The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to end its years-long probe into the 2001 anthrax mailings, the Associated Press reported Sunday (see GSN, July 10).
(Jul. 28) -
In 2002, FBI agents load boxes into an SUV outside an apartment near Fort Detrick, Md. The Justice Department is preparing to close an investigation into the anthrax mailings of 2001 (Alex Wong/Getty Images).
Justice officials had originally hoped to officially wrap up the investigation last week, but the case might be delayed for weeks by ongoing efforts to evaluate what details are available for disclosure under privacy and grand jury secrecy protections, several law enforcement sources said.
"We anticipate closing the case in the near future," department spokesman Dean Boyd said, noting that the FBI was working with the wider department to complete the probe.
Investigators concluded last year that Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins had mailed a set of envelopes containing anthrax spores, killing five people and sickening 17 others. Ivins committed suicide last July as federal attorneys prepared to press charges against him.
Officials recently prepared a 110-page overview of the investigation in preparation for its closure. However, various elements of the report have been excised and it is unclear whether the department will release any version of the document, according to the law enforcement sources.
Closing the investigation is unlikely to win over many skeptics of the probe's conclusions, said Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.).
"Most people affected -- the families, the post office workers -- will not feel there's closure in this case, and the people of New Jersey will not be able to be confident that there isn't still a murderer in their midst," said Holt, who has criticized the investigation since its findings were released last year.
The government's case against Ivins was "entirely circumstantial," he added.
"I watched as they went off on wild goose chases and then conveniently have a suspect who isn't around to defend himself. Dr. Ivins was an oddball, no question, but you don't build a case on that," Holt said.
"The case continues to remain an open sore with no conclusive evidence, and it is still devastating to (Ivins') family," added Ivins attorney Paul Kemp.
Meanwhile, the National Academy of Sciences is set this week to begin a review of the scientific aspects of the government's investigation, including "microbial forensic" evidence used to link genetic material in the mailed anthrax to a supply developed and controlled by Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Institute Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md. (Devlin Barrett, Washington Post, July 26).