July 26, 2001 Posted: 3:55 AM EDT (0755 GMT)

GENEVA, Switzerland -- The U.S. has rejected a draft accord to ensure compliance with a United Nations ban on biological weapons.

The ban, known as the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, does not currently have compliance details as none were included when it was formulated during the Cold War, Associated Press reported.

Nations had been negotiating for almost seven years to agree on a way to implement the ban, when the United States announced on Wednesday that it had "long-standing concerns" and could not support the draft.

However, U.S. chief negotiator Donald Mahley told representatives from 56 nations who held talks in Geneva that the U.S. still supports the global ban on biological weapons as outlined in the BWC.

The U.S. will work hard to "improve, not lessen" global efforts to counter the biological weapons threat and its potential impact on civilization, Mahley said.

A senior State Department official said a working text of the protocol poses a "serious risk" to U.S. national interests.

The protocol would open U.S. laboratories to inspections, which the official said would give others the information needed to counter the U.S. biological weapons defense program.

The official said the protocol also would endanger U.S. export controls, which the administration sees as the strongest defense in stopping the proliferation of biological weapons.

Mahley said the U.S. intends to develop other approaches to strengthening the BWC during the next few months to counter the "real and growing" threat posed by biological weapons.

The United States had taken a leading role in pushing for compliance provisions since Iraqi armaments discovered after the 1991 Gulf War showed the BWC had failed to stop countries from developing biological weapons.

The draft would oblige member states to make public sites that could be used for the development of biological weapons.

It also sets out a series of steps for verification, including spot checks.

The U.S. said the checks would not stop cheating by states wanting to develop biological weapons and could open the door to industrial espionage.

"The mechanisms envisioned in the protocol would not achieve their objectives and ... trying to do more would simply raise the risk to legitimate United States activities," Mahley said.

A central concern for the United States, Mahley said, was uncovering "illicit activity" regarding biological weapons.

The draft accord fails to provide any deterrent to states manufacturing illicit biological weapons, Mahley said.

The U.S. rejection threw the future of the talks into doubt.

"Even though I understand some of the rationale, I was rather surprised by the U.S. argument at this stage," Japanese Ambassador Seiichiro Noboru told The Associated Press news agency.

Noboru said the rejection meant that efforts to strengthen the BWC would have to start all over.

"It does close the chapter on 6-1/2 years of negotiation," Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood said.

"Whether it closes the book or not we don't know."

"I am really disappointed. You really wonder what the United States thinks it has been doing for the past decade," said Professor Graham Pearson of the department of peace studies at Britain's Bradford University, who is observing the talks.

"The protocol brought benefits for all. The message that goes out now is that the world does not care about biological weapons -- the most dangerous kind of all," Pearson, a former head of the British Defence Ministry's Porton Down research establishment told Reuters news agency.

The European Union said earlier this week that while the draft accord did not meet all its concerns, it believed it would strengthen the BWC, Reuters said.

"We regret that the U.S. has decided to reject this protocol. The concern is that germ weapons talks could just sink into the doldrums," said one European diplomat. Scientists and non-governmental organisations in Geneva for the talks urged other states to ignore Washington's withdrawal and press ahead with negotiations on the draft, which had been due to go on until August 17.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news to share with you right now.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, a little bit of sad news. The woman who contracted inhalation anthrax, the hospital worker, the Manhattan Hospital, has apparently died. And we are going to check in right now, as a matter of fact, with CNN's Jason Carroll who is at the hospital -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are at Lenox Hill Hospital. We just got a phone call from hospital representatives and they did confirm that Kathy Nguyen, 61 years old, did die early this morning at about 1:16 a.m. -- died from complications due to inhalation anthrax.

This woman worked in the stock room of Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital just a few blocks from here. Worked in the stock room located down in the basement in the same area as a mail room.

Just to give you a little bit of history of what happened here, this woman became sick last Thursday. She complained of having headaches and a fever, but she went to work on Thursday, went to work again on Friday. Over the weekend, her condition became much worse. On Sunday, she checked herself into Lenox Hill Hospital. Doctors immediately put her on a respirator. Tests revealed that she did in fact have a form of inhalation anthrax.

Investigators at this point are trying to retrace her steps, trying to figure out exactly what she may have come into contact with. They have no idea how this woman, at this point, contracted this deadly disease. They've taken environmental samples from Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. They've taken about 40 samples, 10 of those samples have come back so far, those tests reveal that those samples are negative. They've also taken environmental samples from her apartment in the Bronx. They've taken samples there. We're still waiting for those test results.

But once again to recap here, Kathy Nguyen, 61 years old, has died from complications due to inhalation anthrax -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jason, we know that she worked in the supply room in the hospital and we know that that supply room had some mail in it. Do we know much about how much contact she had with the mail? Was she in any way sorting or delivering it because presumably that mail would have gone through that Morgan facility which has some positive anthrax tests there that have come back? What do we know about what she did in her daily work that might have put her in contact with mail?

CARROLL: Well it's definitely been confirmed that mail from the Morgan facility did pass through Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. But in terms of how much mail this woman actually may have handled, at this point it's difficult to tell. This woman was so sick when she came in to Lenox Hill Hospital on Sunday, she was really too sick to help investigators with that part of their investigation. So all they can do at this point, Miles, is retrace her steps, take environmental samples from wherever she was, run those tests and draw conclusions from there -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course what you just said will probably complicate matters in as much as they never got an interview with her. They'll have to talk to, obviously, friends and family. Are they fairly confident they'll be able to accurately retrace her steps?

CARROLL: Tough to tell. I mean this is a case that is new to the city of New York. All they can do is run those samples, run as many tests as they can, interview as many people as they can and draw conclusions from there.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jason Carroll, we appreciate that. Live from Manhattan -- Paula.

ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) one of the most concerning things about this is the fact that she did go to work on Thursday and Friday. And there are so many people who -- doctors out there, as we head into this flu season, that think that American -- it's easily to confuse the symptoms of anthrax with flu. You know she might have felt like she just had the flu, and...

O'BRIEN: I mean...

ZAHN: ... actually she didn't check herself into the hospital until over the weekend.

O'BRIEN: ... I think the word to the wise is if you get flu symptoms, you might want to get a check.

ZAHN: Yes, absolutely.

We, of course, are going to continue to follow up on this story that has just developed out of New York, this, of course, woman dying at 1:16 this morning from inhalation anthrax.

BOCA RATON, Florida (CNN) --In what the FBI calls a strange coincidence, two apartments used by suspected hijackers named in the September 11 terrorist attacks were rented to them by a real estate agent married to the editor of the tabloid newspaper where an employee died from anthrax.

The FBI said there is nothing, however, to link the apartments to the anthrax outbreak.

FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela told CNN, "We consider this to be a strange coincidence. We have nothing more to go on. We cannot tie this apartment to the anthrax."

The Miami Herald identified the real estate agent as Gloria Irish, wife of Michael Irish, who is editor of The Sun. Sun photo editor Bob Stevens died from inhalation anthrax. At least two other people in the American Media Inc. headquarters building were exposed to anthrax, and others are being tested.

The Herald said the suspected hijackers who rented the apartments this summer were Marwan al-Shehhi and Hamza Alghamdi, both aboard the second plane to hit the World Trade Center.

The two apartments were in Delray Beach, Florida, about five miles from the newspaper building in Boca Raton. The Herald said Alghamdi rented a unit at the Delray Racquet Club, and Al-Shehhi rented an apartment at the Hamlet Country Club complex.

An FBI suspect list has linked several other hijackers to these and other locations in Delray Beach in the months leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The anthrax scare began October 4 in Florida when it was confirmed that The Sun photo editor had contracted the inhaled form of the bacteria. His death was the first such death in the United States since 1976.

Original: http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/15/anthrax.hijackers/

October 17, 2001 Posted: 12:57 PM EDT (1657 GMT)

Dr. Ken Alibek defected to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1992, after serving in their biological weapons program for more than twenty years. He has since served as a consultant to numerous United States government agencies dealing with medical microbiology, biological weapons defense, and biological weapons nonproliferation. Dr. Alibek is the president of Advanced Biosystems, Inc. He joined CNN.com chat room from Virginia.

CNN: Welcome to CNN.com Ken Alibek. Thank you for being with us today.

ALIBEK: Hello to everyone.

CNN: Many people are now wondering if these anthrax episodes are the work of Osama bin Laden. What are your thoughts regarding his capabilities for carrying out what we are seeing now or even worse?

ALIBEK: You know, this is no more than an assumption, that it was done by bin Laden. In order to find the right answer, we need to do a little work. Of course, I have no idea what the FBI and CDC do in this field, but here is what I would do. As quickly as possible, I would want to find out whether or not it was done by professionals. For example, we can study virulence of these pathogens. Second, a stage of development of spores, particle size, particle form, what additives were used, what was the medium they used to grow this agent. And so on and so forth. This type of information could help us tremendously to understand if this was done professionally or by amateurs. Then we can see, for example, if we find some similarities in these weapons, to see if they're from Iraq, or whatever source.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Do you feel that if the faction that has been mailing anthrax had the means and the quantity, they would have mass infected us already? Do you believe this is a mass fear tactic?

ALIBEK: First of all, I don't consider this attack as a massive attack. They found an unusual way to infect people. This technique could not result in mass casualties. But at the same time, it could produce some number of casualties and cases of infection. But what worries me in this case could have a possible significance of economic impact, economic damage. Probably in the near future, we will see a significant slow-down in postal service, which is going to affect our economy.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: How many cases of inhalational and cutaneous anthrax have been reported prior to September, 2001? 

