dies as FBI Approach: Case Closed?"
  (August 1, 2008)
• "2001 Anthrax Attack: 'Lies' at Fort Detrick"
  (March 28, 2008)

In the news:

• "Panel Finds No Conclusive Evidence to Identify Source of 2001 Anthrax Attacks"
  Catherine Herridge, State & Local, Politics, FoxNews.com (February 15, 2011)

More:

• "Amerithrax Docments"
  United States Department of Justice (updated February 15, 2011)

Anthrax Letters: Dotting the "I"s, Crossing the "T"s

I doubt that this will reassure people who are convinced that 9/11 was an inside job, and see the FBI as a greater threat than Al Qaeda, but:

Robert Mueller, the FBI's Director, say's he'll have an independent review of the scientific process and evidence that led from anthrax-loaded letters to Bruce E. Ivins.

The FBI director also says that the FBI is widening its investigation of mortgage-related fraud. By now they're looking into 24 corporations which may have misstated their assets. But that's another matter.

The methodical, fact-based, reasoned approach that the FBI has been using lately is a welcome relief from the comic opera antics that led to Steven Hatfill being fingered as suspect number one. In large part, apparently, because he was seen in Charley's Place with a few of a Sultan's bodyguards.

That Keystone Cops act was an unpleasant reminder of how law enforcement and the news media jumped on Richard Jewel with both feet, after the Olympic Park bombing.

Just the same, I think this sounds sensible: "I believe the American public and this committee want us to understand that potential threat and do what is necessary to try to identify persons who travel to Pakistan whatever their heritage, whatever their backgrounds, whatever their ethnicity," even if the FBI director said it.

I think it would be well, if national leaders remembered that America has enemies, and that one of them isn't the FBI. I ranted a little about that, in "FISA: Senate Decides Al Qaeda Bigger Threat than FBI" (July 9, 2008).

In the news: "FBI director seeks outside review of anthrax investigation" (CNN (September 17, 2008))

Assumptions; the Ames Anthrax Strain; Ames, Iowa, and Fort Deterick

The anthrax letters of 2001 contained the Ames variety of anthrax. This has been public knowledge for quite a few years.

Assumptions

It seems obvious that the Ames strain came from Ames, Iowa. Particularly since Iowa State University, is in Ames, and has laboratories. Iowa State University even admits to involvement in germ cell migration! In fruit flies.

There's just one problem with that obvious origin: it's not so.

This is why I do research. It's 'way too easy to pick up a fact, like the name of an anthrax strain, and run with it: far beyond the reasonable and the real.

A blog I'd been referred to recently mentioned that the strain of anthrax used in the 2001 letter attacks came from Ames, Iowa. This caught my eye, since it was the first time I'd read of a connection between that city in Iowa and the anthrax letters.

A little digging showed that quite a few people believe that the Ames strain of anthrax came from Ames, Iowa. I've put a few samples, farther down.

Exactly where the Ames strain comes from is interesting, but not important, in my opinion. However, the explanation of how a strain of anthrax found in a Texan cow got called the "Ames strain" is a good example of how even very smart people can take a fact and an assumption, and come up with a wrong conclusion.

Assigning a geographically confused name to a biological sample is a relatively minor issue.

But mistaking assumptions for facts can be a very serious matter. For example, if you're looking at a traffic light with no lights burning, the fact is that you don't see either a red, amber, or green light. Assuming that the light is (or should be) green may be true: but that's an assumption, not a fact. And, you'd better be aware that it's an assumption, if you step into the street.

American voters will be selecting a president in November, and I hope that everyone who casts a ballot makes decisions on facts, not assumptions.

I've got two reasons for writing this post.

1. Assumptions aren't facts - and assumptions made about the Ames strain are a good illustration
2. I thought of a wonderfully nutty conspiracy theory - and want to share it

The Ames Strain, Texas, and a Fort Deterick Oops

An article in the Washington Post, and another in The New Yorker, both republished on the UCLA website, tells how the Ames strain got its name. And, shows why there's some confusion about the Ames strain's origins.

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) sends a special sort of container to veterinary labs in America. These containers are used to ship dangerous biological samples, like anthrax. The return address on the packages is for the USDA's Veterinary Services Center in Ames Iowa.

When researchers at Fort Detrick, Maryland, got an anthrax sample from a dead cow in Texas, they looked at the return address on the package, and figured it was from Ames, Iowa.

Later, when they wrote about that strain of anthrax, they called in the Ames strain. After that, it would have been confusing - and rather difficult - to change the name. After The New Yorker published a vivid account of events in an Ames laboratory that never happened, the Ames strain was almost guaranteed to be associated with Iowa.

The UCLA website has copies of two articles that show how the Ames strain got its name, and why people might assume it's from Iowa. I put the key sentences in bold.

