* GAO: The Special Prosecutor In The Stevens Case Recently Found That Two Unidentified AUSAs From The DC US Attorneys Office Advised That It Was The Practice Of That Office Not To Produce FBI 302s As Jencks Material.

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The withholding of evidence by prosecutors and police in criminal matters happens far more often than we would like to believe. It is a cancer on our American justice system. The prosecutors who cheat to get a conviction are almost never held accountable for ruining the lives of those they have unjustly convicted.

Many of us believe the FBI and DOJ have done exactly this in the case of Dr. Bruce Ivins. Only full disclosure of all of the relevant documents will prove whether the FBI ever had a case against Dr. Ivins, or if they just took a convenient way out of telling an inconvenient truth, or if they have never actually solved the anthrax case at all.

Two of my novels deal with these issues.

Both are available at amazon.com in paper and kindle editions.

http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-M.-Weinstein/e/B002IZ1BNK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

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* The federal government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and children of the first person killed in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001 … How much of that is “hush money” to keep from the American people documents the FBI doesn’t want us to see?

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Robert Stevens ... the first anthrax victim died in 2001

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Scott Shane writes in the NYT (11/29/11) …

• The federal government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and children of the first person killed in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, settling a lawsuit claiming that the Army did not adequately secure its supply of the deadly pathogen.

As part of the agreement, Justice Department lawyers are seeking

to have many documents that were uncovered in the litigation

kept under court seal or destroyed.

• A Justice Department spokesman, Charles S. Miller, said he could not comment on why the government was trying to preserve the secrecy of documents beyond what was already in the public court file.
• In a July filing in the civil case, Justice Department lawyers said Dr. Ivins “did not have the specialized equipment” in his lab to make the dry anthrax powder in the letters — appearing to contradict the department’s claims in the criminal case. Days later, the lawyers retracted the statement.

read the entire article at … http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/us/anthrax-victims-family-to-receive-2-5-million-in-settlement.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

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LMW COMMENT …

• How much of the $2.5 million settlement is “hush money” to keep from the American people documents they have every right to see? 
• What really happened in the anthrax attack and the subsequent investigation that is so sensitive it cannot be known?

Readers of this blog know I have been furious about the FBI’s behavior ever since watching the August 2008 press conference where they asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and (it turns out) no science, that Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks.

It was clear to me then that the FBI had not proven that Ivins was involved, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator.

• Does the FBI have more evidence against Dr. Ivins they won’t show us?
• Or have they not solved the case at all?
• Or do they know who the perpetrators were (not Ivins) but for some reason won’t say?

Being a novelist, I wrote a novel, presenting what I (and others, including a respected representative of the U.S. Intelligence Community) thought was a plausible scenario of what might have happened. My novel CASE CLOSED has been published and is available in paperback and kindle formats on amazon.

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

Here is the first scene from CASE CLOSED (written in 2008), 

where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

begin a re-do of the FBI’s failed investigation

******

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

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* Dr. Alan Zelicoff, the head of Saint Louis University’s Institute in Biosecurity, has serious doubts about the government’s official explanation of Amerithrax

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Dr. Alan Zelicoff, the head of Saint Louis University's Institute in Biosecurity

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Dr. Alan Zelicoff, the head of Saint Louis University’s Institute for Biosecurity …

• has serious doubts about the government’s official explanation in that famous case.
• “I’m skeptical that he could have pulled this off all by himself,” Zelicoff said.
• Zelicoff says obtaining anthrax is one thing, but weaponizing the material would likely require the help of others.
• “The spores are easy to grow but getting them into a powder that will aerosolize into the air very easily is no mean trick,” he says.”It’s not generally something microbiologists do.”

read the entire article at … http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/285153/3/SLU-terror-readiness-program-is-world-renown

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LMW COMMENT …

As the pathetic FBI case against Dr. Ivins continues to unravel, there can no longer be any doubt that they have no case.

So the real issues are … why the FBI accused Ivins in the first place … why they refuse to admit their mistake … and why they continue frantically to try to keep relevant documents secret.

• Does the FBI not know who committed the anthrax attacks but is just too embarrassed to say so?

• Does the FBI know who the perpetrators were but doesn’t want to tell the American people?

I have been furious about the FBI’s behavior ever since watching the August 2008 press conference where they asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and (it turns out) no science, that Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks.