ALIBEK: Inhalation anthrax is a very rare form of anthrax. It could result only from inhalation of about 10,000 or 20,000 spores. The last case reported was about 25 years ago. One of the biggest cases occurred in the United States in recent history was in 1956 or 1957, when a worker who sorted wool was infected. The cutaneous form is a more frequent form of anthrax. I'm assuming maybe one or two cases a year, sometimes one case in two years, but generally it's not widespread here in the United States.

CNN: What can you tell us about many of your former colleagues in the former Soviet Union who were bio-technology scientists? Where are they now, and do you believe there is a danger that they could be involved in subversive activities?

ALIBEK: The great majority of them are still in the former Soviet Union. Some scientists have left Russia, the former Soviet Union, in the '90s. They went everywhere: the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany. There was some information about people who left for Iran, and some are in Middle Eastern countries. One of the biggest problems we face now, all those people, even scientist, even those who are in Russia now, they present quite a significant, not threat, but an information source for possible buyers. We need to find a way how to employ them. It's much cheaper just to spend some money now to get them employed and do scientific work and not let them to sell their expertise to somebody else.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr Alibek - we are being repeatedly told that the germination time or time from exposure for inhalational anthrax is 2 to 14 days, yet some of the cases in Russia in the '70s apparently took 60 days. What is the longest recorded time from exposure to symptoms for inhalational anthrax?

ALIBEK: In all my experiments during the '80s, using animal models, we have never seen the incubation be longer than the seven days. Actual cases of anthrax in Russia in 1979 showed that some people contracted this infection even 60 days after exposure. There was significant discussion why. My opinion is that people who got infected, who got diseased in 40, 45, 60 days, were infected by secondary aerosols. When they launched a huge maintenance work, and disinfection work.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: I know bioweapons only are of limited danger because they tend to die out. How effective have bioweapons become?

ALIBEK: You know, what's important to keep in mind is that nobody expects biological weapons to survive for days and for months in the environment and in the air. Biological weapons, when they are deployed, create biological aerosols, which travel downwind. They are capable to cover tens of miles distance while they travel, and are still viable. Usually that's enough to have an effective coverage.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Alibek, do you believe that more anthrax cases will be reported? Do you feel as though the vaccine should be made readily available to prevent more contractions of disease?

ALIBEK: Of course it's very difficult to say how many cases of anthrax we will see in the future. It's possible we will see new cases. But at the same time, we need to understand that the biological weapon threat is not just anthrax and smallpox. It's a large number of biological agents, deployment techniques and prevention techniques. What we need to understand that there are groups who understand the power of biological weapons, and I'm afraid that you will see new cases of some other infections. And when we discuss vaccinating people against anthrax, I don't support this idea. It's impossible to vaccinate the entire population of the United States against anthrax. Even if we imagine a fantastic situation, that we vaccinated everybody, they could use something else.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: What is the preferred method for 'cleaning up' after an anthrax contamination so as to keep the spread of it under control?

ALIBEK: First, anthrax is not contagious. But at the same time, it could be transferred from person to person, but not like the regular transmittable infection. For example, if someone is touching a contaminated letter, and then comes in contact with someone bearing a sore on the hand, or something like this, the infectious cutaneous anthrax could be given to the second person. In order to prevent such transmission of the spores, it's important to know how to disinfect your offices. You can, for example, use regular detergents, Lysol, or hydrogen peroxide in low concentration for the infection. But if somebody is afraid of opening letters, I can understand that, of course, but you can use a regular iron, and iron the letters. The probability of the spores surviving is much lower.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Can a mailroom be equipped to detect it?

ALIBEK: It's difficult to imagine that. The problem is that concentration could be very low. But there are some identification systems to check surfaces, letter surfaces, and these systems could work. But again, for now it's anthrax. How about tomorrow? It could be something different. But what's important, and this idea just came to me now, maybe there is a company somewhere in the United States interested in developing a sort of piece of equipment for checking letters. It could reduce the threat of being infected via mail.

CNN: Do you have any closing comments to share with us today?

ALIBEK: All these recent events show us that bioterrorism is not something fantastic or something we could never see. Now we have seen some unfortunate attempts to use biological weapons to kill and scare people. I'm afraid it's not the end of the story. These people understood how vulnerable we are, and they will try to do something to make us fearful again. In this case, what's important to understand is that our government should reconsider and rectify our understanding of biological weapons. We don't have to think that it's just anthrax and smallpox. There are a huge variety of biological weapons, and many different deployment techniques. As soon as we understand this, we'll understand what kind of problems we have in the field of biodefense. Let's have an understanding of what's not been solved yet, and we'll be finally able to determine what kind of defense we need to develop, and we will finally start developing appropriate and intelligent defense against biological weapons.

CNN: Thank you for joining us today.

Ken Alibek joined CNN.com Newsroom via telephone from Virginia. CNN provided a typist for him. This is an edited transcript of the interview, which took place on Tuesday, October 16, 2001. 

October 21, 2001

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A letter found by police in the mailroom of the New York Post newspaper has tested positive for anthrax, and has the same postmark as anthrax-laced letters sent to Sen. Tom Daschle and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, an FBI official said Saturday.

Special Agent Joe Valiquette said the unopened letter was found Friday night in the course of the investigation at the Post, after Johanna Huden (case 1), an editorial page assistant, was diagnosed with cutaneous (skin) anthrax. He said a granular substance was felt by agents through the envelope. 

However, Valiquette said, it is not at all clear that the letter that tested positive for anthrax is the one that infected Huden.   The agent said the letter, which was postmarked Sept. 18 from Trenton, New Jersey -- the same postmark as the letter to Brokaw -- had no return address. He said the Senate majority leader.

The letter had been addressed to the Post's Editor in Chief Col Allan. Huden regularly opens Allan's mail. 

Huden wrote a front-page story in the newspaper Saturday about her ordeal. She is now back at work and nearly healed. Part of her job involves opening mail. In her story, Huden said she first noticed what she thought was a bug bite on her right middle finger about five weeks ago. 

In a statement, the Post said Huden had directly handled a suspicious package some weeks ago.

When the spot became infected, she went for treatment. After several visits to several hospitals, it was Huden herself who thought she might have cutaneous anthrax after reading the symptoms on the Internet. She went for more testing and was diagnosed with the disease. She has been taking the antibiotic Cipro.

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The Federation of American Scientists on Wednesday told a 144-nation conference on banning germ warfare that the U.S. anthrax attacks were "almost certainly" derived from a U.S. government laboratory. 

"I'm a New Yorker," said Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, chairwoman of the federation's working group on biological weapons. "My city has been attacked, first by foreign terrorists, then by an American using a weaponized biological agent." 

Rosenberg was representing one of a number of arms-control groups that urged the conference to tighten restrictions on germ warfare in the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. The anthrax used in letters sent to addresses in New York City, Washington and Florida "was derived, almost certainly, from a U.S. defense laboratory," said Rosenberg. 

She said the anthrax attacks "demonstrated the incredible potency" of using disease as a weapon. "But (it) was only a small taste of what is possible." Five people have died as a result of the toxin. 

A number of other groups cautioned against what they saw as a go-it-alone approach favored by the administration of U.S. President Bush. 

"The terrorist attacks of September 11 have taught us one thing," said Jean Pascal Zanders of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "More than ever a state, however powerful, cannot ensure its security by itself." The International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility, based in Germany, said a strong treaty with worldwide inspection powers would be the best deterrent.

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton reiterated at the meeting Monday that the Bush administration backed out of attempts to create such an inspection system last summer on grounds that it wouldn't work and would expose U.S. defense and commercial secrets. 

The U.S. pullout scuttled attempts to adopt a 210-page enforcement protocol because it meant the consensus necessary for adoption was missing. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross told the meeting that it was "disturbed that nearly a decade of negotiation to develop" the protocol had failed to bear fruit. 

"We urge states parties to resume efforts," said Francois Bugnon, director for international law of the ICRC. 

James K. Wyerman, executive director of the Washington-based disarmament group 20/20 Vision, told the meeting that U.S. surveys showed Americans want their government to do more to counter the threat of bioterrorism. 

"Much of the U.S. public wants prompt action and a strong verification procedure even if our own delegation apparently does not," said Wyerman, who claimed to be speaking for more than 150,000 individuals in physician, environmental, faith and civic groups. 

Last summer, the United States shocked other treaty countries by pulling out of six years of negotiations to create a verification system to strengthen the treaty. 

The treaty drafters omitted an enforcement mechanism when they negotiated the accord during the Cold War, in part because no one seriously thought anyone would try to use such weapons. 

November 20, 2001 Posted: 12:17 PM EST (1717 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) --The anthrax-tainted letters sent to a Senate office and to the media are probably the work of a domestic terrorist, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Monday.

He cautioned that authorities still have not identified a culprit.

"Hopefully we will be able to bring this nightmare to an end, but at this point in time we do not know if it's connected with al Qaeda," Thompson told reporters at an unrelated event on nursing homes.

"It's appearing ... more and more likely that it's an individual in America, or individuals," he said.

A suspicious letter discovered Friday in 280 barrels of unopened Capitol Hill mail and addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, is being studied at Fort Detrick, Maryland, home to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Initial field tests indicated anthrax contamination

"It's being analyzed and evaluated as for its contents, its potency, and [for] any fingerprints, any hair samples, any other things that may give us some indication of who the individual or individuals are that have perpetrated this terror on America," Thompson said.

