Question: Did the FBI consult a genetics expert when contacted by the Iowa State University about destroying the collection there? (According to the authors Coen and Nadler, who do not provide any source, the USDA also destroyed the collection that it had at the strip mall near the University).

I still say it was stolen at ISU and the theives did not know what they had. It was not labeled Ames and it was probably cryptically coded.

How do we know for sure that it was all grown out in less than two years from the time of mailing?

I believe Scott was only given a redacted version of 1029 and so that required the lengthy explanation of legal precedent under (b)(6). My offer to jp the top FOI fellow was that I would brief the issue for him under whatever law he thought so that we could see if we could get on the same page. I do think that the (b)(6) exemption is inapplicable. (Especially where only a corporate name or university name is mentioned. But I think the DOD has been great on FOI issues and so don’t mean to be critical at all. They gave me 100+ pages of correspondence between Ayman Zawahiri and his infiltrating scientist (and associated documents) for the cost of an email. I just hope that to expedite things someone in Maryland like Attorney Kissin would drive over and pick up the entire file that Mr. Shane and Mr. Willman were provided and scan and upload it. Once documents are produced, they are very easy to obtain. The search has already been done. Given your training in microbiology — you would be especially suited to reviewing Ivins’ lab notebook 4010.

Someone should also call jp (whose number Lew provided) and ask for the USAMRIID Log Notebook 4010. It would help you gauge the relevance of posts, the origin of the Silicon Signature in flask 1030, the origin of the subtilis (if there was any), the reason the lyophilizer (Speed Vac) was signed out for the DARPA project etc.

It was Ed who suggested he had the unredacted logs when he hadn’t. I had said that I had asked for copies with the redactions eliminated and I encouraged my friend Ken to bring suit to obtain them if they weren’t produced within the statutory period for an appeal.

I’m not interested in playing 20 questions here. What I am interested in is those unredacted logs.

Are you Biodefense Student?

Did you come from Iowa?

Are you Biodefense Student?

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:EIHdEoT6bBsJ:www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:biodefensestudent/index%3Ftab%3Dcomments%3Bbrevity%3Dfull%3Boptions%3Dno-change+%22Debra+Anderson%22+%22Biodefense+Student%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Her “background includes a bachelor of science in biology and a master’s in strategic intelligence focusing on terrorism studies. I served 7 years in the U.S. Army doing body and fender work on nuclear warheads, then worked as a lab tech and inorganics analyst at a national research lab and a couple of commercial testing labs. Later I worked for an innovative GIS software company and I also worked for the U.S. government. Today I also have a job, a fact which pleases me a great deal. Someday I plan to build a potato gun. In the meantime, this blog is sort of a hobby although it does not fire flaming potatoes.”

“If you want to send me something of chemical or biological interest, or you would like to comment without it appearing on my blog, you can email me at bugsngasgal(at)comcast(dot)net.”

“Please note that comments containing links are moderated, so yours may not show up immediately. And finally, a disclaimer: anything on this blog is my own opinion and not necessarily the opinion of any past or present employer, blah, blah, blah.”

Can I have one last guess?

Are you the Bugs N Gas Gal who stopped posting after Bruce Ivins committed suicide? But for the first week closely followed the matter — and told her adoring fans that she would be posting on forums? If so, your superhero identity is safe with me.

BTW, that means that one cannot distinguish between a subculture taken directly from the flask and a subculture taken from any of the transferred material, since the transferred material was directly from the flask.

As far as spore yields, I disagree, with non-anthrax bacillis (such as b. thuringensis and other non-pathogenic strains) yields in excess of 1 gram / liter of spore material is routine.