It was clear to me even then that the FBI had not made the case that Ivins was involved, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator. Now it is clear to almost everyone.

Being a novelist, I wrote a novel, presenting what I (and others, including a respected representative of the U.S. Intelligence Community) thought was a plausible scenario of what might have happened. My novel CASE CLOSED is available in paperback and kindle formats on amazon.

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

in paperback or kindle format

******

Here is the first scene from CASE CLOSED (written in 2008), 

where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

begin a re-do of the FBI’s failed investigation

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

in paperback or kindle format

******

* a NYT editorial, showing no confidence in the FBI’s unraveling case against Dr. Bruce Ivins, calls for an independent review of the FBI’s anthrax investigation to assure that the culprits are not still at large … LMW: it is long past time to hold Director Mueller accountable for the FBI’s investigative failures and for the FBI’s purposeful withholding of documents that are required to be released by FOIA

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Is it possible that Director Mueller, an intelligent man, doesn't know the FBI has failed to make its case against Dr. Ivins? And what does it mean if he knows but won't admit it?

******

NYT Editorial (10/17/11) …

• There was a strong sense of relief when the federal government concluded that a lone psychologically troubled government scientist mailed anthrax-laced letters in 2001, killing five people and terrorizing the nation.
• Now its evidence is looking increasingly shaky. There needs to be a new independent evaluation of the findings.
• Independent inquiries this year have raised questions both about the genetic analyses that traced the anthrax to Dr. Ivins’s laboratory and a web of circumstantial evidence.
• The government’s scientific case has been weakening for months.
• In February, the National Academy of Sciences warned that the genetic analysis “did not definitively demonstrate” that the mailed anthrax was derived from spores grown in Dr. Ivins’s laboratory.
• Last week, The Times reported that one of the leading anthrax authorities and two colleagues believe that distinctive chemicals in the mailed anthrax suggest it was produced by sophisticated manufacturing, which the scientists deemed far beyond Dr. Ivins’s capabilities.
• As for the circumstantial evidence, an investigation by PBS Frontline, assisted by ProPublica and the McClatchy newspapers, cast doubt on two elements that prosecutors had declared important.
• A contention that Dr. Ivins worked extraordinarily long hours alone at night in his laboratory just before the mailings looked less suspicious after the journalists found that he regularly worked late hours in other labs and offices.
• And a contention that Dr. Ivins tried to mislead investigators by submitting an anthrax sample free of genetic markers looked questionable after the journalists found that he had submitted other samples that contained the markers.
• Federal investigators insist that there is a vast amount of evidence supporting their conclusion of Dr. Ivins’s guilt.
• The Government Accountability Office needs to dig deeply into classified materials to judge how well the evidence holds up.
• Otherwise, Congress ought to commission an independent assessment to be sure there are no culprits still at large.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/opinion/who-mailed-the-anthrax-letters.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

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LMW COMMENT …

The Times is right that the FBI’s pathetic case against Dr. Ivins is beginning to publicly unravel, both as to the science and the circumstantial evidence.

What the Times does not say is that this case has always been perceived as weak to non-existent by those who refused to simply take the FBI’s assertions at face value. 

What also needs to be said is that the FBI has purposely stonewalled all efforts to get at the facts, failing to answer Congress’s questions, withholding key documents (still!) despite FOIA laws which call for their release, and blatantly misrepresenting the evidence they have made public.

It seems increasingly clear that the FBI, desperate for a conviction after millions spent on its 7 year investigation, drove an innocent man to suicide.

For these failures, FBI Director Mueller

must be called on the carpet and held accountable.

I have been furious about the FBI’s behavior ever since watching the August 2008 press conference where they asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and (it turns out) no science, that Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. It was clear to me the FBI had not even proven that Ivins was involved, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator.

It seemed to me then, and still seems so today, that there are only 3 possible “actual” scenarios …

1. The FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins but is, for some undisclosed reason, withholding that evidence … POSSIBLE BUT NOT SO LIKELY
2. The FBI, despite the most expensive and extensive investigation in its history, has not solved the case and has no idea who prepared and mailed the anthrax letters that killed 5 Americans in 2001 … EVEN LESS LIKELY
3. The FBI knows who did it (not Dr. Ivins) but is covering up the actual perpetrators, for undisclosed reasons …THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO

Being a novelist, I wrote a novel, presenting what I (and others, including a respected representative of the U.S. Intelligence Community) thought was a plausible scenario of what might have happened. My novel CASE CLOSED has been published and is available in paperback and kindle formats on amazon.