• "ONE ANTHRAX ANSWER: AMES STRAIN NOT FROM IOWA "
  Washington Post (January 29, 2002)¹
  • "...But here's one thing the lethal bug is decidedly not: originally from Ames, Iowa.
  • "New details emerging from the infamous bacterium's murky past suggest the Ames strain did not come from the sleepy Iowa college town of the same name, or from anywhere else in Iowa. It was a Texas strain, cultured from a Texas cow, federal officials now say.
  • "How it came to be known internationally as the Ames strain is a story of confused labeling and mistaken identity in the Defense Department's two-decade-old quest to find the perfect vaccine to protect troops against a near-perfect killer...."
  • "...The Army acquired the strain in 1981 as part of a national search for novel types of anthrax to use in testing vaccines. It had no name until 1985, when it was described in a scientific paper by researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md."
  • "The name 'Ames' was chosen because the researchers believed the strain came from there: The shipping package bore a return address from the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories, an Ames, Iowa, lab that diagnoses illnesses in cattle, according to Gregory Knudson, a former USAMRIID scientist and a co-author of the article that identified the strain. The label stuck....
  • "...A search of long-forgotten Army documents finally resolved the mystery. The strain, it turns out, had come from Texas, which did experience anthrax outbreaks around 1980. The bacteria was isolated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory at Texas A&M University and shipped to USAMRIID in May 1981.
  • "The germs were mailed in a special container, a package identical to hundreds of others that the USDA supplies to veterinary labs around the country. The return address on the package: The USDA's Veterinary Services Center, Ames, Iowa."
• "THE AMES STRAIN"
  The New Yorker (November 12, 2001)
  "How a sick cow in Iowa may have helped to create a lethal bioweapon.
  • "On the evening of October 12th, a group of scientists and academics at Iowa State University's veterinary college, in Ames, Iowa, gathered in one of the school's laboratories for a procedure involving the university's collection of Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes the disease anthrax. The school's anthrax collection was noteworthy both for what was known about it and for what was merely speculated. What was known was that over the years Iowa State's veterinary microbiologists had accumulated more than a hundred vials containing various strains of anthrax, some dating back to 1928. In 1978, a fondly remembered professor named R. Allen Packer had uncorked one of the fifty-year-old vials and, after a couple of tries, was able to coax the bacillus back to life. The experiment, a testament to the remarkable durability of anthrax spores, had lent a certain distinction to the collection.
  • "What was speculated about the Iowa State anthrax was even more compelling. One week earlier, on October 5th, a Florida photo editor named Bob Stevens (case 5), at American Media Inc., had died of anthrax, the first bioterror fatality in what has come to be known as 'the homeland.' Early news reports suggested that the F.B.I. had traced the anthrax to a laboratory in Ames, from which the bacteria had perhaps been stolen or otherwise obtained by terrorists.
  • "The reports of an Ames connection to the anthrax terrors caused much excitement in Iowa, and the College of Veterinary Medicine was suddenly fielding scores of calls from reporters wanting to know about the deadly 'Ames strain' of anthrax. The trouble was, nobody at the school knew anything about an 'Ames strain' -- whether it was the strain of anthrax infecting the mail, whether the Iowa State lab had ever possessed it, or even whether there was such a thing as an 'Ames strain.' None of the vials were identified as 'Ames,' but then the labels were cryptic, some bearing only numbers or dates...."

Despite that article in the Washington Post, and UCLA's efforts at setting the record straight, the assumed Iowa connection keeps showing up. Here's a sample - I put the 'Ames' references in bold.

• "...Bush Pressured FBI to Blame al-Qaeda for Anthrax..." (Informed Comment (August 5, 2008))
  • "...One thing I haven't seen mentioned with regard to the attempt to implicate Iraq in the anthrax scare in fall of 2001 is the reason Iraq was hard to rule out as a source. It was that it clearly originated in labs in Ames, Iowa. The Reagan administration had permitted the provision to Iraq of anthrax precursors . . . from Ames, Iowa. That is, the Republican Party was proliferating weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s...."
• "Why I Believe Bush is the Anthrax Terrorist - 11. Anthrax Targets"
  #newsgarden (October 10, 2004)
  • "...All the contaminated letters contained the Ames strain of anthrax, the DNA of which is traced to the original batch preserved in a university lab in Ames, Iowa. This strain was 'weaponized' in Utah into a potent powder with an elaborate secret technique developed at Fort Detrick, Md...."
• "The CIA's Role in the Anthrax Mailings: Could Our Spies be Agents for Military-Industrial Sabotage, Terrorism, and Even Population Control?"
  Tetrahedron Publishing (2001)
  • "...In summary, there are several serious indicators that the source of the anthrax weapon used in the mailings was the Ames, Iowa strain of silica-impregnated and electro-statically charged anthrax produced by the Battelle Memorial Institute under their classified CIA and Defense Department 'Project Jefferson.' This hyper-weaponized germ was likely produced with the help (or under the direction) of Dr. Alibekov and/or Dr. Patrick. The fact that these Battelle agents and affiliated agencies gained financially as a result of the anthrax mailings and public fright fits the parameters of a conspiracy to commit military-industrial sabotage, terrorism, and serial homicide approaching economic genocide...."

The author of that last article was particularly impressed at how many laboratories in the Ames, Iowa, area were involved in the production of anthrax vaccines, or had actually been doing anthrax research.

I suspect that there may be an innocent explanation for all that anthrax research around Ames, Iowa. Iowa is one of America's major cattle-producing states, and cattle farmers don't like anthrax.

¹ As republished on the UCLA website
(University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health)

---

About Fort Detrick, Maryland

Since Fort Detrick shows up in quite a few of these "anthrax" posts, I thought it would be a good idea to provide a few links, and a little background.

