http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm
I. Commentary: Is the FBI Dragging Its Feet?
February 5, 2002
For more than three months now the FBI has known that the perpetrator of
the anthrax attacks is American. This conclusion must have been based on
the
perpetrators evident connection to the US biodefense program. In
addition to this signpost, the perpetrator has left multiple, blatant
clues, seemingly on purpose:
second letters, addressed similarly to the anthrax letters and
containing powder, sent to most (and possibly all) the anthrax
recipients; similar letters sent to several
other media organizations; even a letter, addressed to the Military
Police at the Quantico Marine Base, accusing a former USAMRIID scientist
(with whom the
anonymous writer says he once worked) of having bioterrorist intentions.
Almost all the letters were mailed before there were any reports of
anthrax letters or of
hoax letters sent to media (see "Analysis of the Anthrax Attacks" below
for a chronology and discussion of the available data). The postal
addresses and dates of
these letters map out an itinerary of the perpetrator(s) and indicate
certain connections, which taken together must single out the
perpetrator from the other likely
suspects.
This evidence permits a more refined estimate of the perpetrators
motives. He must be angry at some biodefense agency or component, and he
is driven to
demonstrate, in a spectacular way, his capabilities and the governments
inability to respond. He is cocksure that he can get away with it. Does
he know something
that he believes to be sufficiently damaging to the United States to
make him untouchable by the FBI?
The perpetrator is surely too smart to believe that either the FBIs
ludicrous recent actions or the White House protestations of ignorance
mean that the authorities
are not on to him. Blanketing Central New Jersey with fliers showing
handwriting that was obviously disguised cant possibly evoke useful
information, nor can letters
to 32,000 American microbiologists, 31,800 of whom live in a different
world from the perpetrator. This is no way to instill public confidence
in the competence of
the FBI. The press is increasingly questioning the situation, and other
scientists have independently raised similar issues (see, for example,
"In Search of the Anthrax
Attacker" http://www.redflagsweekly.com/nassanthrax3.html). Most
importantly, the apparent lack of action is sending a dangerous message
to potential
bioterrorists.