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

Here is the first scene from CASE CLOSED (written in 2008), 

where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

begin a re-do of the FBI’s failed investigation … something that now even the NYT is calling for

******

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

* the FBI continues to stonewall Congress and the American people on anthrax investigation … it is a frightening display of power by our national police force which flies in the face of what a democracy of the people is supposed to be

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FBI Director Mueller, Senator Grassley, Congressman Holt

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Greg Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers, Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica, and Mike Wiser, PBS’ Frontline Oct. 14, 2011 …

despite evidence of FBI bungling,

new probe into anthrax killings unlikely

• Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says it would take a powerful grassroots movement or startling new evidence to reopen the Justice Department’s investigation that branded a now-deceased Army researcher as the anthrax mailer who killed five people a decade ago.
• Even if he were the committee chairman, Grassley said, “I would question my capability of raising enough heat (to reopen the case) when you’re up against the FBI. And I’ve been up against the FBI.”
• Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who has criticized the FBI investigation as “botched” and from whose district the deadly letters were mailed, said he may try for a third time to win support for legislation creating a special commission to investigate the attacks.
• “There are so many reasons to want to get to the bottom of it,” Holt said in an interview. “I hate to think of what lines of investigation have been shut off.”

read the entire article at … http://www.propublica.org/article/despite-evidence-of-fbi-bungling-new-probe-into-anthrax-killings-unlikely

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LMW COMMENT …

FBI Director Mueller continues to stonewall Congress and the American people regarding the FBI’s investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Despite continuing and compelling evidence that  the FBI’s case against Dr. Bruce Ivins is not supported by anything but flimsy innuendos and weak circumstantial evidence, the FBI will not, so far, move from its pedantic repetition of its assertion that Dr. Ivins was the sole perpetrator.

It is frightening that, in a democracy, the national police force has so much power over the people’s elected representatives. The FBI, in this case, is behaving more like the KGB than like a srvrant of the American people. They won’t answer questions asked by Congress. They won’t release documents they have no right to keep hidden.

And they surely will give no credence to the ongoing demolition of their pathetic case against Dr. Ivins.

I have been furious about the FBI’s behavior ever since watching the August 2008 press conference where they asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and (it turns out) no science, that Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. It was clear to me the FBI had not even proven that Ivins was involved, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator.

It seemed to me then, and still seems so today, that there are only 3 possible “actual” scenarios …

1. The FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins but is, for some undisclosed reason, withholding that evidence … POSSIBLE BUT NOT SO LIKELY
2. The FBI, despite the most expensive and extensive investigation in its history, has not solved the case and has no idea who prepared and mailed the anthrax letters that killed 5 Americans in 2001 … EVEN LESS LIKELY
3. The FBI knows who did it (not Dr. Ivins) but is covering up the actual perpetrators, for undisclosed reasons …THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO

Being a novelist, I wrote a novel, presenting what I (and others, including a respected representative of the U.S. Intelligence Community) thought was a plausible scenario of what might have happened. My novel CASE CLOSED has been published and is available in paperback and kindle formats on amazon.

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

Here is the first scene from CASE CLOSED,

where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

begin a re-do of the FBI’s failed investigation …

******

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

* LMW’s notes taken while watching Frontline’s 10/11/11 show about the FBI’s anthrax investigation

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FBI Director Mueller must be so embarrassed ... but will he do the right thing and re-open the investigation? ... and if not, why not?

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watch the entire show at this link …

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/anthrax-files/

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Here are my notes taken while watching the Frontline Oct 11, 2011 show. Where it is my opinion, or I’m adding something that was not in the show, I have added LMW. Otherwise, the notes are taken from the show itself

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… draining the pond looking for Hatfill’s underwater anthrax lab … desperation under pressure to solve the crime

… later the FBI/DOJ paid $5.8 million to Hatfill to settle his “invasion of privacy” lawsuit

… LMW: the FBI gives no indication they have ever had a clue as to how to investigate this case … the management approach, compartmentalization, lack of scientific understanding, unwillingness to ask for help … this is ultimately Mueller’s mismanagement for which he should be held accountable.