• Fort Detrick website
  • Fort Detrick Post Guide (in Adobe *.pdf format)
  • "A History of Fort Detrick, Maryland"
• City of Frederick, Maryland
• Frederick County, Maryland

The Fort Detrick Post Guide's cover describes the place as a "Center of Excellence for National Biological Defense Medical Research, Strategic Communication, and Defense Medical Logistics." The base has been around since about 1940.

While studying Fort Detrick, I found that the military post's history had a covert aspect. The original version was written by Norman M. Covert. Mr. Covert was Fort Detrick's public affairs officer and historian from 1977 to 1999. He's since retired from his Fort Detrick position and is living in Frederick, Maryland.

---

And now, something quite silly:

THEY Are Behind It!

The conspiracy theories I ran into, growing up, were mostly about commie plots to subvert American Democracy. That theme doesn't seem to be so common now, but conspiracy theories are still part of the cultural landscape:

• "Russia, Georgia, Two Oil Pipelines, and the European Union -
  It's a Neocon Plot!
  (August 13, 2008)
• "911 Was an Inside Job! Our Boys Need to Know! "
  (June 10, 2008)
• "THEY are After McCain: Conspiracy Theories, Anyone? "
  (April 4, 2008)
• "The CIA Created Al Qaeda: Who Knew?"
  (April 2, 2008)

Considering the sort of ideas that I find, floating in the pool of knowledge, a disclaimer seems prudent.

What you read next is make-believe. It isn't true. I made it up.

Actually, I enjoy making up conspiracy theories. It's fun, taking assumptions and a few facts, giving logic and common sense a coffee break, and watching what happens.

Besides, I've often thought that most conspiracy theories lack the vision, the scope, the epic scale, that global events deserve. In short, they show a certain lack of imagination.

With that introduction, I present:

---

The Ames Strain, Texas, and What THEY Won't Tell You!!!

Dr. Bruce Ivins, and all scientists at Fort Detrick, were dupes of the military-industrial complex! They were meant to assume that the anthrax from TEXAS came from Ames, Iowa!!

These pawns of dark forces, seeing a return address label with "Ames Iowa" on it, were forced to believe that the anthrax within came from Ames!!

A cabal of Army officers, shadow scientists, and renegade psychotherapists conspired to spike their coffee with a strange brew of psychoactive drugs which made them particularly susceptible to the subliminal message hidden in Fort Detrick's restroom signs.

You see?! When you get THE TRUTH, it ALL MAKES SENSE!!!!!

Of course, the anthrax came from TEXAS. As is well known, the diabolical Bush comes from Texas: both the senior Bush, and the evil twin clone that's been fobbed off on an unsuspecting American Public as his son!!!

(And it's true: McCain is just the same as Bush! He's an evil clone that didn't come out quite right, and had to be planted in another family, to spread chaos and intolerance across the world!)

As for the sick cow that spawned the Ames strain of anthrax: that was no accident! That cow was DELIBERATELY INFECTED with a serum developed in a secret underground laboratory under Crawford, TEXAS, where slave labor was used to create bioterror weapons of mass destruction to use against minorities and free thinkers!!!!!!!

The seemingly innocent use of an Ames, Iowa, return address on those USDA packages was in fact part of a sinister plot.

And, I have PROOF!!!. As anyone can see, by this map, Iowa, the state that Bush's minions forced the scientist pawns to identify as the source of the anthrax, is far removed from TEXAS, where the Ames strain anthrax serum was actually created!!!

Scientists in Maryland, their minds swirling from mind-bending drugs and hypnotic restroom signs, could hardly be expected to verify that the anthrax sample labeled "Ames, Iowa," had actually come from a distant state.


PROOF!!!!! Evil scientists under Crawford, Texas, created the "Ames strain!!!

---

More posts (serious ones) about the "Amerithrax" case, in this blog:

• "FBI: Bruce Ivins Worked Alone in Anthrax Attack"
  (August 6, 2008)
• "President Bush Responsible for Lax Security at Bioterrorism Labs"
  (August 4, 2008)
• "Anthrax Suspect: Mad Scientist? Frustrated Businessman? Victim of Conspiracy?"
  (August 2, 2008)
• "Mad Scientist's Test of Anthrax Cure Terrifies Nation"
  (August 1, 2008)
• "Anthrax Suspect Dies as FBI Approach: Case Closed?"
  (August 1, 2008)
• "2001 Anthrax Attack: Lies at Fort Detrick"
  (March 28, 2008)

And, a more serious look at conspiracy theories:

• "THEY are After McCain: Conspiracy Theories, Anyone?
  (April 4, 2008)

And in the news, learning from mistakes:

• "Army Review of Anthrax Access May Yield Changes"
  HS Today (August 13, 2008)
• "Army reviews security at anthrax lab"
  CNN (August 8, 2008)
• "Gaps in system kept Ivins at high-security lab"
  Associated Press (August 8, 2008)

FBI: Bruce Ivins Worked Alone in Anthrax Attack

It sounds like good news: the 2001 anthrax attacks were the work of one man, Bruce Ivins. Dr. Ivins had:

• Control of a flask of very pure anthrax spores
  • Mutations in those spores are identical to mutations in the anthrax spores that killed five people
• All the equipment he needed to prepare the spores in the Fort Detrick lab
• Time alone with the equipment
  • Ivins worked extended hours because " 'home was not good' and that he went to the laboratory 'to escape' from his home life," an affidavit says (CNN)
• Given FBI agents the wrong bacteria samples from his lab

He had a few possible motives, including wanting to get more attention and funding for his research, hoping to cash in on being a co-inventor of a vaccine, or having a weird thing for Kappa Kappa Gamma girls.