On Tuesday, The Associated Press quoted a federal law enforcement official with saying that a sample taken from a plastic evidence bag containing the still-unopened letter to Leahy contains at least 23,000 anthrax spores, enough for more than two lethal doses.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were three times more anthrax spores in the single sample taken from the plastic bag than in any of the other 600 bags of mail examined by the FBI before it found the Leahy letter, the AP reported.

New positive anthrax test

The FBI Monday said the Leahy envelope had not yet been opened yet so scientists from the FBI and the Army together with a panel of outside experts could develop a "strategy to maximize the forensic value" of it.

In a brief written statement, the FBI did not spell out technical steps or provide further findings on its analysis conducted over the weekend.

The FBI did note the Leahy letter is similar to the one received by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on October 15.

Both were postmarked October 9 from Trenton, New Jersey, both have similar handwritten block-lettering, and both have the same phony return address, a non-existent school.

Those characteristics convince investigators the letters were sent by the same person, the FBI statement said. Two similar letters were sent to NBC News and the New York Post.

Investigators told CNN there was enough powder inside both congressional letters to seep through the envelopes.

Sources told CNN the Leahy letter may have been misdirected through the mail system and sent to the State Department by mistake.

The handwritten ZIP code is 20510 -- the correct one for the senator's office. On the bottom of the letter, however, the bar code from a mail machine reads 20520, the ZIP for mail going to the State Department.

That means the letter may have gone to the State Department mail facility in Sterling, Virginia, where a mail employee contracted inhalation anthrax, the sources said. The employee is expected to recover.

Elsewhere, the Justice Department said Monday two areas of a Bureau of Prisons headquarters mailroom in Washington have tested positive for "scant contamination."

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has characterized the positive results as 'scant contamination' with a minimal risk of inhalation anthrax disease," according to a Justice Department statement.

"We are in the process of consulting with the CDC regarding appropriate medical recommendations for affected BOP personnel, and expect to so advise BOP personnel tomorrow," the statement said.

Barrels of mail

An estimated 635 bags of congressional mail were seized last month after the anthrax-tainted letter was opened in Daschle's office.

Hazardous material experts have finished sorting through the mail, according to an FBI spokesman. The Leahy letter was the only suspicious letter found among 280 barrels of quarantined mail

Authorities are now awaiting word from congressional leaders on what to do with the mail, which has not gone through any decontamination process, the spokesman said.

According to the FBI, the barrel holding the Leahy letter was the only "hot spot" among the congressional mail.

No other letters in the barrel or the others -- held at a facility in Virginia -- have caught the attention of investigators.

The Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings reopened Monday morning, having been closed over the weekend for anthrax testing after the Leahy letter was discovered.

The Hart building, where the Daschle letter was opened last month, remains closed.

 -- CNN correspondents Susan Candiotti and Eileen O'Connor and CNN Justice Department producers Terry Frieden and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

January 3, 2002 Posted: 4:05 PM EST (2105 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An envelope containing a threatening note and a "powdery substance" found Thursday in the U.S. Capitol office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is likely a hoax, according to an FBI spokesman. 

Two initial tests showed the powder was not hazardous, Lt. Dan Nichols of the Capitol Police said earlier Thursday. 

Postmarked in London and dated in late November, the letter was triple bagged and taken to a U.S. Army lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland, for further analysis, government sources said. 

"While we don't know exactly what it is, because it's still in the process of being investigated, we do know it's not hazardous," Nichols said. 

Thursday's development came nearly three months after a letter containing a potent form of anthrax was opened October 17 at Daschle's office in the Hart Senate Office Building. Another letter, addressed to Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, was found before it was opened. 

Since October, all mail coming into the Capitol complex is irradiated to render any anthrax harmless. A machine then cuts a corner off each letter and shakes it to see if there is a powder inside, congressional sources said. 

The letter found Thursday arrived via the U.S. mail and was subject to usual process before being sent to Daschle's office, Nichols said.

A member of Daschle's staff found the letter in the office used by the South Dakota Democrat in his role as Senate leader and called Capitol police at 11:40 a.m. 

A hazardous materials team responded and tested the substance. The area was immediately sealed off and the historic building was closed until field tests showed the powder was harmless. 

Nichols, who refused to discuss the letter's appearance, said the FBI has launched a criminal investigation. 

Despite a recent fumigation completed Monday, the other offices of Daschle and 49 other senators in the Hart building remain closed, as they have been since October. 

Even if the latest samples test negative for anthrax, the EPA said it has no timeline for when the building will reopen.

Breakthrough close in anthrax probe

From Susan Candiotti
CNN 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Investigators appear to be on the verge of cracking the genetic sequencing of the anthrax strain that killed five people, a source close to the federal investigation tells CNN. 

An announcement on the breakthrough could be made as early as this week.  The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service have been investigating the anthrax incident. 

Nailing down the genetic sequence, according to sources, could narrow down which lab or labs produced the deadly anthrax sent through the mail. 

Solving the sequence can also help determine how old the strain is and when it was produced. That could tell investigators which laboratory would have had the strain within a certain time period. 

However, sources say, once a lab is identified, it may not be the end of the road. 

Scientists have been known to share the Ames strain. 

Also this week, the FBI and U.S. Postal Service are expected to announce the anthrax reward will nearly double to $2.5 million. Authorities also hope to publish a flier with the latest anthrax information. Five people have been killed by inhaling anthrax spores. 

The first death -- newspaper tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens -- occurred October 5 in Florida. No letter was ever found, but anthrax spores were found throughout the American Media International building where Stevens worked. 

Four other people were killed by inhaling anthrax in New York, the Washington, D.C., area, and Connecticut. 

Investigators have been questioning workers at several laboratories in the United States, Canada and Great Britain in hopes of tracking down the source of the anthrax. 

Analysis of the potent spores found in a letter sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, is what's leading investigators to believe they'll be able to pin down which lab produced the strain. 

That analysis on the Leahy anthrax is going on at the military research lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. 

The amount found in the Leahy letter was the largest amount found among four known letters to Leahy, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC's Tom Brokaw, and the editor of the New York Post.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to that press conference just getting underway in West Trenton, New Jersey, where we expect to hear the official word about the reward being doubled in the search for the anthrax letter sender.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

PETER HARVEY, NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE: What you see here, housed (ph) in the State Police, is an example of that cooperation. Namely the state -- the anthrax task force which is made up of U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the State Police, Division of Criminal Justice for the state of New Jersey, U.S. Attorney's Office, as well as other local law enforcement agencies.

In a moment, you are going to hear from Kevin Burke of the Postal Inspection Service as well as Kevin Donovan of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and they are going to talk to you specifically about the work that the task force has been doing here in connection with the New Jersey State Police.

Let me identify some local officials who have been involved in the process. Skip Woletzki (ph); chief sheriff's officer here in Mercer County, Joe Lech; the Mercer County Sheriff; Deputy Chief Paul Meyer of the Trenton Police Department; first assistant prosecutor in Mercer County, Chuck Waldron.

So, without further delay, let me give you Kevin Burke of the United States Postal Inspection Service.

KEVIN BURKE, POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE: Good afternoon. The mission of the Postal Inspection Service is to protect the Postal Service, its employees, and its customers from criminal attack.

Protecting the nation's mail system from criminal misuse has never been more challenging. The four confirmed anthrax mailings have continued to require a commitment of investigative resources in New Jersey, New York, Washington, D.C., Florida, and Connecticut.

Responses to anthrax hoaxes, threats, and suspicious mailings have strained law enforcement resources throughout the country. During this period, over 15,000 incidents of suspicious mailings, hoaxes, and threats have been reported to the inspection service. As a result, over 540 postal facilities have been closed for periods of time. Well, we have a message for those who would use this time to contribute to the unrest and terror. If we find you, we are going to arrest you and we are going to prosecute you. So far, 71 individuals have been arrested by Postal Inspectors, FBI agents, and State and Local law enforcement authorities.

Postal Inspectors have a long, proud, and successful tradition of aggressively pursuing these criminals who attempt to use the mails to defraud or endanger the American public. We will continue that tradition until these criminals are caught, and brought to the bar of justice. Our law enforcement and security efforts will continue to ensure the confidence in the mail as a safe and security means of commerce and communication.

To that end, we are announcing today the mailing of an updated reward flier. These fliers will be mailed to approximately 500,000 postal customers in the areas of South -- Central New Jersey, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The reward has been increased to $2.5 million. The source of these funds is the Postal Service, the FBI, and ADVO Industries of Hartford, Connecticut.

ADVO, one of the nation's largest direct mail marketing companies has chosen to participate because ADVO believes in helping law enforcement in its efforts, much the way it does with America's looking for its Missing Children program that many of us see every Saturday morning when we receive the mail. Jack Dearing, senior vice president for security and safety, is here to answer questions directly at the conclusion of this briefing.

I bring your attention to the flier, and I'd like to make a few comments on it. As you can see, the reward has been upped to $2.5 million. Specific in -- in the center of the flier, there are the four known mailings, emanating from Trenton -- I want to make the specific point in saying that this is a letter -- embossed letter envelope. This is a business envelope. This may be integral to the public's interest in help they can provide to us. This is the type of envelope that was used for each of the mailings, not the larger business type envelope. It's an embossed Iron Eagle, Blue Eagle 34 cent envelope.

We believe the persons responsible for these acts obviously have a scientific background and work history which may include a specific familiarity with anthrax, and have a level of comfort in and around the Trenton, New Jersey area due to present or prior association.

I'd like to comment and just say that this individual responsible for these acts may well be a neighbor, may be a work associate, or we're very, very comfortable that the people in the public in this part of New Jersey and possibly on the other side of the river in Pennsylvania, can contribute very important information that would help us piece together some of the pieces of this puzzle, and bring this investigation to a successful resolution.

