http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ivins/ en-us Sun, 2 Aug 2009 17:10:02 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306537/posts WASHINGTON -- A panel of experts convened for a second day on Friday to probe the scientific process used by the FBI to identify used to identify the anthrax used in the deadly, 2001 mailings. The meeting featured presentations from three experts who worked on the case. Scientific methods were explained, and the 15-member panel was asked to use the study as a means to prepare for future attacks. A lawmaker also addressed the group, criticizing the FBI's handling of the country's first, widespread bioterrorism event. "If the technical and scientific procedures are as flawed as the non-technical procedures, they... The Frederick News-Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306537/posts#comment Sun, 2 Aug 2009 17:10:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2246417/posts A long-awaited review of the scientific evidence relating to the investigation of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks is finally getting off the ground. The study, to be conducted by the National Academies, will check the validity of the scientific techniques used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in solving the case. What the study will not do, as spelled out in the academies’ official description of the study, is issue a verdict on whether U.S. Army researcher Bruce Ivins was indeed guilty of the crime, as concluded by FBI officials. The FBI has been under pressure to disclose its full... sciencemag http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2246417/posts#comment Thu, 7 May 2009 21:43:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208230/posts More than seven years after the first bio-terror attack on the United States, Congress is considering creating a commission to probe the government's response to the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people. Representative Rush Holt, a Democrat, has submitted a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the government's handling of the 2001 attacks, which also exposed 17 people to the powdery anthrax spores. "Myriad questions remain about the anthrax attacks and the government?s bungled response to the attacks," Holt said in a statement. Holt said in a statement that the commission would review an investigation conducted by... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208230/posts#comment Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:49:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194504/posts Chemical composition of spores doesn't match suspect flask. The deadly bacterial spores mailed to victims in the US anthrax attacks, scientists say, share a chemical 'fingerprint' that is not found in bacteria from the flask linked to Bruce Ivins, the biodefence researcher implicated in the crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleges that Ivins, who committed suicide last July, was the person responsible for mailing letters laden with Bacillus anthracis to news media and congressional offices in 2001, killing five people and sickening 17. The FBI used genetic analyses to trace the mailed spores back to a flask called... Nature http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194504/posts#comment Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:32:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2152339/posts In February 1986, the scientist who FBI officials now say was behind the anthrax mailings that killed an Oxford woman and four others, applied for a U.S. copyright for a song about the death of New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. Bruce Ivins' application for "Christa's Song (Reach for the Stars)" was denied. According to authorities, Ivins committed suicide as he was about to be indicted in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks. news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2152339/posts#comment Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:57:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138571/posts Authorities probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks fixed on now-cleared scientist Steven J. Hatfill primarily because confidential informants said they had talked with him about his purported involvement in Rhodesian bioweapons initiatives, according to court documents released yesterday. The documents cover searches of Hatfill's residence, his car, a rental storage facility in Florida and property owned by his then-girlfriend. But they are perhaps most notable for the sparseness of their details and for the lack of a direct connection between the scientist and the notorious crime. washingtonpost. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138571/posts#comment Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:07:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2138305/posts The Justice Department released nearly 100 documents Tuesday that it used to falsely link scientist Steven J. Hatfill to the 2001 anthrax attacks. Search warrants and documents detailing what was recovered show the FBI seized clothing, financial records, VHS tapes, books and other papers from Hatfill's home in Frederick, Md., his car, and a locker he rented in Ocala, Fla.The court documents also show the FBI searched the car and Washington apartment of an unnamed person, seizing notebooks, files, envelopes, hair brushes and bobby pins. The evidence presumably belongs to Hatfill's then-girlfriend Peck Chegne. Hatfill originally was named a person... ap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2138305/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:42:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136248/posts U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Washington, D.C., office was shuttered in 2001 after anthrax spores were found, so he’s “very sensitive” to the investigation into the crime, he said. Now, Cummings said he supports a review of the investigation. U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., proposed legislation in September to