Kappa Kappa Gamma girls?!

Given what may be some loose screws in Dr. Ivins' head, and the FBI's Keystone Cops fingering of Steven Hatfill, I can understand why some people are dubious about the latest claim.

What's different this time is that the FBI has evidence, not the 'I saw him with some guys at Charley's Place' testimony they had against Hatfill.

An example of the FBI's rather more detail-conscious approach this time is the list of items taken by FBI, from Bruce Ivins' home: Receipt for Property Received/Returned/Released/Seized"

In the News:

• "Prosecutor calls researcher sole culprit in 2001 anthrax attacks"
  CNN (August 6, 2008)
  • "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal prosecutor declared Army biological weapons researcher Bruce Ivins the sole culprit in the 2001 anthrax attacks Wednesday, after releasing a stack of documents from a "herculean" investigation that lasted nearly seven years. 'We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks,' Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
  • "The Justice Department released the documents implicating Ivins in the attacks, which killed five people and sickened more than a dozen people.
  • "Authorities said Ivins committed suicide last week as federal prosecutors prepared to present the results of their investigation to a grand jury.
  • "Taylor said prosecutors are "confident" they could have proved their case against him.
  • "Ivins was the custodian of a flask of a highly purified anthrax spores that had "certain genetic mutations identical to the anthrax used in the attacks," according to the court documents unsealed Wednesday.
• "Intended anthrax target has doubts about probe"
  CNN (August 4, 2008)
  • "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An intended recipient of one of the anthrax-laced letters sent in 2001's anthrax scare said Monday he was "very skeptical" of the government's investigation.
  • "Former Sen. Tom Daschle, who was Senate majority leader at the time, said he is suspicious of the case against researcher Bruce Ivins because of the government "bungling" of Steven Hatfill's case.
  • "Hatfill, who was named by the Justice Department as a "person of interest" in 2002, was never charged and later sued the department. They reached a multimillion dollar settlement in June.
  • " 'Given their checkered past and the difficulty that they had in getting to this point -- the bungling of the Hatfill part of the investigation -- leads me to be very skeptical,' the former South Dakota senator said.
  • "Ivins, an anthrax researcher at Fort Detrick, Maryland, committed suicide last week before he was to have discussed a plea deal in the anthrax case with prosecutors, officials said....

President Bush Responsible for Lax Security at Bioterrorism Labs

It must be true: I read it in Pravda.

And Salon.com. And FOXNews, for that matter.

What Went Wrong at Fort Detrick?

Now that a new technique for identifying DNA led the FBI to Ivins, it's obvious that he shouldn't have been working at the Fort Detrick bioweapons research center.

And, since this is a presidential election year in America, interesting and odd things are going to be said. In this case, there's a grain of truth in this post's headline.

The Pravada, Salon, and Fox articles are each lightly edited versions of the same Associated Press story. And, all three reveal that President George W. Bush was responsible for the anthrax letters. Sort of.

A Rutgers University chemistry professor named Richard Ebright, who's been really interested in the increase in bioterrorism research lately, says that President Bush was wrong.

Dr. Ebright's logic seems to be this:

• The biological warfare agents that terrorists might use are very dangerous
• People who have access to these bugs might use them to kill other people
• The more people having access to these bugs means more chances that someone will use them to kill other people
• Scientists are people
• Therefore, the number of scientists allowed to study these bugs should have been decreased

I see his point.

It might have been better to have assembled a smaller, better, cadre of scientists working on how to deal with a doomsday bug attack.

Dr. Ivins, after all, was an utter outsider: he earned his PhD in microbiology from some place called the University of Cincinnati. It's pretty obvious that if access to bioweapons had been limited to Harvard and Yale grads, the anthrax letters would never have been mailed.

America Hires Mad Scientist!

Dr. Ivins seems to have had an assortment of screws loose. One of today's news tidbits is that he had a weird thing about the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. That would explain the case's Princeton connection, it seems.

I wouldn't say that I'm skeptical: but I'm reserving judgment on this. I remember wild stories in the news after the 9/11 attacks: some may even have been true.

And, maybe Dr. Ivins sent the nation into a panic, killed five people, and finally killed himself, just because he just couldn't get over a Kappa Kappa Gamma girl.

Ivins is Dead: Now What?

It's almost inevitable that there's going to be a full-press Congressional investigation into bioweapons, national security, and sorority girls. It's even possible that some useful information may come out of the hearings, interviews, photo ops, and sound bites.

I hope, that in addition to the political hoopla, someone takes a good look at what the facts are. And, how to lower the odds that biological weapons will get used like that again.

Anthrax Letters, Congress, and the Next Few Years

Here's what I think:

• Should there be a thorough review of how security screening is done: at all weapons labs?
  • Obviously.
• Is America spending too much on figuring out how to stop bioterrorism?
  • That's debatable, and I don't know enough.
    Offhand, I'd say "no."
• Have we heard the last of the anthrax letters?
  • In an election year?! Obviously not.