With that, its my pleasure to introduce my counterpart, the special agent in charge, the Newark division of the FBI, Mr. Kevin Donovan (ph). KEVIN DONOVAN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: Good afternoon.

In an attempt to identify the individual who mailed the anthrax- laced letters from the Trenton area in September and October last year, we are once again reaching out to the American public.

More specifically, we are reaching out to the postal customers of the Trenton area, as well as the adjacent communities in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The fliers will be available at major transportation centers, such as the train station, the bus terminal and the airport and Trenton. As we conduct this investigation, locally and follow leads wherever they may take us throughout the United States and the world, we must remember the unsuspecting victims.

To date, five individuals have lost their lives to anthrax. We keep them in our hearts, and we work hard to make sure that there are no more victims of this tragedy. Robert Stevens, a newspaperman, a grandfather, an avid outdoors-man, Joseph E. Kersen Jr., a postal worker, who was the president of the Neighborhood Community Association. He helped to build playgrounds and a park. He was a loving husband. Thomas L. Morris Jr., a postal worker, who was a loving husband, a father and a son, and two stepchildren. Mr. Morris was the president of the Tuesday Morning Bowling League. Kathy Nguyen, a quiet lady, who won the hearts of her neighbors and coworkers. Ottilie Lundgren, 94 years old, was very active in the Manuel Lutheran Church. She is described as a gracious lady who fancied lobster, and never missed a Saturday hair appointment.

In addition, 13 people have been personality affected by anthrax, including a 7-month-old baby. These people were indiscriminately exposed to anthrax. It invaded our workspace, it invaded our homes, it invaded our lives without warning. We are reaching out to you to make sure that there are no more victims. We want to make sure our children, our families, our homes and businesses are not innocently exposed to anthrax. The standing reward has been increased to $2.5 million for the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for the mailing of the four anthrax-laced letters from the Trenton, New Jersey area.

In partnership with the United States Postal Service, approximately 1/2 million fliers will be distributed to homes and business in Trenton, New Jersey and the adjoining communities. We ask that you take a moment to read the fliers. Look, again, at the handwriting on the envelope, and if you have any information that could help us identify the individual who mailed these letters, please call us. Pick up the phone and make the call. You may have the one piece of evidence or the one piece of information that helps us resolve this case.

Thank you.

Questions and answers.

QUESTION: Can you tell us basically, is the reason for these fliers the fact that you really at a dead end, that you don't have any leads any more? 

DONOVAN: I don't think it's that we don't have any leads. We're looking out for that one person who may be able to give a specific information to help us utilize the investigation that's already been conducted, and the scientific information that the laboratories around the United States are trying to give us so we can focus on that information to identify one particular individual.

QUESTION: Are you saying you do have leads then?

DONOVAN: I would say that our investigation is very aggressive. It's wide-ranging, and we follow every lead that comes to us, and this is just effort to develop additional leads to focus on, maybe an individual did not come to our attention.

QUESTION: Are you saying, short of a golden tip, you don't have anything to put someone in custody, right?

DONOVAN: I would be very happy to say today that we have someone we're ready to arrest. But at this point, we're continue our investigation, focusing on whatever leads are developed as a result the investigation throughout the United States.

QUESTION: And the fact you're looking for, you believe in all honestly. He's a local person?

DONOVAN: I think the assessment of our behavioral science people. I think the investigators here and around the United States that this individual has a familiarity with the Trenton, New Jersey area, that there is something that brings them here, either past association or current association. It's a transportation center, which is why we're putting the fliers out to transportation hubs. We believe that individuals familiar with coming here.

QUESTION: And local? Does he live here, do you believe?

DONOVAN: Will are not saying that he's local here. He could have lived here at one time. He could have relatives here, and Kevin Burke said it very well, that it could be a former neighbor, it could be an individual who was here previously at a job assignment. That's the kind of information that we're really focusing on.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the universities that you visited? Have you yielded anything valuable?

DONOVAN: I won't give you specific answers on those, but I can tell you that we have, as part of our logical investigative leads, focused on some of the universities. I know that you've seen some press reports about our investigation out there.

That's a normal part of our investigation, to try develop information and develop investigative leads.

QUESTION: Story mentioned that you are looking at the photocopy machines at Rutgers University. What is it about the photocopy machines that are connected to the letter. Were some of the letters copied on the photocopy machine? 

DONOVAN: I think there are some things I said before when we appeared before you that we wouldn't give out, because it may hinder the investigation. There are indications if I comment on some of those things now, we will not be able to use for investigative purposes at a later date in time.

QUESTION: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) still alive somewhere around New Jersey?

DONOVAN: I think we do. The letters were mailed from here. There is a familiarity with this area. I think that we believe that this individual knows this area well enough to mail the letters from here. We're hoping that by putting this poster out, that we're able to focus on some of the unusual parts of the envelope that maybe somebody would be able to say, this is what I saw one of my loved ones mailing one day, the handwriting is similar. That's what our focus is. We're trying to ask the public to give us those unique clues only they know as a result of association with the individual.

QUESTION: You keep saying he. Do you have any type of profile on this person that you can rule as he or she or does or doesn't have?

DONOVAN: I think I just took that as just a general comment. Our investigation, as I said, is wide-ranging. We haven't precluded any possibilities, that it could be male, could be female, could be any other individual. Something I would say I was using liberally.

QUESTION: Why hasn't he tried again? Do you believe he has, and have you caught other letters that should have received -- that should have gone through the system?

DONOVAN: I think you would have heard, as we've done in the past. We would comment on whether we have received the letters and communicate with those people that are involved in receiving the letter. I can't give you a reason why that individual has not surfaced at this point.

QUESTION: How many investigators are actually total, on the whole, been looking at the whole nationwide anthrax thing?

DONOVAN: I don't think I can give you nationwide numbers, but I can tell you that it's just about every FBI field office, postal facility, postal inspection service, participating, the New Jersey State police clearly here. As Peter Harvey mentioned, the division of criminal justice here, full partners, the chiefs and all of the local law enforcement.

QUESTION: Clearly, we are talking about thousands, I would assume, of investigators. What is the difficulty -- I mean, like the Unabomber took 20 years to find him. Can you just talk about, just in general, the difficulty of kind of piecing this together?

DONOVAN: Very briefly. I think part of the issue here is that we're focusing right now on a historical crime that we need to be able to put together, either forensically, or through interviews with individuals, or through handwriting analysis, information that will positively identify that individual. So our focus is to use a wide- range of investigative tools to allow us to focus on that individual, and hopefully charge someone.

QUESTION: What do you mean by historical crime? You mean, if someone commits a murder fairly recent, and you are able to gather evidence pretty quick? Is that what you mean?

DONOVAN: It's a crime over a period of time now that we are trying to focus back on and re-create some of the crime that occurred.

HARRIS: We are going to step out at this particular point away from this press conference in West Trenton, New Jersey, where we have the official word here, the FBI, the Postal Service, is issuing out here some 500,000 new fliers that will have details on them, to help call some more investigative leads they say, and try to find out who mailed the four anthrax-laden letters that came out some months ago. This flier will feature pictures of the four letters themselves, and what they are asking people to do is to look at these envelopes and to see whether or not the handwriting or something else about these letters actually triggers some sort of memory to turn information.

They've actually doubled the amount that's offered as a reward here. The original reward has been some 1.2 million. Now it's up 2.5 million. To anyone that can help them with some investigative leads that might lead to someone being taken in for this particular crime.

Let's go now to our Susan Candiotti who has been covering this for us from our Washington bureau -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service both convinced that obviously someone mailed these four known letters, as they put it, from the Trenton, New Jersey area, and so they are sure they remain confident that someone might have seen these letters being mailed. These are preframed letters, with the stamp already on them, or someone who might recognize the handwriting on those letters. And so that is in part why that are doubling the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the anthrax killer, or killers, up to $2.5 million. You see a copy now of the flier that will be mailed out.

Authorities are not saying, however, that the anthrax that was sent through the mail was produced in the New Jersey area, or even that the person who made it, produced it, lives in that area. However, they do think, at the very at least, that whoever is responsible is certainly familiar with the Trenton, New Jersey area where the four known letters were mailed. And we do know that investigators have been working in the New Jersey area as well as other areas in particular.

Conducting interviews, at various locations, including at some universities, where at the very least, there are bioengineering departments, and, in fact, where there are xerox machines, because each of the letters sent through the mail is a xeroxed copy. And even though it's a long shot, there is a possibility that authorities would be able to track down the particular copy machine that was used to produce these letters -- Leon.

HARRIS: Susan, I also caught them saying that one thing that's been slowing them down is they had to response to some 15,000 hoaxes and suspicious mailing and all. Put no idea whether or not they've reached a dead end, and that's the reason why they're issuing out this call for public to come in and help them right now?

CANDIOTTI: Well, they're certainly having trouble trying to get to the bottom of it. I think they would take issue with admitting that they're at a dead end, but they certainly do need the public's help. They are looking at all kinds of leads, and certainly in the beginning, they had to, they were stymied by -- or setback by having to investigate those 15,000 hoaxes, which have slowed down, but they haven't stopped.

HARRIS: One more important thing, they say the suspect may have A scientific background. Keep that in mind, folks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

From Susan Candiotti
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) --Almost six months after anthrax letters began turning up in the mail, the mystery of who sent those deadly missives and why persists.

There has been some progress. Authorities have narrowed to about two dozen the number of labs believed capable of making the deadly spores.

Scientists also have learned the anthrax spores that filled letters to Sens. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, were even purer than investigators thought.

