New Contamination Points to Undiscovered Anthrax Letter

FOXNews.com ^ | Nov. 13, 2001 | Fox News

[Mitchell]

WASHINGTON - Eight of 55 tests came back positive for anthrax contamination at a State Department remote mail facility in Virginia Tuesday, indicating a spore-laden letter remains to be found.

One State Department mail handler became ill with inhalation anthrax last month, a case that officials speculated resulted from cross-contamination with a letter mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

[Mitchell]

Anyone have a memory if this "fourth letter" idea panned in or out?

I think the contamination referenced in this report was determined later to be cross-contamination from the Leahy letter. (The letter to Sen. Leahy was a fourth letter, unknown at the time of writing of this article. The three already-discovered letters at that time were the ones to the NY Post, to Tom Brokaw, and to Sen. Daschle.)

[Mitchell]

There were at least two known unrecovered letters: the one from AMI in Florida, and the one that went to Dan Rather's office. It's possible, but uncertain if there were other unrecovered letters.

There is also thought to have been one sent to ABC News, which is, if I remember correctly, where the baby who got cutaneous anthrax is thought to have been exposed.

There's also still a question of whether there were two letters to AMI, or just one.