---

In the news:

• " 'Anthrax Killer' Suspect Had Sorority Obsession"
  FOXNews (August 4, 2008)
  • " The Army scientist believed to have committed the 2001 anthrax killings exhibited classic "offender behavior," sources told FOX News on Monday as officials said he had an obsession with a sorority less than 100 yards away from the New Jersey mailbox where the toxin-laced letters were sent.
  • "Officials tell FOX News that in the days following the mailings of anthrax-laced letters, Bruce Ivins exhibited erratic behavior such as mood swings, pronounced anxiety and a preoccupation with the media...."
• "Officials say sorority obsession may link suspect to N.J. anthrax-laced letters in 2001"
  Minneapolis Star Tribune (August 4, 2008)
  • "...U.S. officials said Bruce Ivins' fixation with Kappa Kappa Gamma could explain one of the biggest mysteries in the case: why the anthrax was mailed from Princeton, N.J., 195 miles from the lab it's believed to have been smuggled from...."
  • "...Multiple U.S. officials told The Associated Press that Ivins was obsessed with Kappa Kappa Gamma, going back as far as his own college days at the University of Cincinnati when he apparently was rebuffed by a woman in the sorority. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly...."
• "'Anthrax Killer' Obsessed With Sorority, Exhibited Classic 'Offender Behavior'"
  FOXNews (August 4, 2008)
  • " The Army scientist believed to have committed the 2001 anthrax killings exhibited classic "offender behavior," sources told FOX News on Monday as officials said he had an obsession with a sorority less than 100 yards away from the New Jersey mailbox where the toxin-laced letters were sent.
  • "Officials tell FOX News that in the days following the mailings of anthrax-laced letters, Bruce Ivins exhibited erratic behavior such as mood swings, pronounced anxiety and a preoccupation with the media.
  • "Authorities also confirmed reports Monday that Ivins was obsessed with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, which may indirectly explain one of the biggest mysteries in the case: why the anthrax was mailed from Princeton, N.J., 195 miles from the Army biological weapons lab the anthrax is believed to have been smuggled out of...."
• "Another Bruce Ivins may lurk in biodefense laboratory anywhere in America
  Pravda (August 4, 2008)
  • "Source: AP © There could be another Bruce Ivins lurking in a biodefense laboratory anywhere in America.
  • "There could be another Bruce Ivins lurking in a biodefense laboratory anywhere in America.
  • "These research facilities have expanded so quickly since the anthrax attacks in 2001 that the U.S. government cannot keep close tabs on the sites or their thousands of scientists. At most labs, security procedures are designed to prevent accidents, not weed out people like Ivins who work with deadly toxins while privately battling dark psychological problems....
  • "...'You cannot persuade me there are not more disturbed or disgruntled persons with a political agenda in such a large group,' Richard Ebright, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University who has closely followed the lab expansion, said in an interview Sunday.
  • "Ebright said President George W. Bush's response to the 2001 anthrax cases increased the risk of further attack. While a biodefense program is needed, he said the president should have reduced - not increased - the number of scientists with access to potential biological weapons. Yet the administration pumped billions of dollars into the program, swelling the number of labs to nearly 1,400.
  • "Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Ivins case revealed a potential security flaw in the biological defense system. He said it would be irresponsible for Congress not to investigate...."
• "Experts: Security at Bioweapons Labs a 'Nightmare'"
  FOXNews (August 4, 2008)
  • " There could be another Bruce Ivins lurking in a biodefense laboratory anywhere in America.
  • "These research facilities have expanded so quickly since the anthrax attacks in 2001 that the U.S. government cannot keep close tabs on the sites or their thousands of scientists.
  • "At most labs, security procedures are designed to prevent accidents, not weed out people like Ivins who work with deadly toxins while privately battling dark psychological problems....
  • "...'You cannot persuade me there are not more disturbed or disgruntled persons with a political agenda in such a large group,' Richard Ebright, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University who has closely followed the lab expansion, said in an interview Sunday.
  • "Ebright said President Bush's response to the 2001 anthrax cases increased the risk of further attack.
  • "While a biodefense program is needed, he said the president should have reduced — not increased — the number of scientists with access to potential biological weapons.
  • "Yet the administration pumped billions of dollars into the program, swelling the number of labs to nearly 1,400....
• "Is another Bruce Ivins lurking in a biolab?"
  Salon.com (August 3, 2008)
  • "Aug 3rd, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- There could be another Bruce Ivins lurking in a biodefense laboratory anywhere in America.
  • "These research facilities have expanded so quickly since the anthrax attacks in 2001 that the U.S. government cannot keep close tabs on the sites or their thousands of scientists. At most labs, security procedures are designed to prevent accidents, not weed out people like Ivins who work with deadly toxins while privately battling dark psychological problems.
  • "Military laboratories have policies intended to spot mentally troubled scientists. But those policies apparently weren't enough to flag Ivins, with his reported history of homicidal and sociopathic behavior. He killed himself Tuesday, knowing prosecutors were about to charge him with murder.
  • "At private and academic labs, the policies are even more lax.
  • "An estimated 14,000 scientists are cleared by the government to work with the most dangerous substances known as 'select agents.' Nearly all of them have access to potential biological weapons....
  • "...'You cannot persuade me there are not more disturbed or disgruntled persons with a political agenda in such a large group,' Richard Ebright, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University who has closely followed the lab expansion, said in an interview Sunday.
  • "Ebright said President Bush's response to the 2001 anthrax cases increased the risk of further attack. While a biodefense program is needed, he said the president should have reduced — not increased — the number of scientists with access to potential biological weapons. Yet the administration pumped billions of dollars into the program, swelling the number of labs to nearly 1,400.
  • "Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Ivins case revealed a potential security flaw in the biological defense system. He said it would be irresponsible for Congress not to investigate...."