… pressure from Bush/Cheney … LMW: the impression that Bush/Cheney were pressing for a solution to the crime is at odds with their evident willingness to have an unsolved anthrax case so they could blame Saddam Hussein (with no basis) and use that as one more wedge to conduct their war of choice in Iraq.

… FBI had no competence to deal with the science … LMW: the FBI should not be faulted for their lack of preparation for an event which had never happened before … however, they should be roundly faulted for failing to get up to speed and make use of the available scientific resources in a coherent intelligent manner.

… LMW: a question never answered (and rarely even asked) – why was the largest store of Ames anthrax (in Iowa) destroyed? what role did the FBI play in that decision? what would have been different if those samples had been available?

… RMR 1029 … > 100 people had access … LMW … the FBI later acknowledged that “up to 377″ actually had access

… FBI: Ivins controlled the flask … LMW: what control did Ivins have if 377 labs had access … and through those 377 we know about, who else might have gotten their hands on RMR-1029 anthrax? … the FBI’s assertion that only Ivins could be the source of the attack anthrax is simply nonsense

… FBI: time in lab at night peaked only once … just before attacks … LMW: Ivins lab notebooks from Sept-Oct 2001 have been taken by FBI and not made public under FOIA … the FBI is clearly hiding this evidence … one suspects that if it proved their case, it would have been released long ago

… at the time the FBI asserts Ivins was preparing the anthrax, he was apparently working on vaccine challenge experiments … LMW: the missing lab notebooks would confirm or deny this. What right does the FBI/DOJ have to deny access to those notebooks under FOIA?

… USAMRIID colleagues: Ivins could not have produced the powder in the time period … nor did he have the equipment to do so … no evidence of anthrax powder work … no trace … we would have noticed … LMW: these guys (Adamowicz and Andrews) were there … they would know 

… Saathoff … psychological evaluation … based on emails … apparently Saathoff had no personal interaction with Dr. Ivins … LMW: what basis can a psychological evaluation have if the people making it never met the person being analyzed … nonsense!

… KKG connection led to return to Princeton mailbox … only years later … LMW: more indication of the FBI reaching for straws

… FBI: Ivins misled us regarding a sample he provided … FRONTLINE: actually … Ivins had submitted other samples that did match ... the FBI knew about other samples … a redacted document was released BUT the un-redacted document shows the truth … LMW: is this a mistake or is the redacted document and statements contrary to what was redacted direct evidence of an FBI lie to coverup the truth?

… FBI never found anthrax spores in Ivins environment … at lab, home, car … nowhere!

… FBI psychiatrist warned too much pressure could make Ivins suicidal … FBI knew this but increased the pressure anyway … 11/1/2007 … search warrants issued … interviewed family … sealed his house … took his car … never found a single anthrax spore

… FBI genetics expert Fraser-Liggett:  no spores were found … this is a big hole in the FBI’s case … how strong was this case?

… LMW: the FBI has offered no physical evidence, no witnesses, no science … all they have is circumstantial … flimsy innuendo … Ivins’ strange behavior which they continually harp on has not been shown to be related to the alleged crime

… FBI sought a confession by pressuring and humiliating Ivins … Ivins’ world is collapsing … FBI admits it knew Ivins was “decomposing” and “losing control” … but they kept up pressure anyway … Ivins a troubled man … FBI un-dressing him in public humiliation … police forcibly removed Ivins from his lab of 25 years … soon after … Ivins took an overdose of Tylenol PM … Garrett: a slow agonizing death … Kemp (Ivins’ attorney): he was hounded to death … he never admitted anything … instead he committed suicide

… after Ivins’ suicide, the FBI had lost their man … hastily organized press conference (Aug 2008) … we have the person … would have made case if trial … Arlen Specter (an experienced prosecutor) thought they had no case … LMW: it appears the FBI panicked and called the press conference in an effort to make the case go away

… US Attorney Taylor at press conference: based on the totality of the evidence … “Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks” … Lieber (prosecutor): it’s not just the science … it’s not just strange behavior … it’s not just the mailbox  … it’s the confluence of all these things taken together … when you look at the totality you realize this is the right person

LMW: actually, each piece of evidence must stand on its own merit … an infinite number of flimsy innuendos doesn’t add up to anything worth having … endlessly repeating unfounded assertions is unconvincing … solid evidence is needed, and the FBI hasn’t got it … or if they do, they haven’t told anyone. Talking about a “confluence of evidence” and a “totality” is utter nonsense.