The anthrax's purity and potency makes it highly unlikely the killer could have made and treated the spores in a makeshift setting, according to officials involved in the massive investigation.

"There are only so many people, so many places that this can be done," said Van Harp, the assistant FBI director leading the anthrax investigation.

The culprit, Harp said, knew what he or she was doing.

"Contrary to what was initially out there at the beginning of the investigation, this anthrax, we do not believe, was made up in a garage or a bathtub," Harp said.

Five people died of the inhaled form of anthrax and 13 others suffered anthrax infections.

Four letters were recovered in connection with the incidents, and authorities believe at least one other letter -- never found -- passed through the postal system and led to the October 5, 2001, death of a photo editor in Florida, the first fatality.

In addition to those sent to the two Senate offices, anthrax-laced letters were sent to the New York Post and NBC News.

The anthrax incidents -- which subsided after the November death of an elderly widow in Connecticut -- prompted significant changes in how the U.S. Postal Service handles and treats the mail, including the installation of new cleaning equipment and irradiation of mail sent to Congress.

The Postal Service is also testing high-tech sensors in an effort to detect anthrax and other biohazards. Two of the five fatalities were postal workers.

The anthrax deaths underscored the fact that even the most powerful nation on Earth was not immune to bioterrorism and raised the question of whether the United States has a domestic terrorist within its midst.

Roughly 5,000 interviews have yielded no suspect, but the FBI maintains it will find the person responsible for the fatal letters.

"Quite possibly, we've already interviewed the person once ... but we're going to get back to him if we did," Harp said.

The FBI has said it believes the person responsible for the anthrax mailings has "technical knowledge" and "has or had legitimate access to select biological agents at some time."

Army connection?

One of the labs capable of producing anthrax spores is the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

"When you think of where did anthrax possibly come from, you have to think of our laboratory," said Maj. Gen. John Parker, who until his retirement last week oversaw the team of scientists at the lab assigned to the FBI case.

Over the years, Fort Detrick shared its anthrax with others labs for research purposes. In the 1990s, there was a series of security lapses.

It also has a long history of training highly skilled scientists, leading some to suggest the spores or even the anthrax killer might be associated with the lab.

Barbara Rosenberg, a microbiologist with the State University of New York at Purchase, accuses the FBI of stalling to protect government secrets.

"There may be embarrassing information connected with the entire event and there may not be real enthusiasm about bringing this information out to the public," she said.

The FBI hotly rejects such suggestions.

"Those are uninformed ... outsiders," Harp said.

No connection to Sept. 11

When the anthrax letters began turning up in the mail, many observers speculated that they might somehow be connected to international terrorists -- coming so soon after the September 11 attacks.

But after searching evidence left behind by the September 11 hijackers, the FBI says there is absolutely no evidence linking them to the anthrax attacks. The letters contained the message: "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

In the end, science may hold the key to the killer.

"Once the science half is done, I think we're going to solve this investigation," said the FBI's Harp.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Kate Snow contributed to this report.

From Kelli Arena and Carol Cratty
CNN Washington Bureau
April 5, 2002

WASHINGTON (CNN) --The FBI is asking key scientists involved in the anthrax investigation to take polygraph tests, federal officials said Friday.

The voluntary exams, which gauge the subject's truthfulness, mark authorities latest attempt to find out who mailed anthrax-laced letters to journalists and politicians last fall.

"We haven't ruled anyone out as a suspect," an FBI official said Friday.

As part of its investigation, the FBI is looking into the possibility that the person behind the anthrax attacks may have ties to a government lab.

Authorities have narrowed the number of facilities believed to be capable of making the deadly spores to about 24 labs. But no charges have been filed against anyone thought to be involved in the anthrax mailings, which killed five people and infected 13 others.

Maj. Gen. John Parker, who retired last month as the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, said the polygraph tests are a routine precaution and began six weeks ago.

"[The FBI] wanted to be reasonably sure as possible that the people who deal with evidence are not part of the problem," Parker said.

Parker said the FBI sought polygraphs only from those scientists and lab technicians who deal directly with anthrax samples and results. He said he did not know how many scientists at Fort Detrick have been asked to take a polygraph or if anyone has refused.

"I think this is a good thing," said Parker.

The Maryland lab is one of the labs capable of producing anthrax spores, and it has shared its anthrax with other labs for research purposes over the years.

Dr. John Ezzell, the scientist who opened the anthrax-laced letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, confirmed that he had taken a polygraph test.

"It's a standard procedure for anyone handling evidence," he said.

While polygraphs are often used in criminal investigations, some scientists have questioned their accuracy and dependability.
 

Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/05/anthrax.polygraphs/index.html

From Kelli Arena
CNN Washington Bureau
April 11, 2002 Posted: 7:55 AM EDT (1155 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) --Scientists have found a new chemical in the coating on the anthrax spores mailed to journalists and politicians last fall, a high-ranking government official said Wednesday.

The discovery of the unnamed chemical, something scientists are familiar with, was surprising, the official said.

Previously, officials had reported that the coating on the anthrax included silica, which helped the spores not to clump.

The purity, fineness and potency of the anthrax -- particularly that mailed to Sens. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont -- makes it highly unlikely that the sender of the letters made and treated the spores in a makeshift setting, according to officials involved in the massive investigation.

"There are only so many people, so many places that this can be done," Van Harp, the assistant FBI director leading the anthrax investigation, said last month.

Officials cautioned Wednesday that a scientist is not necessarily responsible for the anthrax mailings.

Investigators believe the bacteria came from a domestic source, but have not found direct links or made any arrests in the case.

They are also examining whether the person responsible for the anthrax scare worked in a government lab or contracted with the government. Scientists working with the government on the investigation have taken polygraph tests to ensure they were not involved in the mailings.

Five people died of the inhaled form of anthrax and 13 others suffered anthrax infections.

Four letters were recovered in connection with the incidents, and authorities believe at least one other letter -- never found -- passed through the postal system and led to the October 5, 2001, death of a photo editor in Florida, the first fatality.

In addition to those sent to the two Senate offices, anthrax-laced letters were sent to the New York Post and NBC News.

The anthrax incidents -- which subsided after the November death of an elderly widow in Connecticut -- prompted significant changes in how the U.S. Postal Service handles and treats the mail, including the installation of new cleaning equipment and irradiation of mail sent to Congress.
 

Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/10/inv.anthrax.investigation/index.html 

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN)
May 16, 2002 Posted: 6:05 AM EDT (1005 GMT)

-- A Philadelphia electrician was arrested Wednesday in connection with two packages, one containing a bomb, found in and near mailboxes in the city earlier this week, authorities said. 

Authorities detained Preston H. Lit, 53, shortly after he dumped trash in a neighbor's yard. 

U.S. Postal Service sources said the handwriting on material found in the yard matched three letters found in Harrisburg, the state capital. 

The letters -- two addressed to President Bush and the other to Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker -- had "Royal al Qaeda Headquarters" as a return address, sources said. 

Investigators also have seized at least two postcards addressed to Bush and "possibly a letter or package," a law enforcement source said. 

Federal authorities charged Lit with threatening to use explosive devices relating to the mailbox bomb found Monday and a suspicious package -- which turned out to be a box filled with sneakers -- discovered a day later, said FBI Assistant Special Agent Rosanne Russo. 

The package Monday detonated as authorities tried to defuse it, although no one was wounded in the blast. 

Messages attached to both packages read "Free Palestine" and mentioned al Qaeda, the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden, local and federal law enforcement sources said. 

At this point, authorities are characterizing the case "more in the category of odd behavior" than a direct threat to Bush and other politicians, a law enforcement source said. 

'We knew who the individual was'

A neighbor tipped off authorities after seeing the license plate number of a 1991 four-door Buick Regal near where one of the packages was found. Police issued an all-points bulletin on the vehicle early Wednesday. 

The vehicle drove by as police investigated the litter-strewn lawn later in the day. 

"We knew who the individual was. We knew the type of vehicle he was driving," said Capt. James Murphy of the Philadelphia Police Department. "He went by the location where we were standing, where he had previously dumped all the trash." 

Authorities did not explain why Lit might have dumped trash in his neighbor's yard. 

Officers on bike patrol gave chase and took Lit into custody around 5:30 p.m., following a 4-5 block chase. A bomb squad examined Lit's car to ensure there were no explosive devices inside, said Murphy. 

Jerri Myers, a neighbor who said she and Lit used to walk their dogs together at night, said he used to sunbathe nude. Lit lived alone and had been away from home off and on in recent months, she said. 

"He was a quiet, pleasant man," Myers said. 

Suspect stalked local TV personality

The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted authorities as saying the device found Monday was more sophisticated than a pipe bomb of the kind a Wisconsin college student allegedly placed in mailboxes in five states earlier this month. 

The bomb "was wrapped in a foam box packed with nails and had a sophisticated switch to allow the bomber to plant the device safely without it exploding prematurely," sources told the newspaper. 

The package was not addressed, did not have any postage and "al Qaeda" was misspelled, federal and local investigators said. 

Wednesday's arrest marked Lit's latest in a string of run-ins with the law. 

Lit was arrested Tuesday night in Olney, Pennsylvania, questioned about an outstanding warrant from Florida on an unspecified incident and released. 

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Lit was arrested at least twice, in 1992 and 1993, and charged with a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from attempts to elude police. 

While the ultimate disposition of the charges is unclear, the Florida data showed that several of the charges were dismissed because Lit was mentally unable to stand trial. 

He had stalked a Philadelphia TV personality and tried to run over a security guard outside the television station, authorities said. 