About Dr. Ivins:

• "Bruce Edwards Ivins"
  Wikipedia
• "Bruce Edwards Ivins"
  (bizopreview.com - English translation from Japanese)
• "Dr. Bruce Edwards Ivins"
  Obituary in the Frederick News Post (July 31, 2008)

Anthrax Suspect: Mad Scientist? Frustrated Businessman? Victim of Conspiracy?

Why not all three?

No, I don't think so. There isn't evidence for that.

That won't stop conspiracy theorists, of course.

1. The senators who received anthrax-laced letters, Leahy and Daschle, are both Democrats. That proves that the anthrax attacks were politically motivated by
   • Right-wing radical extremist Republicans, trying to kill Daschle and Leahy
   • Left-wing radical extremist Democrats, trying to discredit Republicans by implicating them
     • How else could Daschle and Leahy have survived?!
2. Nobody would commit suicide just before being arrested. That proves that Dr. Bruce E. Ivins was killed before he could talk. The FBI and CIA are in collusion with the real powers in the world to
   • Kill Democrats
   • Smear Republicans
3. Steven Hatfill is part of the conspiracy.
   • Identifying him as the top suspect was a ruse to distract Americans from the real culprits
     • Nobody would really finger someone in a high-profile case with such flimsy evidence
     • Steven Hatfill was paid for his services: a cool $5,800,000!, cleverly disguised as a settlement for a Privacy Act lawsuit

No, I don't believe that. Any of those outlandish notions. Although they do make pretty good stories.

A few days after Dr. Ivins' death, more details are coming out.

• Bruce E. Ivins had a financial interest in bioweapons programs. He's listed as co-inventor of
  • two patents for a genetically engineered anthrax vaccine
  • an application to patent an additive for various biodefense vaccines
• As co-inventor of a new anthrax vaccine, Ivins would get patent royalties if the product went on the market
  • But the product stayed on the lab self until
    • The Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailings
    • A sudden federal interest in vaccines and antidotes against biological terrorism
  • VaxGen, a San Francisco-area biotechnology company, got a contract worth $877,500,000 to produce vaccine.
    • Ivins might have gotten enough money to buy a new car
    • The company failed to deliver the vaccine on schedule, so nobody got paid

An executive who knew about the deal said, "Some proportion would have been shared with the inventors," ... "Ivins would have stood to make tens of thousands of dollars, but not millions." ("Anthrax scientist Bruce Ivins stood to benefit from a panic" (Los Angeles Times (August 2, 2008))

My guess is that eventually someone's going to claim that President Bush is behind Ivins' death. There actually is a connection. As the L.A. Times writes, "...A San Francisco-area biotechnology company, VaxGen, won a federal contract worth $877.5 million to provide batches of the new vaccine. The contract was the first awarded under legislation promoted by President Bush, called Project BioShield...."

Me? I think that the case against Dr. Ivins is better than what was whipped together for Steven Hatfill. Wouldn't take much.

I also think that the death of Bruce E. Ivins complicates the anthrax investigation. And, regrettably, provides a martyr for people who want to see something conspiratorial. From the sounds of it, Dr. Ivins gave himself "a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine." ("Report: Anthrax suspect kills self before filing of criminal charges" (August 1, 2008)) It's going to be a great deal harder now, maybe impossible, to determine whether he actually mailed the anthrax letters, whether he had an accomplice, and why he started the second terror panic of 2001.

Finally, I think that an unnamed official who had been questioned by the FBI may have at least some of the answers: "I don't think he ever intended to kill anybody. He just wanted to prove 'Look, this is possible.' He probably had no clue that it would aerosolize through those envelopes and kill those postal workers." ("Anthrax scientist Bruce Ivins stood to benefit from a panic" Los Angeles Times (August 2, 2008))

More, about the "Amerithrax" case, in this blog:

• "Mad Scientist's Test of Anthrax Cure Terrifies Nation"
  (August 1, 2008)
• "Anthrax Suspect Dies as FBI Approach: Case Closed?"
  (August 1, 2008)
• "2001 Anthrax Attack: Lies at Fort Detrick"
  (March 28, 2008)

People around the world have quite a number of opinions and reactions to the 2001 anthrax letters. A pretty good sample is in "The American Anthrax Investigation: Another Milestone" (BlogCatalog discussion thread, started August 1, 2008)).

Mad Scientist's Test of Anthrax Cure Terrifies Nation

Well, maybe. We may never know, now that the latest top anthrax letter suspect, Bruce E. Ivins, is dead.

"...Authorities were investigating whether Ivins, who had complained about the limits of testing anthrax drugs on animals, had released the toxin to test the treatment on humans...." is the way "Suspect in anthrax-letter deaths kills himself" put it (Associated Press (August 1, 2008)). The article points out that if the FBI closes the "Amerithrax" investigation in the next few days, that means that they think that Ivins was the only one involved.

