* EXTREMELY IMPORTANT – 10/03/2005 FBI interview of Terry Abshire
Posted by DXer on March 10, 2011
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Posted by DXer on March 10, 2011
This entry was posted on March 10, 2011 at 7:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Tagged: ** NAS anthrax study, *** 2001 anthrax attacks, *** FBI anthrax investigation, Terry Abshire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks?
DXer said
It was the Ames in Building 1412 kept in the unlocked refrigerator that matched the mailed anthrax. So why did the FBI come up with the bullshit theory that access to Ames in Building 1425 was the key? The more relevant question is where did John Ezzell send the dried powder he made? What participated in the DARPA-funded research? And what happened to the 340 ml of missing Ames? 340 ml for which no irradiation records exist. John Ezzell explained to me by telephone that there was no validated protocol for irradiation of anthrax. And so even if anthrax were irradiated, it might still be lethal. (He was very patient answering questions — both at a conference in DC and privately by phone. At the conference, he had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He has passed. He was very distinguished and I hold him in high regard. Looking incredible dressed in black with his white beard. But for the fictionalized NG show to focus on Ivins purportedly failing to submit the relevant sample is preposterous. Ivins submitted it and then the scientists working for the FBI threw it out! At the same time, the Ezzell/Abshire lab did not submit the matching from their own lab that they knew to be matching!
But the facts become even more shocking. The Ivins female colleague who thought he was an odd duck, Patricia Fellows, was the one who was in charge of the DARPA-funded lab where Ken Alibek’s research was done. Southern Research Institute. Ken Alibek is the most famous Russian bioweaponeer in the world — led their secret weapons program until he defected. Ivins’ former colleague, Patricia Fellows, wore a wire against Ivins at a Frederick coffee shop. ( Have you noticed she hasn’t given an interview? )
Ken Alibek, the Russian who had been in charge of Russia’s secret bioweapons program — who I think of as an affable teddy bear — answered all my questions by phone. He would only communicate by phone on these subjects, not email. He said that he knew Ali Al-Timimi, with whom the floor plan and records indicate he shared a suite and a fax, was a “hardliner”. (His word). And he never denied that his research with virulent Ames was done at Southern Research Institute. (Early on, the documents show it was supplied by a scientist who went to school in Israel, at NIH). Hadron was Alibek’s company and the Hadron employees worked up and down the hall from Ali Al-Timimi.
Ali’s next door neighbor wrote her PhD thesis on the weaponization of anthrax. Alibek’s view was that genius lay in developing a sophisticated weapon using a simple method. And that was his assessment of the attack anthrax.
Ken Alibek abruptly left the country. I don’t know why. But he’ll always be a straightforward, honest teddy bear to me. I forgive him for overseeing Russia’s huge secret bioweapons program. His colleague at GMU Serge Popov, another fellow I hold in high esteem, told me that they had an elaborate cover story for their bioweapons research, where they would pretend to be doing something else.
Now as for Alibek’s patent at GMU for microencapsulation in a silanized medium, nothing to see here folks. It was for making fertilizer or something. The other fellow listed on the patent was a former acting commander of USAMRIID. Alibek along with Meselson argued from the get-go that sililcon should not be viewed as an important signature (note to file: to DIA’s shock, Meselson also agreed with the Russians on Sverdlosk for many years).
Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, if you read his book in Arabic on spying (and I know you haven’t), explained the importance of using the weapon of his enemy. So his quest was to acquire the US Army strain of anthrax. As for how he did it, beats me. The FBI, although they won’t admit it, privately thinks someone could have just left the back door open. Remember: It was an FBI undercover who did all my graphics for years.
So someone at the FBI is way smarter than the Composite FBI agents represented in the fictionalized tv show.
OTOH, maybe all the FBI agents are just a bunch of numbnuts and Lambert could only get inexperienced agents right out of Quantico assigned. Maybe my graphic artist was undercover for the DIA or CIA. I’m really bad at ferreting out spies — if they go sledding and mountain climbing with me, I just don’t ask questions. It was nice to have such a good buddy.
But I have to agree with the former head of Amerithrax Richard Lambert that the FBI is withholding a staggering amount of evidence that is exculpatory of Bruce Ivins. Why NG thought it was morally acceptable to take part — making things worse by making up facts — is beyond me.
And Michael Mason, it is time for you to get on the freakin’ bus. Your country needs you.
Old Atlantic said
That word seized used by the FBI makes it sound like guilty already. But the FBI was doing its seizing this time in Bldg 1412. Maybe the FBI got seized up with all its seizing and it didn’t compute the right answer.
DXer said
The FBI’s official inventory of Flask 1029 shows that Dr. Ezzell’s lab was given Ames from Flask 1029 in August 2000. It was the Ames used to make the dried powder.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/amerithrax-inventory-control-sheet-31798-to-10401/
DXer said
For a discussion of the research, see
ANTHRAX AND AL QAEDA: THE INFILTRATION OF US BIODEFENSE
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1443811
http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
Quizi Moto said
The author of this 302 indicates that Ms. Abshire is experienced with the cultivation of Ba spores since 1987. The author also indicates that Ms. Abshire believed that it would be too dangerous to have grown Ba Ames in a fermentor even in a B4 lab environment.
The silicon and oxygen found inside of over 65% of the spores used in the anthrax tainted letters does indicate that both were present when the anthrax spores were formed. When Ba is exposed to oxygen it ends the cycle of growth and the Ba begins a cycle of spore formation. Oxygen is required to trigger spore formation in Ba.
So when cultivating Ba in a fermentor you would need to inject oxygen into the broth to trigger the spore formation response in Ba. To prevent this oxygen injection from causing foam it is very likely that you would use an anti foaming agent many of which do contain silicon. This silicon and oxygen inside the spore coat do suggest that some type of batch fermentation unit was used to cultivate the Ba sent in the tainted letters.
If you take a fermentor and place an air tight lid on top of it the fermentor then it creates an enclosed environmental system inside the fermentor. This is called a bioreactor.
To perform an oxygen injection on a bioreactor to induce sporation you would need an inlet to inject the oxygen and an outlet to let excess oxygen out. Inside the bioreactor the inlet would be connected to some type of aeration system on the bottom of the bioreactor. On the outside the inlet would be connected to the oxygen supply with some type of regulator either on the system or external.
The outlet would go to some type of air purification system such as an after-burner.
One of the differences between a bioreactor and a fermentor is that with a fermentor you would need high containment and the bioreactor would not because it is a contained system. Dr. Abshire indicated it would have been too dangerous to have grown Ba Ames in a fermentor even in a B4 Lab environment.
Another difference would be that the formula would be different due to the closed system of the bioreactor and the open system of a fermentor.
A third difference between a bioreactor and a fermentor is that in 2001 only one person had experience growing anthrax in a bioreactor and she was the only one who knew the formula.
http://web1mdcs.state.mi.us/NXT/gateway.dll/DSTARS/arbitration%20%20decisions/aaa%2054-390-01376-98.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0
DXer said
This 302 is B3D12 on the index of materials provided NAS by FBI. At 1.4 MB, it is readily emailable.