Anthrax Scientist "Stood to Benefit From a Panic"

The LA Times, which broke news that government biodefense scientist Bruce Ivins committed suicide earlier this week as federal prosecutors were looking to charge him with the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, now reports that Ivins "stood to gain financially from massive federal spending in the fear-filled aftermath of those killings." Ivins shared two patents for a "genetically engineered anthrax vaccine" and had also applied, with another inventor, "to patent an additive for various biodefense vaccines."

Ivins was aware that the FBI was closing in on him: He attended a group counseling session and revealed "he had bought a bulletproof vest and a gun as he contemplated killing his co-workers at the nearby Army research laboratory." The NY Times writes, "The ranting represented the final stages of psychological decline by Dr. Ivins that ended when he took his life this week."

Even his therapist asked for an order of protection from him, mentioning his "homicidal threats, actions, plans" --the restraining order at The Smoking Gun.

While Ivins' friends and colleagues were surprised about the FBI's interest in him, the Washington Post says "FBI investigators began to focus on Ivins under the theory that he had used his knowledge of anthrax bacteria to pull off the nation's deadliest episode of biological terrorism." Ivins's former colleague W. Russell Byrne told the NY Times the FBI was harassing Ivins, "They searched his house twice and his computer once. We all felt powerless to stop it.” And some question whether Ivins, a vaccine expert, could have turned anthrax spores into the breathable powder that was sent to media organizations and lawmakers through the mail.

The Justice Department did not comment on the investigation, but Ivins's lawyer Paul Kemp issued a statement, "For six years, Dr. Ivins fully cooperated with [the anthrax] investigation, assisting the government in every way that was asked of him. We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law. We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial. The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation. In Dr. Ivins' case, it led to his untimely death." On Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Olbermann pointed out how Senator John McCain told David Letterman years ago that the anthrax seemed to be from Iraq.

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By Jen Chung in News on August 2, 2008 11:29 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

This was a sophisticated guy who knew how to properly handle anthrax spores and who probably took extraordinary precautions handling those letters as he mailed them, the most dangerous part of the operation.Why Princeton? Why not? A prestigious research university can give both great cover as well as deniability. The ethnic diversity at most Ivy League school Science Departments could well lead an investigator astray, especially in an environment of post 9-11 paranoia. But he was too clever for his own good: a less sophisticated perp would have easily made himself sick and been thus detected. By remaining healthy and unscathed, this prick narrowed the field of possibility to advanced research staffs such as those at Ft. Detrick. Remember that pollonium incident in London where large numbers of people were exposed to the dangerous radioactive compound and whose chief suspect was himself briefly ill? That didn't happen with Ivins...that was a signature.

mtauser

Hatfill won the lawsuit against the FBI and the connection back then was said to be Barbara Rosenberg who accused Hatfill who gave speech at the Woodrow Wilson school.

There are so many humans involved with this story and the dataset is enormous and to date still has not been resolved!

Anthrax has to get from Fort Detrick to Princeton if this is where it allegedly came from. I don't see how the Woodrow Wilson school has anything to do with Anthrax except for high profile graduates who have come through it who have had democratic leanings. But none have any anti government agenda.

In the media it is very hard to know if one event has connections to another and another.

mtauser

On this story, there are unanswered questions.

The feeder mechanism to the Anthrax letters is known to be a mailbox in Princeton, NJ at the base of the university. Why was Princeton used back in 2001 as a feeder mechanism seems to be unclear. Princeton back in 2001 was a top university in the nation with Shirley Tilghman as dean who was in place before the anthrax letters were mailed. As to what research was going on at princeton during 2001 which was related to the anthrax letters I can not say. The FBI focused on the microbiology department and research apparently. I think that with the power of the internet most of the work at Princeton probably can be found on the internet right now.

Now assuming this was from Fort Detrick, MD, that would mean a 3 hour trip to get the anthrax from there to Princeton. In that 3 hours there would HAVE to be a trail of contamination between the two places to generate EVIDENCE of how the letter was delivered. Apparently his father was a pharmacist with a Princeton Degree. I am just rehashing all the information in my brain that everyone else knows since I have been a party to the case firsthand.

In my own mind unless the FBI has additional evidence that was withheld from the public, there are a ton of unanswered questions to come to the right conclusion. Rep. Holt represents princeton in the House of Representatives and has written on this matter. He has ties back to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

From Fort Detrick to Princeton is a 3 hour trip approx. Someone would have had to leak the anthrax from this facility back to Princeton in 3 hours approx if they drove. Other mechanisms for delivery could have been vast which include all the known transportation systems known to man which are vast in the region.

Show me the trace from Fort Detrick back to Princeton. This is the MISSING KEY.

Unfortunately under Congressional oversight, the FBI and the Bush administration has been less than forthcoming here.

ed_Extinct

Whether he's the prime suspect or not, he did the right thing. He went out with dignity. He saved his family heartache and now they get his pension and any other gov't monies. If he had been arrested and convicted his family would receive nothing.

Hatfill won $5.8 million from the gov't, but the gov't "never admitted guilt" to having the wrong guy.

longacre

The only part that bothers me is the letter that was mailed from Malaysia. No one ever mentions that anymore.

sj

I don't understand these cries of cover-up. If the family wanted an autopsy, they could have one done. No one's doing an autopsy because it's pretty clear it was a suicide.

My favorite are the comments from people who say "it's easy to blame a dead guy." I think those people are kind of getting it backwards. They sent him his target letter from the USAO as required and apparently he knew he was done. They blamed him before he was dead and he's the one who made himself dead. I would imagine that someone who was not guilty would have been eager to fight the charges and would probably have a lot of people in his corner at least preliminarily due to what happened with Hatfill. After the Hatfill debacle, there are certainly a lot of skeptics and rightly so. But to suggest there is a cover-up or some foul play behind Ivins' is pretty laughable.

I would hope that when the time is appropriate that the USAO asks for permission from the court to unseal the indictment and that the FBI releases its evidence in the case so that the public can have confidence that this was in fact the guy. I think after Hatfill, no one is really ready to take the FBI's word for it in relation to this investigation.

youaretrendy

The most important part of this whole story is in the last line of this post... how John McCain and the rest of the administration were using the Anthrax scare to build up the case against Iraq, no matter how small the possibility was.

maevemealone

JM- Um, I hope they find anthrax formulas on his computer?

JacqueMehoff

I don't feel bad at all about his suicide.

I hope they found pedo crap in his computers.

TimSPC

This is such a cover-up, it's not even funny. Oh, look, it was this guy who killed himself who did the whole thing. Too bad he's dead. Oh, and by the way, no autopsy.

Snoopy

"how Senator John McCain told David Letterman years ago that the anthrax seemed to be from Iraq."

And how might I ask he came to that conclusion, did the spores wear little towels on their heads? JERK!