We'll see.

The 'mad scientist' scenario isn't all that crazy. Bruce E. Ivins had been working on an anthrax vaccine that might work, even if different strains of anthrax were mixed. Existing vaccines won't do that.

If the Ivins Vaccine had been effective, it would have been a breakthrough.

Given his documented frustration with society's refusal to recognize the requirements of genius, Ivins may have broadcast anthrax through the mail in an effort to Advance Science.

Sure: it's the stuff of B-movie science fiction. But that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

In the news:

• "Suspect in anthrax-letter deaths kills himself"
  Associated Press (August 1, 2008)
• "Two sides of scientist emerge after suicide"
  CNN (August 1, 2008)
  • "FREDERICK, Maryland (CNN) -- Friends say a scientist who killed himself amid an anthrax investigation fit many stereotypes, but biological terrorist was not one of them.
  • "People who knew Bruce Ivins recall a friendly, helpful man whose neighbors had no reason to suspect him of wrongdoing; an eternal graduate student with ill-fitting clothes and an awkward social manner; an apolitical egghead too busy with his work to carry out the crimes the FBI suspected him of.
  • "But, in addition to authorities investigating the 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, at least one person had a more sinister perception of Ivins: He was scheduled to appear in court Thursday after a woman accused him of stalking her...."

More, about the latest chapter of the FBI and the "Amerithrax" case: "Anthrax Suspect Dies as FBI Approach: Case Closed?" (August 1, 2008)

Anthrax Suspect Dies as FBI Approach: Case Closed?

The anthrax letters of 2001 were frightening.

A week after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and whatever target United Flight 93 was headed for, Anthrax-laced letters entered the American postal system.

Then, people started dying.

With a combination of enthusiasm and competence worthy of Hazzard County's Rosco P. Coltrane, the FBI fingered a suspect. The wrong one: Steven Hatfill

Giving credit where credit is due, investigative reporters had interviewed known associates of Hatfield before the FBI got to them. And there was evidence implicating Steven Hatfill: This man

• Was a virology researcher at Fort Detrick's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
• Had a flamboyant personality
• Was seen at Charley's Place with some guys
  • These guys were bodyguards for Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan

It was pretty flimsy evidence, though, and Hatfill's status as suspect faded faster than Richard Jewell's. Hatfill's career, however, crashed and burned. He was in the news again, earlier this month, when he lost a suit against the New York Times. On the other hand, he won a suit against the Justice Department. I hope Hatfill's lawyers don't keep all of the $5,800,000 USD he won.

After the Hatfill debacle, there wasn't much fuss when the commander of Fort Detrick was implicated. At any rate, he made a statement about Fort Detrick's anthrax operations which wasn't true.

It wasn't a lie, either. Major General John Parker said, "I would say that it does not come from our stocks, because we do not use that dry material," which is what his staff had told him.

Today's Dead Anthrax Suspect

The latest suspect, Bruce E. Ivins, was a biodefense researcher at Fort Detrick for 18 years. I don't know if he's the "But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!" scientist.

Maybe the FBI got it right this time, and Ivins was actually involved with the anthrax attacks. If he was, it's anyone's guess at this point, why he sent lethal letters through the mail. [UPDATE: A plausible motive surfaced: "Mad Scientist's Test of Anthrax Cure Terrifies Nation" (August 1, 2008)]

Bruce E. Ivins may have worked alone, or maybe he didn't. The FBI isn't saying, but presumably if they stop investigating now, Ivins was the only anthrax mailer.

From the lying scientist, to the ones who kept quiet about the fib, the hot-to-publish reporters, and FBI agents in "hot pursuit," the anthrax letters investigation has been a miserable example of American law enforcement and citizenship.

I've said this before: there's a war on. Lying to cover your butt, or implicating someone who you'd like to be guilty, isn't just a personal offense - it can affect everybody.

In the News:

• "Report: Anthrax suspect kills self before filing of criminal charges"
  CNN (August 1, 2008)
  • "WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.
  • "The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people.
  • "Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick (Maryland) Memorial Hospital. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine...."
  • "...Just last month, the government exonerated another scientist at the Fort Detrick lab, Steven Hatfill, who had been identified by the FBI as a 'person of interest' in the anthrax attacks. The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Justice Department in which he claimed the department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case...."
• "Scientist in Anthrax Case Is Deemed Public Figure, a Victory for Times"
  New York Sun (July 15, 2008)
  • "A federal appeals court is handing a major legal victory to the New York Times by rejecting a former Army scientist's claim that he was libeled by the newspaper in columns linking him to anthrax-laden mailings that killed five Americans in 2001.
  • "The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., agreed with a lower court that the scientist, Dr. Steven Hatfill, was a public figure in the national debate over bioterrorism preparedness. As a public figure, Dr. Hatfill could only win his suit by proving that the Times deliberately lied about him or knew that it was likely the information it was printing was false. Dr. Hatfill could not meet that burden and was not entitled to a trial, the three-judge appeals court panel said in its unanimous ruling yesterday.
  • " 'Throughout his career, Dr. Hatfill was not only repeatedly sought out as an expert on bioterrorism, but was also a vocal critic of the government's unpreparedness for a bioterrorist attack, as evidenced by the topics of his lectures, writings, participation on panels, and interviews,' Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote, joined by judges M. Blane Michael and Clarence Beam. 'Through these media, Dr. Hatfill voluntarily thrust himself into the debate. He cannot remove himself now to assume a favorable litigation posture.'..."