After another arrest, following a high-speed chase, Lit told a reporter he was "working on a project for a better America." 

6:00 PM AUGUST 1, 2002
__________________________________________

Anthrax Investigation

LOU DOBBS: Almost ten months since America was shocked by the first anthrax victim, five people died, seventeen others were infected, and no arrests in all of that time have been made. Tonight, there may be a break in the case. The Justice Department says a former researcher at the U.S. Army’s bioweapons laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, is considered a potential suspect. Kelli Arena reports. 

KELLI ARENA: FBI agents working the anthrax investigation once again descended on these apartments in central Maryland. It’s where Steven Hatfill lives. He’s a researcher who used to work at Fort Detrick, which houses a U.S. Army bioweapons defense lab. 

Witnesses to the search say FBI agents confiscated a Camaro, among other items. 

JOEY DI LAURA [Witness to search]: I don’t know. I just know it’s heavy. When you see that many cars rolling in with Washington plates and Virginia plates, I know it’s very, very heavy. 

ARENA: It’s the second time investigators have searched his home, which happens to be close to Fort Detrick, where workers have experimented with anthrax. The first search was consensual. This time, investigators came armed with a warrant. 

It’s not clear what brought investigators back, but Hatfill, who sources say was being called a "person of interest," is now a potential suspect in the anthrax investigation. The FBI would not comment. When asked, Director Robert Mueller had only this to say. 

ROBERT MUELLER [FBI Director]: As I said, I can’t get into what is being undertaken in the course of the investigation, but I do believe we are making progress. 

Sources say Hatfill has previously been interviewed by the FBI and polygraphed. He’s just one of dozens of scientists who have agreed to cooperate with investigators who, from the beginning, have said they were focusing on the scientific community.

VAN HARP [Asst. FBI Director]: Whoever produced that had significant technical ability. We feel they had some experience. And they had access to some pretty sophisticated equipment. 

ARENA: Hatfill has drawn the most attention. He’s even been the subject of website gossip among scientists about possible domestic suspects. 

One of the reasons for that is a study that Hatfill commissioned in 1999 that described a fictional terrorist attack in which an envelope containing anthrax is opened in an office. 

CNN has made repeated efforts to contact Hatfill and his lawyer, but so far, no response. And, Lou, I need to point out, we have not gotten any official comment from the Justice Department or the FBI on this case. We have been quoting sources throughout a variety of law enforcement sources that have dubbed him a potential suspect. As you heard, the FBI director refused to comment. So has the Justice Department. Back to you. 

DOBBS: But at least the head of the FBI, Kelli, did use the word "progress," so that is something from the Justice Department. Do we know the whereabouts of Hatfill tonight? 

ARENA: We don’t, Lou. He’s not under arrest, so he’s free to do as he wishes. We tried to contact him at his home with no luck. 

DOBBS: Kelli Arena, thank you. 

August 2, 2002 Posted: 12:54 AM EDT (0454 GMT)

From Kelli Arena
CNN Washington Bureau

FORT DETRICK, Maryland (CNN) --FBI agents searched the apartment of a former researcher at the U.S. Army's biological warfare defense laboratory at Fort Detrick for the second time in two months Thursday.

The researcher, Steven Hatfill, 48, had previously been questioned in the investigation of last fall's anthrax attacks and had his apartment searched in June. No arrests are imminent, sources said.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said only that investigators had made progress in Thursday's search, which included trash bins outside Hatfill's apartment. Sources said authorities also searched the apartment of a Hatfill friend.

Mueller said an FBI profile of the suspected anthrax mailer -- a lone person living within the United States with experience working in labs and smart enough to "produce a highly refined and deadly product" -- had not changed.

A State Department official revealed Thursday that Hatfill, an infectious disease specialist who has worked both in and for the government for nearly two decades, is on the standby roster of experts waiting to go to Iraq with the U.N. weapons inspection team if President Saddam Hussein approves.

Although the U.S. government nominated most of the Americans serving with the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, Hatfill was "one of the very few that applied to UNMOVIC" independently, the official said.

An UNMOVIC spokesman said Hatfill is one of some 230 trainees and since 2000 has attended U.N. training courses -- including a month-long course in France.

The course covered the history of UNSCOM, Security Council resolutions, cultural sensitivity and exercises in occupational safety, sources said.

The spokesman said Hatfill was not with UNSCOM, the former weapons inspections regime that pulled out of Iraq in November 1998. Sources said neither is he on the U.N.'s payroll.

Dick Spertzel, a former UNSCOM bioweapons expert and former Fort Detrick employee who also took the UNMOVIC training, defended Hatfill, saying the biologist "is being crucified."

Spertzel said the course offered no training in anthrax or weapons. He said Hatfill's area of expertise is not anthrax but the ebola virus.

Second search with warrant

Sources said Thursday's search of Hatfill's apartment, situated next to Fort Detrick, was conducted with a search warrant, unlike the previous search of his residence on June 25, which was consensual.

At that time FBI agents also searched a storage locker Hatfill used in Florida. No incriminating evidence was found in the searches, sources said. His residence was one of more than a dozen subjected to consensual searches.

Sources said Hatfill took a polygraph but the results were inconclusive.

Sources said that while the June search was for traces of anthrax, the focus of the latest search was different, although they did not elaborate. The warrant allowed for a broader search, the sources said.

Agents did not wear protective clothing Thursday, indicating they did not expect to find anthrax spores.

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, at Fort Detrick has been a focus of the FBI investigation because workers there had done experiments with anthrax.

Hatfill, who worked at Fort Detrick from 1997 to 1999, never worked directly with anthrax there, sources said, but did have access to a lab containing the Ames strain of anthrax, which has been identified as the one used in last fall's anthrax mailings, which led to the deaths of five people.

The Ames strain is named for the Iowa city where researchers first isolated it.

Hatfill drew attention because in 1999, while working for a defense contractor, he commissioned a study that laid out a fictional scenario about terrorists sending anthrax through the mail, sources have said.

Hatfill was fired from the McLean, Virginia-based defense contractor, Science Applications International Corp., in March 2002. According to published reports, he was dismissed after the Defense Department suspended his security clearance in August 2001.

Hatfill began working last month as the associate director of Louisiana State University's National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, which has federal grants to train emergency workers to deal with bioterrorist attacks. He is due to teach a course this fall.

FBI asked microbiologists for help

Earlier this year, the FBI asked the nation's 30,000 microbiologists for help in identifying who sent the anthrax letters last year.

"A review of the information-to-date in this matter leads investigators to believe that a single person is most likely responsible for these mailings. This person is experienced working in a laboratory," the FBI said in a letter to the members of the American Society of Microbiology.

Anthrax-laced letters were sent last fall to offices of U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and to television network news offices in New York, prompting fears of mass terrorist mailings coming so soon after the September 11 attacks.

The letters -- leaking what investigators called highly sophisticated weaponized anthrax spores -- contaminated post office buildings in Washington and New Jersey.

Five people, including two postal employees in Washington, died last fall of inhaled anthrax. At least 13 people developed either skin or respiratory anthrax. They have since recovered.
 

Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/01/anthrax.investigation/index.html

8 August 2002 -       06:00
CNN: American Morning with Paula Zahn

A discussion with a former CIA counter-terrorism expert about a suspect the FBI is investigating in the anthrax case. Bedlington talks about the evidence that is mounting against scientist Steven Hatfill.
 

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As the government moves forward with its probe into last year's deadly anthrax attacks, lawyers for a former U.S. Army scientist are complaining about how investigators are treating their client. Some new details are emerging today about Steven Hatfill, a former biochemist at Fort Detrick.

CNN learned yesterday that Hatfill's lawyers requested a meeting with someone from the U.S. attorney's office, although we do not know if that meeting has taken place. Hatfill has not been charged with anything, but at least one long time acquaintance believes the evidence against him is mounting.

Stan Bedlington, a former CIA counter-terrorism expert, joins us now from Washington.

Good to have you with us this morning, Stan. Welcome.

STAN BEDLINGTON, FORMER CIA COUNTER-TERRORISM EXPERT: Thank you
very much.

ZAHN: So what do you make of these reports that a meeting is being encouraged between Mr. Hatfill's attorneys and government officials?

BEDLINGTON: Well, frankly, I was somewhat surprised that the meeting was held apparently, it if has been held, frankly I thought perhaps they were going to try and cut some sort of a deal with the public prosecutor. But this is not the case. As we understand it, the meeting was held in order to present some complaints about the way Steven Hatfill is being treated by the FBI and the Justice Department.

But I think the evidence is mounting that he does have some questions to answer.

ZAHN: And in your judgment, what is the most significant piece of evidence that would suggest that perhaps that Mr. Hatfill was behind these anthrax attacks?

BEDLINGTON: Well, I think you probably read the article in, I think it was in "Newsweek" on Monday, which talks about the FBI taking some bloodhounds to Hatfill's apartment and other places early last week.  And the bloodhounds, as soon as they got into Hatfill's apartment, ran over to him and, you know, starting showing that they'd picked up a scent. They, the bloodhounds had been shown a package coming from the two envelopes addressed to Senator Lahey and Senator Daschle, which still obviously had some scent of anthrax. And they sniffed that and they went straight to Hatfill, not once but on several occasions.

So bloodhound evidence is, in fact, admissible in court. So the evidence is mounting. But I don't think it's by any means a done case yet. Much more evidence is required.

ZAHN: It's also interesting to note that the bloodhounds, according to published reports, also became agitated when they were taken to the apartment building of one of Hatfill's friends and then actually to a restaurant in Louisiana where Mr. Hatfill had eaten the day before.