create a congressional commission to investigate the attacks and the federal government’s response. “Whatever we have to do to get to the bottom of this anthrax issue, we need to do it,” Cummings said. Holt’s bipartisan commission would mirror the 9/11 commission and make recommendations on how to prevent such attacks and... baltimoreexaminer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136248/posts#comment Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:37:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136249/posts U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Washington, D.C., office was shuttered in 2001 after anthrax spores were found, so he’s “very sensitive” to the investigation into the crime, he said. Now, Cummings said he supports a review of the investigation. U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., proposed legislation in September to create a congressional commission to investigate the attacks and the federal government’s response. “Whatever we have to do to get to the bottom of this anthrax issue, we need to do it,” Cummings said. Holt’s bipartisan commission would mirror the 9/11 commission and make recommendations on how to prevent such attacks and... baltimoreexaminer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136249/posts#comment Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:37:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133721/posts A federal judge today ordered the Justice Department to release documents that explain why investigators suspected Steven J. Hatfill in the 2001 anthrax mailings. Hatfill has since been exonerated. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133721/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:34:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133539/posts Scientific impossibility: Did FBI get their man in Bruce Ivins? By Deborah Rudacille Examiner Correspondent 11/16/08 Bruce Ivins was a cold-blooded murderer, a deranged psycho-killer, who in the fall of 2001, cooked up a virulent batch of powdered anthrax, drove to Princeton, N.J., and mailed letters loaded with the lethal mix to five news organizations and two U.S. senators. At least, that’s what the FBI says. The letters infected 22 people, killing five, including two Maryland postal workers. The sixth victim of the madness was Ivins himself, a 62-year-old biodefense researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious... Baltimore Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2133539/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:46:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2122503/posts It was an open-and-shut case, the FBI said. But three months after agents pinned the post-9/11 anthrax mailings on Army scientist Bruce Ivins - who committed suicide as the FBI closed in on him - his former colleagues have approached a lawyer to sue the feds for fingering the wrong man... nypost. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2122503/posts#comment Sun, 2 Nov 2008 14:13:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2114279/posts The FBI has posted a $100,000 reward for help in finding who sent identical letters containing what turned out to be a harmless white powder to banking offices across the country. All 50 letters, which were sent between Oct. 17 and 18, were postmarked Amarillo, Texas. FBI today released the text of the letters on its Web site: "STEAL TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE'S MONEY AND NOT EXPECT REPERCUSSIONS. IT'S PAYBACK TIME. WHAT YOU JUST BREATHED IN WILL KILL YOU WITHIN 10 DAYS. THANK (Redacted) AND THE FDIC FOR YOUR DEMISE." washingtonpostinvestigations http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2114279/posts#comment Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:36:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2109605/posts Panic swept America. By including a deadly bioagent in something we welcome into our homes and workplaces every day — the mundane U.S. mail — someone (or several someones) evoked the same sorts of fears provoked two decades earlier by the Tylenol poisonings in Chicago. Anthrax mailings eventually killed five people and sickened 17 others..So: Was Bruce Ivins the one and only anthrax killer? Or is he a convenient scapegoat for embarrassed investigators who, having wrongly suspected Hatfill, don't deserve the public's confidence that they got this right? chicagotribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2109605/posts#comment Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:26:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2096442/posts The FBI is declining to release at least 15,000 pages of documents related to the now deceased prime suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks despite lingering suspicions that the bureau has accused the wrong man. In August, the FBI and Justice Department identified Bruce Ivins, a former microbiologist at the U.S. Army's biological weapons research center at Fort Detrick, Md., as the "only person involved" in the attacks that killed five people and terrorized the nation. But David M. Hardy, the section chief of the FBI's records management division, notified McClatchy that his office could not immediately release the records... McClatchy Newspapers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2096442/posts#comment Fri, 3 Oct 2008 07:06:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093296/posts Nearly two months after the suicide of scientist Bruce Ivins — whom the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claims was solely responsible for mailing a series of letters laced with anthrax in 2001 — questions still remain over whether he was actually able to produce those anthrax spores..... nature http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093296/posts#comment Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:25:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089767/posts WASHINGTON (AP) — Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of carrying out the 2001 anthrax attacks, e-mailed himself last year saying he knew who the killer was, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. "Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!! I finally know who mailed the anthrax letters in the fall of 2001. I've pieced it together!" Ivins wrote in the e-mail dated Sept. 7, 2007, according to an FBI affidavit. "I'm not looking forward to everybody getting dragged through the mud, but at least it will all be over," Ivins allegedly wrote. "Finally! I should have it TOTALLY nailed down within the month.... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089767/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:49:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089653/posts Bruce E. Ivins, the Army scientist the FBI says is the sole culprit behind the 2001 anthrax-by-mail attacks that killed five people, apparently was barred from all government labs in March after spilling anthrax on himself and going home to wash his clothes before telling his bosses.... washingtonpostinvestigations http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089653/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:42:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2089457/posts A recent New York Times editorial criticizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation about its seven-year probe into the mailing of anthrax-laden letters to members of Congress, prominent media figures and others is a direct attempt to plant doubt in the minds of its diminishing readership. The editorial read, “None of the investigators’ major assertions, however, have been tested in cross-examination . . .” Sorry, that test is moot when the suspect kills himself. Dr. Bruce Ivins, a mentally unbalanced scientist at the U.S. Army’s laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland, killed himself once he was informed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office... familysecuritymatters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2089457/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:50:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087225/posts Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy urged the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington on Thursday not to throw out her case seeking a reporter’s privilege to keep her sources confidential. Locy became embroiled in the legal battle after reporting about Steven Hatfill, the former Army scientist who was investigated in the 2001 anthrax attacks but whose name has since been cleared. When Locy refused to give up her confidential sources in Hatfill's ensuing Privacy Act suit against the government, the U.S. District Court in D.C. held her in contempt. She appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals. rcfp.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087225/posts#comment Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:01:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085933/posts "I believe there are others involved, either as accessories before or accessories after the fact," Mr. Leahy said. "I believe there are others who can be charged with murder." Mr. Leahy's skepticism was echoed by GOP Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Charles E. Grassley (Iowa)... washingtonpost http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085933/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:29:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084380/posts "... the two ranking members of the Committee have both told Mueller that, in essence, they do not accept or believe the FBI's accusations against Bruce Ivins. The Democratic Chairman of the Committee, Pat Leahy (who was a target of the anthrax attacks) told Mueller categorically that he simply does not believe that Ivins was the prime culprit if he was a participant at all, and said he is absolutely convinced that there were others involved in the preparation and mailing of the anthrax. Leahy began the hearing by identifying the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground and the private CIA... salon http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084380/posts#comment Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:21:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083869/posts WASHINGTON - The FBI is asking the National Academy of Sciences to review its investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks, Director Robert S. Mueller III told lawmakers this morning. The review is intended to address doubts about the guilt of Bruce E. Ivins, the Fort Detrick scientist who killed himself in July. The FBI says Ivins, who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, was the sole suspect in the attacks baltimoresun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083869/posts#comment Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:24:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083779/posts FBI Director Robert Mueller is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today, currently live-streamed on C-SPAN. An article this morning in The Washington Post dramatically touted the hearing as one in which, as the headline put it, "Lawmakers Are Seeking Answers in Anthrax Case -- FBI's Mueller to Be Queried by House Panel About Evidence Against Researcher." The article itself claimed that "the strength of the government's evidence against Bruce E. Ivins . . . will be tested anew today when FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III appears before the House Judiciary Committee" .....Mueller won't provide the Committee with even... salon. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083779/posts#comment Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:31:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2081802/posts WASHINGTON — The Justice Department made public on Friday a plan to expand the tools the Federal Bureau of Investigation can use to investigate suspicions of terrorism inside the United States, even without any direct evidence of wrongdoing....... nytimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2081802/posts#comment Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:04:35 GMT