… Congress’ questions have never been answered … LMW: will Congressman Holt ever get the anthrax commission he has been seeking for years? Why doesn’t Congress (and President Obama) seem to care that the truth remains hidden?

… NAS study asked by FBI … unexpected result … LMW: even after FBI tried to quash the initial NAS report … kudos to the independent scientists!

… Dr. Gast (NAS panel chairwoman):  it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion based on the scientific evidence alone … there is no certain link between the attack letters and Dr. ivins’ RMR-1029 flask

… FBI genetics expert Fraser-Liggett:  this is not an air-tight case by any means … and if Ivins wasn’t the perpetrator, that means that person is still out there

… LMW:  if it wasn’t so serious, the FBI’s incompetent and unprofessional behavior would be comical … FBI Director Mueller must be so embarrassed

******

LMW COMMENT …

I have been furious about the FBI’s behavior ever since watching the August 2008 press conference where they asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and (it turns out) no science, that Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. It was clear to me the FBI had not even proven that Ivins was involved, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator.

It seemed to me then, and still seems so today, that there are only 3 possible “actual” scenarios …

1. The FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins but is, for some undisclosed reason, withholding that evidence … POSSIBLE BUT NOT SO LIKELY
2. The FBI, despite the most expensive and extensive investigation in its history, has not solved the case and has no idea who prepared and mailed the anthrax letters that killed 5 Americans in 2001 … EVEN LESS LIKELY
3. The FBI knows who did it (not Dr. Ivins) but is covering up the actual perpetrators, for undisclosed reasons …THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO

Being a novelist, I wrote a novel, presenting what I (and others, including a respected representative of the U.S. Intelligence Community) thought was a plausible scenario of what might have happened. My novel CASE CLOSED has been published and is available in paperback and kindle formats on amazon.

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

Here is the first scene from CASE CLOSED,

where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

begin a re-do of the FBI’s failed investigation …

******

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

* NYT report … analysis by scientists Hugh-Jones, Rosenberg and Jacobsen disputes FBI closing of anthrax case … Dr. Alice Gast, the head of the NAS panel that reviewed the FBI’s scientific work in the anthrax investigation, says … the paper points out connections that deserve further consideration … the potential value of chemical signatures has not been fully explored … she urges a full review of classified government research on anthrax, which her panel never saw

******

Is it possible that Director Mueller, an intelligent man, doesn't know the FBI has failed to make its case against Dr. Ivins? And what does it mean if he knows but won't admit it?

******

William Broad and Scott Shane write in the NYT (10/9/11) …

• biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the FBI’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues.
• three scientists argue that distinctive chemicals found in the dried anthrax spores — including the unexpected presence of tin — point to a high degree of manufacturing skill, contrary to federal reassurances that the attack germs were unsophisticated. The scientists make their case in a coming issue of the Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense.

Both the chairwoman of a National Academy of Science (NAS) panel

that spent a year and a half reviewing the F.B.I.’s scientific work

and the director of a new review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)

said the paper raised important questions that should be addressed.

• Alice P. Gast, president of Lehigh University and the head of the academy panel, said that the paper “points out connections that deserve further consideration.”

Dr. Gast, a chemical engineer, said the “chemical signatures”

in the mailed anthrax and their potential value to the criminal investigation

had not been fully explored.

She also noted that the academy panel suggested a full review

of classified government research on anthrax,

which her panel never saw.

• In interviews, the three authors said their analysis suggested that the F.B.I. might have pursued the wrong suspect and that the case should be reopened.
• Their position may embolden calls for a national commission to investigate the first major bioterrorist attack in American history.
• Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said the paper provided “no evidence whatsoever that the spores used in the mailings were produced” at a location other than Fort Detrick. He said investigators believe Dr. Ivins grew and dried the anthrax spores himself. “We stand by our conclusion.”
• In addition to Dr. Hugh-Jones, the authors of the new paper are Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, a biologist, and Stuart Jacobsen, a chemist; both have speculated publicly about the case and criticized the F.B.I. for years.
• In 2008, days after Dr. Ivins’s suicide, the bureau made public a sweeping but circumstantial case against him. Last year, the bureau formally closed the case, acknowledging that some scientific questions were unanswered but asserting that the evidence against Dr. Ivins was overwhelming.