Let's go on to what you make of the -- or made of the FBI searches of his apartment. Why was nothing yielded, as at least we've been told nothing was yielded, from that search?

BEDLINGTON: Well, of course, we don't know what the FBI has picked up. But there's been no leaks or any suggestion that they've found anything of, appropriate to the prosecution, that would further the prosecution. I mean Steven Hatfill, I mean I've known him for some years. He's an incredibly intelligent man, a very clever man. We cannot say for sure that he was involved in this anthrax case. Far from it.

But if he was, if he was, then I'm certain he's quite capable of covering his tracks.

ZAHN: Are you of the mind, though, that the kind of anthrax that laced the letters to Tom Daschle, among others, were not of the home grown variety but a very sophisticated type of anthrax?

BEDLINGTON: I'm told that. I'm not a scientist. I'm a political scientist, for what it's worth. So I really cannot answer that. But that is certainly the conclusion that the reports in the media have come to.

ZAHN: You have said that Steven Hatfill actually showed you plans that he had drawn up in the case of a biological attack. Can you share a little bit of that with us this morning?

BEDLINGTON: Yes, they were eminently reasonable and rational. He's very proud of two things he said that ought to be done. I should back off a little and say that he was very contemptuous of the plans that the U.S. government had in place to combat a potential biological attack and what to do afterwards. So he drew up his own, he said.

The one, the first one was a set of ambulances which would have special filters to keep out whatever toxic spores were still in the air. And the other was what he called a disaster train, a train that would be standing by in whatever location you need it. The train would have on board laboratories, clinics, first responders, doctors, nurses, etc. In other words, it could do everything to deal with a post-attack situation.

ZAHN: In closing this morning, do you think Mr. -- that the FBI has their suspect in this man?

BEDLINGTON: I honestly don't know, to tell you the truth. All I can say is the evidence seems to be mounting. If you look at the evidence on -- from the addresses on those two letters to Lahey and Daschle, which are similar to a place he studied in Zimbabwe when he was studying for his M.D., and if you look at the bloodhound search, then certainly there are, the evidence is mounting and there is a case to answer.

ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your sharing some of your insights with us this morning.

Stan Bedlington, thank you very much for your time.

BEDLINGTON: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: Appreciate it.
 

(c) Copyright eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.).

There's new information on the anthrax investigation at this hour.

Investigators think they may have found the site where last year's anthrax letters were mailed. Preliminary tests on a mailbox in Princeton, New Jersey show signs of anthrax. Postal officials stress that the test is preliminary and the mailbox has been removed for further testing.

The man whose name has surfaced repeatedly in the anthrax investigation is outraged saying enough is enough. Steven Hatfill has not even been declared a suspect in the anthrax attacks, which killed five people, but he says officials are leaking his name to the news media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HATFILL: I acknowledge the right of the authorities and the press to satisfy themselves as to whether I am the anthrax mailer. This does not, however, give them the right to smear me and gratuitously make a wasteland of my life in the process. I will not be railroaded. I am a loyal American. I am extremely proud of the work I have done for the United States and for my country and her people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now to talk more about this case is a close friend of Steven Hatfill, Pat Clawson. Pat, thanks for joining us.

PAT CLAWSON, FRIEND OF STEVEN HATFILL: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: You're a former CNN correspondent yourself in the 1980s. Let's get right to the issue at hand. Is the FBI justified in trying to find evidence linking your friend, Steven Hatfill, to the anthrax investigation?

CLAWSON: Absolutely, they're justified. He's a member of the bio weapons defense community in this country. It's a very small fraternity. These are guys with specialized knowledge. Absolutely they should be looking at that group of individuals and looking at my friend as well.

BLITZER: There's a lot of weird coincidences out there as you know pointing toward your good friend Steven Hatfill. Let's get to some of them. For example, he had a book that he was writing about what?

CLAWSON: About bio terrorism and something that hasn't come out in the press about that book is I knew about that book a long time ago. That book actually originated through some dinner table conversations going back over the last couple of years about applying his knowledge about the subject of bio terrorism to doing a Tom Clancy type novel.

BLITZER: This was fiction he was writing?

CLAWSON: Total fiction.

BLITZER: Did it include letters being sent to members of Congress involving anthrax?

CLAWSON: Well that was a scenario that was once discussed over a dinner table and not so long ago, several months ago last year, Steve asked me to help him to try to find a publisher with a book. It was just a total work of fiction.

BLITZER: But did Steven Hatfill in his concern for U.S. preparedness as a patriot, as he says he is and as you say he is, did he as some suggest maybe want to become overly out there in trying to get the country as a whole, including the government, more concerned about it?

CLAWSON: I don't think so. The Steve Hatfill I know is a very dedicated patriot. He's an excellent scientist and he's an excellent medical doctor, and he's been very concerned for a long time that the United States is not doing enough to protect itself against the possibility of biological terrorism and he spoke out about it. He was kind of a whistleblower of sorts in government on the issue.

A lot of people didn't like what he was saying because it was uncomfortable, but he was trying to focus attention on the issue in a positive and constructive way, and as far as I know, that's the only way he's ever focused attention on this.

BLITZER: Because you know that one of the profiles that has been created by law enforcement sources is of a patriotic American involved in this issue trying to get interest out there on bio terrorism preparedness but that the experiment that he was engaged in got out of control and people were killed.

CLAWSON: Yes, and I'm not quite buying it and there's been an awful lot of other erroneous information and theories, erroneous in my opinion, floated about him. One that the New York Times reported was that he had some kind of a secret mountain cabin that was an anthrax laboratory and he was telling people that visited there that they should use Cipro.

As far as we've been able to determine through the FBI investigations and also through interviews agents have done and also other press contacts, it happens to be a three-bedroom modern home in a mountain area where people go skeet shooting. It happens to be owned by a lawyer of mine.

BLITZER: You saw that picture in the magazine of him standing in kitchen in front of the refrigerator dressed in that bio terror outfit out there, pretty suspicious.

CLAWSON: That came about through some contacts that he had with a Washington Times reporter who's a member of our social circle who thought a lot of the stuff that Steve was talking about about bio terrorism would make a darned interesting magazine story. He ended up cooperating with Steve to do a magazine story about it and they persuaded him to take a photograph in that biological garb just to help illustrate the story. It's been blown vastly out of proportion.

BLITZER: Very briefly, does he have a suspect in mind who may have mailed these anthrax letters?

CLAWSON: Not that he has told me, but there's one thing that's clear, Wolf, and that is there is someone out there or some group of people that mailed these letters and they're still at large and the truth of the matter is the government doesn't know who they are. I think they're focusing their attention on the wrong man because the man I know is a very dedicated patriot, good scientist, good doctor, who's done everything he can do to help protect America.

BLITZER: And very briefly, I'll let you go right after you comment on this AP story, Associated Press story, just moving, quoting a law enforcement official unnamed as saying that investigators probing, looking for physical evidence against Steven Hatfill have not come up with any but they are not prepared to clear him. 

CLAWSON: Well, the FBI and the Justice Department have said that he's a person of interest. In all the years I covered the Justice Department for this network, I don't have a clue what a person of interest is. It's not an official term. When in this country do we start casting a finger of accusation at people on national media, when does our government start doing this when it has no evidence to back up any kind of criminal charges? It's just outrageous as an American that he is being subjected to this.

BLITZER: All right.

CLAWSON: If the government has some evidence, let them put it up, but they shouldn't single him out and put his name in the national media as a so-called person of interest unless there's something to back it up. 

BLITZER: All right, Pat Clawson, thanks for joining us.

CLAWSON: Thank you.

BLITZER: Let's get another perspective on this story. For that, we turn to the "New York Times" correspondent Judith Miller. She's been covering this and other bioterrorism stories for many years. Judith, thanks for joining us. What's your take on Steven Hatfill and this entire investigation?

JUDITH MILLER, "NEW YORK TIMES": I think that Mr. Hatfill is, as the government has said, a person of interest. He is one of 20 or 30 people -- that list keeps changing -- whom the government has focused on. I think it is most unfortunate, as Mr. Clawson said, that he has been so publicly identified as a suspect in normal parlance when the government says he's not and I can't imagine having watched the news conference yesterday what he is going through and I feel that one has to just empathize with him as a human being.

I know that I first met him at a bio preparedness conference years ago and he was very concerned at the time about the need to protect America against the kinds of attacks that we've now seen. So, it must be ironic and very painful for him if he did not do it to have this kind of focus on him.  It must be awful.

BLITZER: Judith, as you note from the very beginning, some sources here in Washington have pointed to a domestic anthrax terrorist, but others still continue to look for some sort of foreign connection. Where do you see this investigation heading, in which direction?

MILLER: I really don't know, Wolf. I mean I think that the people that I've spoken to say that nothing has been absolutely ruled out. It's true that the FBI has put out a profile that would suggest that the perpetrator or perpetrators are domestic. They are American. They live here. They are in our world.

The target of the letters, the fact that it went to two liberal Senators on Capitol Hill, that would suggest a domestic rather than a foreign hand, but I don't think at this point that the FBI can rule out anything, and it must be also very frustrating for the FBI to be pursuing this investigation as hard as they are without having more progress to show, and I think that might have resulted to some extent in the spotlight being thrust on Dr. Hatfill at this time.

BLITZER: One curious question to me, Judith, that I've looked at and still don't have a great answer to is the handwriting. The handwriting in those letters to Senator Daschle, Senator Leahy, Tom Brokaw, others, if it was in fact Steven Hatfill, wouldn't the handwriting alone clear him unless he was involved in a conspiracy?