2001 Anthrax Attack: 'Lies' at Fort Detrick

'Everybody knows' that the military, and particularly the American military, lies all the time.

Like now, when a commander at Fort Detrick said that the Army didn't use powdered anthrax for experiments: just the liquid form.

I don't think the commander was lying. But it's not likely that what he said was true, either.

Let's back up a little. Back in 2001, quite a few people got letters with anthrax inside: in powder form. Five died.

'We Got Us A Suspect!'

Steven Hatfill was fingered as a 'person of interest' very early in the investigation. He's got a lawsuit going about that, now: and I don't blame him. He was a virology researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. He had a flamboyant personality, and had shown up at a hangout called Charley's Place with some guys who were bodyguards for Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan: and that seemed to be all the real evidence there was against him.

After that embarrassing debacle, the FBI started a calmer investigation, following the Sherlock Holmes principle of elimination. ("It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.")

The trail led to Fort Detrick, and at least three scientists.

Anthrax, Lies, and E-mail

As I said before, I don't think that the commander at Fort Detrick lied.

It looks like somebody lied to him.

Here's why: "In December 2001, an Army commander tried to dispel the possibility of a connection to Fort Detrick by taking the media on a rare tour of the base. The commander said the Army used only liquid anthrax, not powder, for its experiments.

" 'I would say that it does not come from our stocks, because we do not use that dry material,' Maj. Gen. John Parker said. The letters that were mailed to the media and Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy all contained powdered anthrax.

"But in an e-mail obtained by FOX News, scientists at Fort Detrick openly discussed how the anthrax powder they were asked to analyze after the attacks was nearly identical to that made by one of their colleagues.

" 'Then he said he had to look at a lot of samples that the FBI had prepared ... to duplicate the letter material,' the e-mail reads. 'Then the bombshell. He said that the best duplication of the material was the stuff made by [name redacted]. He said that it was almost exactly the same … his knees got shaky and he sputtered, "But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!"' " [emphasis mine]
FOXNews (March 28, 2008)

"But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!"

Oopsie. I feel sorry for [name redacted], in a way. The poor shmoo at Fort Detrick

• Makes powdered anthrax - with a particular signature
• Anthrax powder just like his kills five people in a terror attack
• He tells "the General" that nobody at Fort Detrick makes "spore powder"
• That lie gets repeated by a commander, to reporters
  • And is published
• The lie is exposed

Someone was lying, all right: but it wasn't 'the military.'

It was a scientist, following the schoolboy impulse of lying to cover an embarrassing fact.

Wake Up! There's a War on!

I'm afraid that the [name redacted]s out there, the ones who aren't knowingly helping terrorists, haven't caught on yet. Like it or not:

• The War on Terror is real
• Islamic terrorists are trying to kill Americans, and anyone else who doesn't live up (or down) to their notion of what a Muslim should be
• Lying to cover your butt isn't just a personal offense - it can affect everybody

Pakistani Politics, Iranian Nukes, Iranian Dress Code: And it's Only Wednesday!

It's been a busy week, and it's only half over.

Pakistan's ruling President / General has suspended that country's constitution, and, instead of locking up Pakistanis who support the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Pervez Musharraf is having his police round up people who don't agree with him, and have said so publicly.

One-time Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, defied a ban on protests of Musharraf's 'emergency rule. She and her supporters are planning a rally in Rawalpindi, and then marching the 186 miles from Rawalpindi to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, early next week.

Bhutto said, "I request my brothers and sisters to reach Rawalpindi at all costs," preparing for a confrontation with authorities. There's a ban on rallys, and the mayor of Rawalpindi says police would keep everyone away from the park where Bhutto intends to address supporters Friday.

Meanwhile, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran has 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, all presumably in good working order. That's enough, and more, to make nuclear weapons for Iran. Ahmadinejad says Iran's nuclear program is peaceful.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei encouraged Iranian police to maintain a crackdown on "social vice," which seems to include "un-Islamic dress."

Iranian police started the crackdown on "thugs" in April this year. They're arresting the "thugs," raiding underground parties, and seizing satellite dishes. And, of course, making street checks of improperly dressed individuals.

To keep Iran safe from unislamic clothing, thousands of women have been warned because they wore tight, short coats and skimpy headscarves. They're violating Iran's leaders' notion of the Islamic dress code, where every post-pubescent women must cover hair and body contours.

Back in America, the FBI has made a report, "Terrorism 2002-2005," 68 pages of information and trends in what America could be looking forward to.

No surprise: apparently the terrorists are more likely to go for attacks on civilians that kill a lot of people, and attract a lot of attention.

And, since the international organization of Al Qaeda isn't what it used to be, the report says that there's been a "dispersal of its multi-national trainees to pursue their own regional agendas."

Finally, it looks like ricin and anthrax are front-runners for weapons we're likely to see in the next big attack. This isn't idle speculation. There's been a series of arrests involving ricin in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Well, it could be worse. At least quite a few people in decision-making positions in America and other nations seem to be twigging to the uncomfortable fact that Islamic terrorists aren't safe to have around.