Yet no evidence directly tied Dr. Ivins to the crime.

• Some of the scientist’s former colleagues have argued that he could not have made the anthrax and that investigators hounded a troubled man to death.
• In its report last February, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel sharply criticized some of the F.B.I.’s scientific work, saying the genetic link between the attack anthrax and a supply in Dr. Ivins’s lab was “not as conclusive” as the bureau asserted.
• If the authors of the new paper are correct about the silicon-tin coating, it appears likely that Dr. Ivins could not have made the anthrax powder alone with the equipment he possessed, as the F.B.I. maintains.

That would mean either that he got the powder from elsewhere

or that he was not the perpetrator.

• If Dr. Ivins did not make the powder, one conceivable source might be classified government research on anthrax, carried out for years by the military and the Central Intelligence Agency. Dr. Ivins had ties to several researchers who did such secret work.
• The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is conducting its own review (still ongoing) of the anthrax evidence. Nancy Kingsbury, the official overseeing the project, said the agency had spoken with the paper’s authors and judged that “their questions are reasonable.”
• Several anthrax scientists who reviewed the new paper at the request of The Times said they believed it neglected the possibility that the tin and silicon were meaningless contaminants rather than sophisticated additives.
• Dr. Gast, the head of the National Academy of Sciences panel, noted that her group strongly recommended that future investigations of the attacks examine the government’s classified work on anthrax.
• She called access to secret records “an important aspect of providing more clarity on what we know and what we don’t know.”

read the entire article at … http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/science/10anthrax.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

******

LMW COMMENT …

I have long held that the FBI’s publicly presented case against Dr. Ivins is clearly bogus: no evidence, no witnesses, an impossible timeline, science that proves innocence instead of guilt. So what really happened? And why doesn’t the FBI offer America a credible story?

As regular readers of this blog well know, I can imagine only 3 possible “actual” scenarios …

1. The FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins but is, for some undisclosed reason, withholding that evidence … POSSIBLE BUT NOT SO LIKELY
2. The FBI, despite the most expensive and extensive investigation in its history, has not solved the case and has no idea who prepared and mailed the anthrax letters that killed 5 Americans in 2001 … EVEN LESS LIKELY
3. The FBI knows who did it (not Dr. Ivins) but is covering up the actual perpetrators, for undisclosed reasons …THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO

When I first heard the FBI/DOJ August 2008 press conference, I was infuriated. It was obvious to me even then that the FBI had no case, or at least no case they chose to make publicly known. Since I’m a novelist, I focused my anger and wrote CASE CLOSED, a fictional account of what might have happened in the anthrax attacks and subsequent FBI investigation. The novel has been published and is available at amazon …

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

Here is the first scene in CASE CLOSED, where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) institute its own re-examination of the FBI’s obviously flawed investigation …

******

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

******

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

******

* Baltimore Sun/Frontline … if Ivins was not the person who sent the anthrax, then that killer is still on the loose … and we are left with an FBI that not only failed to solve such a huge case, but overstated and maybe lied about what it did accomplish.

******

Is it possible that Director Mueller, an intelligent man, doesn't know the FBI has failed to make its case against Dr. Ivins? And what does it mean if he knows but won't admit it?

******

“The Anthrax Files’ premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday October 11, 2011.

******

David Zurawik writes in The Baltimore Sun (10/9/11) …

• Nobody does investigative journalism on TV like Public Television’s “Frontline”
• And Tuesday night at 9, the venerable series revisits Ft. Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, and the case of anthrax researcher Bruce Ivins who killed himself in 2008 as the FBI zeroed in on him as its prime suspect in the case of deadly envelopes of anthrax sent through the mail.
• According to this hard-edged report done in partnership with McClatchy Newspapers and Propublica, the FBI did more than zero in.
• Under tremendous pressure to solve the case that started in 2001 with anthrax mailed to U.S. senators and network anchors, the agency squeezed Ivins hard — using every trick in the book to get a confession out of him even as he insisted on his innocence to the end.
• Ivins was a troubled guy with some distinctive kinks, the report acknowledges, but …

even FBI consultants in the case now admit

that the agency overstated its evidence

and never found a smoking gun to prove the researcher’s guilt.