MILLER: You know, Wolf, I'm not a handwriting expert and I really don't know what the government can say about handwriting, whether or not they can even show beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was, in fact, his handwriting.

No one has alleged that to me and I think that if the government had such evidence, at this point, it probably would have leaked or the government is saving that for a case that they would intend to bring against him if, in fact, they become convinced that the perpetrator was Dr. Hatfill, which I have to say at this time I don't think is the case. 

BLITZER: Judith Miller, who's been doing outstanding reporting on this and all issues involving bioterror, thanks for joining us from the New York Times.

MILLER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And here's your chance to weigh in on this very important story.  Our Web question of the day is this: Do you think Steven Hatfill has been treated unfairly by the Justice Department? Go to my web page cnn.com/wolf.  That's where you can vote. While you're there, send me your comments. We'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, by the way, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

Also, up next, the situation of scientist Stephen Hatfill, the FBI so-called "person of interest" in the anthrax investigation. More of his side of the story as NEWSNIGHT continues on CNN. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

BROWN: Some progress to report tonight on the anthrax investigation, on the scientific side. Investigators are telling us tonight that the anthrax found on a mailbox in Princeton, New Jersey probably came from one of the deadly letters. In other words, this wasn't a case of cross contamination somewhere else along the line. At least that's the way they're leaning tonight. Lots of testing still to be done. 

On the human side, the focus remains either on Dr. Steven Hatfill or someone who looks an awful lot like him. Yesterday, federal agents were showing a picture to people in Princeton, New Jersey. They have been reluctant to say that it is, in fact, a picture Dr. Hatfill. Some people though do say it sure looked like him. Others said they didn't know. And a few said it simply looked like a guy they'd seen on TV. 

And Dr. Hatfill was on TV on Sunday telling his part of the story. Part of the challenge in all of this also for our next guest, Pat Clawson is a friend and is also as a spokesman for Dr. Hatfill. And Mr. Clawson joins us tonight from Washington. 

PAT CLAWSON, SPOKESMAN FOR STEVEN HATFILL: Good evening.

BROWN: Thank you. Good to have you with us. 

By the way, wouldn't it be easier if just Dr. Hatfill came and answered these questions and then you could be home doing whatever it is you do and we could go right to the source? 

CLAWSON: He wants to. 

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Pardon?

CLAWSON: He wants to speak out quite loudly, but his attorneys have advised him to stay quiet for the time being because they don't know what the Justice Department is trying to do to him. 

BROWN: Well, let me - maybe I'm leaping a little hard here, but since they seem to be showing his picture to people in Princeton, New Jersey, and not showing anyone else's picture to those people, it sounds to me like maybe they think he's the guy? 

CLAWSON: Well, I don't think there's any question about it. And I've got to tell you, Aaron, the showing of the Hatfill photograph in New Jersey is very troublesome. Because that's not the way that investigators normally do a photo canvas.  Normally when they're doing such a canvas, they have several pictures with them so that they can weed out false positives, erroneous witnesses, that sort of thing. That's not happening here at all. This is actually setting him up for a fall. It's a very unfair investigative tactic. I'm a private investigator and a long-time private investigative reporter for news organization, including CNN, and I've done these spreads myself, and this is simply not how you do it. 

BROWN: Well, just briefly, because I want to try and get to some other things here, if he's being set up, why? Why would the government set this guy up when -- there's a whole universe of people and, frankly, in other countries, that for political reasons, they might rather nail on this? CLAWSON: It's a good question why he's become the focus of the spotlight here. Obviously, it's because he's had kind of an interesting background. He's done some interesting things. But there's been no evidence at all tying him into the anthrax attacks. The Justice Department acknowledged that yesterday to the Associated Press. They said that there was no evidence that he was involved, but they wouldn't clear him. 

Aaron, we have a very troublesome situation developing here. And it basically boils down to this: Steve Hatfill told me as recently as this afternoon that he has never been in Princeton, New Jersey to the best of his knowledge. Never been there. But we have the United States government coming out now and saying basically, "you know, fellow, you look a little funny. We don't have anything on you. We don't have any evidence that you committed a crime, but you look a little funny."

So, we're going to call you a person of interest. We're going to say that we're interested in what you're doing and we're going to broadcast that to the nation. Do you realize the tremendously chilling effect that's having on the man's civil liberties? And I'll tell you, Aaron, tomorrow it's going to be you, and it's going to be me and it's going to be our next door neighbor if this kind of stuff doesn't stop. 

BROWN: OK. Let's -- point made. Let's move on. I'm a little confused about a couple of things. I'm hoping you can answer them. If you can't, let's move on. I have some -- I'm confused about the lie detector test. There have been several. There was one given, I believe, by the CIA, and he failed that. This didn't have to do with anthrax. It had to do about his background. Can you...

CLAWSON: I don't know if that's true or not. 

BROWN: OK, fine.

CLAWSON: I don't know if that is true or not. There's been a number of misleading reports that have come out about him.  What is clear, as he stated in his news conference on Sunday, he took a polygraph and passed, that he had nothing to do with the anthrax. 

BROWN: We'll deal with that in a second. Is it true that he has lost his security clearance based on a polygraph test that was given? Is that true? 

CLAWSON: I do not fully know the circumstances of what happened with the polygraph or the loss of his security clearance. And I don't have all that information for you. I don't want to mislead you.

BROWN: All right. Then -- thank you, I appreciate that. Then on the anthrax polygraphs, there have -- just let's walk carefully here -- there's been more than one, is that correct? 

CLAWSON: It is my understanding that there was one polygraph test. 

BROWN: There haven't been three polygraph tests dealing with anthrax? 

CLAWSON: I'm not aware of three polygraph tests. I'm aware of the one. 

BROWN: And is it your -- is it Dr. Hatfill's position that he was told by the FBI or by the Justice Department that he passed those polygraphs, because as I'm sure you know, the "New York Times" and other news organizations said something quite different, that he was evasive on the anthrax questions? 

CLAWSON: Well, I'm advised by his attorney that the references to the polygraph tests and the "New York Times" articles are bunch of bunk. And I will tell you, Aaron, I have personal knowledge of many of the facts that had been alleged in those "New York Times" articles and they're total fabrications.

BROWN: Well, let's just deal with the polygraph. Let's not go wandering.

CLAWSON: Sure.

BROWN: That is bunked to you, that he failed these tests, correct? 

CLAWSON: I'm unaware of him failing any test. 

BROWN: OK. Then, the other thing that was in the "Times" yesterday and also been widely reported in the last several days is the bloodhounds or the dogs in the apartments, the restaurants, Dr. Hatfill himself and his girlfriend's apartments, do you have any sense of whether these dogs were also part of a set-up of Dr. Hatfill? 

CLAWSON: I don't know if they were part of a set-up. And I'll tell you this much, we don't know anything about these bloodhounds. We don't know what these bloodhounds were trained to find. We don't know who trained. We don't know how they were put into operation. 

Bloodhounds are almost like police officers, Aaron. They're special dogs, and they have to have extensive training records. And to the best of my knowledge, I've heard an awful lot about bloodhounds in the media, but I haven't heard anybody in the media asking the FBI what these dogs were actually trained to do, who trained them and what their qualifications actually are.  That's a pretty big mystery.

I have a friend who trains police dogs, has done it for over 10 years. They tell me this is baloney what the FBI has put forth and "Newsweek" magazine.

BROWN: Pat, we'd love to talk to Dr. Hatfill if you can help us out there. He's welcome to join us anytime.

CLAWSON: Well, I can tell you that Steve Hatfill wants to tell his story to the American public. I think when his lawyers feel that he's able to make some television appearances, he will do that. 

But something very, very terrible is happening in this country, Aaron. And this is just a sign of it. We're losing our liberties in the war against terrorism. 

BROWN: Point made. Thank you, and made it well. Pat Clawson, who is a friend and a spokesman in this moment for Dr. Steven Hatfill on the investigation that is certainly uncomfortable for Dr. Hatfill. 

August 22, 2002 Posted: 4:50 PM EDT (2050 GMT)

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) --The investigation into last fall's anthrax attacks has yet "to cross a threshold" that would allow prosecutors to bring charges against anyone, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday.

"When we arrive at that threshold, I will make an announcement to that effect," Ashcroft told reporters at a news conference with members of an anti-terrorism task force in Newark.

Ashcroft said the investigation has become more intense in recent weeks, but he refused to call Steven Hatfill -- a former federal scientist whose home has been searched as part of the investigation -- a suspect in the case.

Hatfill, has publicly acknowledged he is being investigated in the case but has maintained his innocence.

"Mr. Hatfill is a person of interest to the Department of Justice, and we continue the investigation. For me to comment further, it would be inappropriate," he said.

Ashcroft also refused to comment about accusations by Hatfill and his attorneys that the FBI has mistreated him. But the attorney general sought to assure the public that prosecutors are investigating the anthrax case diligently.

"The anthrax investigation is one like almost all investigations that involves breakthroughs and plateaus. Progress has been made. There is a sense of intensity in the investigation," he said.

"But frankly, the ultimate plateau that's necessary is for us to cross a threshold which provides a basis for prosecutable facts."

A mailbox in Princeton, New Jersey, has tested positive for anthrax, and authorities say last fall's anthrax-laced letters may have been mailed from that box. The letters, which authorities have said leaked "weaponized" anthrax, were postmarked in nearby Trenton.

Some business owners in Princeton have said FBI agents in recent weeks have been showing a picture to locals of a man who resembles Hatfill. Asked if the photograph being distributed in Princeton is Hatfill, Ashcroft said,