• In fact, evidence was revealed last summer that shows…

Ivins did not have the equipment needed

to make the powdery kind of anthrax sent through the mail.

• That didn’t stop the FBI then — or now — in acting like it found its man.
• “The Anthrax Files” suggests that anyone with the psychological issues Ivins had might have cracked under the weight of the FBI invading his privacy, exposing his secrets and ultimately getting him kicked out of the community of researchers that he called home at Ft. Detrick.
• This is a chilling report, because if Ivins was not the person who sent the anthrax, then that killer is still on the loose …

and we are left with an FBI that not only failed to solve such a huge case,

but overstated and maybe lied about what it did accomplish.

read the entire story at … http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-frontline-anthrax-files–fbi-suicide-fort-detrick-scientist-20111009,0,4090742.story

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LMW COMMENT … 

I have long held that the FBI’s publicly presented case against Dr. Ivins is clearly bogus: no evidence, no witnesses, an impossible timeline, science that proves innocence instead of guilt. So what really happened? And why doesn’t the FBI offer America a credible story?

As regular readers of this blog well know, I can imagine only 3 possible “actual” scenarios …

1. The FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins but is, for some undisclosed reason, withholding that evidence … POSSIBLE BUT NOT SO LIKELY
2. The FBI, despite the most expensive and extensive investigation in its history, has not solved the case and has no idea who prepared and mailed the anthrax letters that killed 5 Americans in 2001 … EVEN LESS LIKELY
3. The FBI knows who did it (not Dr. Ivins) but is covering up the actual perpetrators, for undisclosed reasons …THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO

When I first heard the FBI/DOJ August 2008 press conference, I was infuriated. It was obvious to me even then that the FBI had no case, or at least no case they chose to make publicly known. Since I’m a novelist, I focused my anger and wrote CASE CLOSED, a fictional account of what might have happened in the anthrax attacks and subsequent FBI investigation. The novel has been published and is available at amazon …

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* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

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Here is the first scene in CASE CLOSED, where I have the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) institute its own re-examination of the FBI’s obviously flawed investigation …

this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

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* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

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* AMERITHRAX: Redacted responses filed this week by Plaintiff Stevens explain reasons Dr. Ivins is innocent and that lack of inventory control at USAMRIID and lack of control of transfers led to anthrax mailings

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* DXer: DOJ has failed to comply with FOIA in connection with Amerithrax … LMW: the key question is WHY ???

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Mueller & Holder ... these are the people relentlessly leading the struggle to keep the truth from the American people ... WHY?

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DXer (in a prior comment) says …

DOJ has failed to comply with FOIA in connection with Amerithrax.

As soon as the inventory of documents produced by USAMRIID to FBI is produced next week, media requestors should seek those documents simultaneously from USAMRIID and DOJ and FBI.

For some of the key documents (e.g., lab notebooks from September/October 2001), copies were not made and FBI took the only copy.

It is important that researchers put aside their preconceptions and work to reconstruct a timeline, based on documentary evidence, of what Dr. Ivins did in September and October. For example, if there is a record of what time he viewed a document sitting at a computer on a key date, that is the sort of thing that could be hugely relevant.

For example, the DOJ has failed to produce the September 17, 2001 email from Bruce Ivins to Mara Linscott so that the public can see what time it was sent (that would show that at the particular time in question he was at the computer from which it was sent and not Princeton).

Similarly, the DOJ is withholding the family 302s (compare the UNABOM case in which they were produced). Those 302s also serve to alibi Dr. Ivins for the night of September 17.

As another example, the DOJ is withholding its server archive that it obtained from USAMRIID that contains extensive documents not yet produced.

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LMW COMMENT …

Reporters should jump all over this issue. First, to get the documents. Then to find out why they have been so relentlessly withheld.

It is this purposely misleading behavior by FBI Director Mueller and Attorney General Holder and their subordinates which infuriates me. That fury caused me to write my novel CASE CLOSED, which posits an alternative (fictional) scenario for what really happened in the anthrax attack and in the pathetic FBI investigation which followed.

Read the opening of CASE CLOSED (below) and then buy a copy at …

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

* special offer for readers of this blog … purchase CASE CLOSED on Kindle for $5.00

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this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED

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