* For the Notebook describing USAMRIID’s shipment of 4 vials of Ba Ames to Dugway, which contained numerous entries by Ivins, see this Notebook that USAMRIID refuses to produce despite repeated requests
Posted by DXer on October 4, 2015
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
I received today a CD from the FBI re FOIA 1337661 re Notebooks 3655, 3945, 4251
Off-topic: I used to work at the firm where Merrick Garland was in the 1990s. Fair, scrupulous, well-regarded — he is the embodiment of the rule of law and an excellent choice for the United States Supreme Court. If GOP is obstructionist, then they have corrupted the rule of law and democratic process with petty politics.
DXer said
There are about 295 pages at issue.
DXer said
Is the 340 ml. shipped from Dugway in June 2001 to USAMRIID the anthrax shipped to USAMRIID that was rumored to have gone missing? Ivins calculated that it would take about 300 ml to make the anthrax used in the mailed letters. (at the concentration of Flask 1029).
Was the 340 ml. shipped from Dugway to USAMRIID in June 2001 for irradiation ever shipped back to Dugway?
The USAMRIID has delayed for many months responding to records relating to Dugway anthrax shipments
I had not remembered that Flask 1030 was the seed stock for Flask 1029. It is counterintuitive given that the number 1030 is bigger than 1029. (1030 itself was a mixture and had a silicon signature; it had 3 morphs).
Four vials from 1030 was sent to Dugway in 1997. Both the FBI and USAMRIID have failed to give me Notebook 3655 (pertaining to Flask 1030). They are not complying with FOIPA. Shame on them. Both the DOD and DOJ Inspector General need to investigate.
The so-called Dugway accountabiility report coming out this month doesn’t exactly get to the most important issues — the pre-2001 issues leading up to the murder of 5 people, including the elderly Ottilie Lundgren. The DOD review was led by the same former FBI officials who didn’t solve Amerithrax. They truncated analysis to post-2001 shipments even though the FBI was on formal notice that USAMRIID irradiation of Dugway spores had been ineffective. See FBI 2004 report in pumpkin graphic.
It is no less than the former lead Amerithrax investigator, Richard L. Lambert, who has claimed that Amerithrax is unsolved and that the FBI is intentionally concealing a staggering amount of exculpatory information. Ironically, he went to work for a US lab operated by Battelle but that’s another story. (Hindsight demonstrates that he should not have done that without an ethics advisory opinion).
Dugway sent back 340 ml in June 2001 for irradiation. See image to be uploaded by Lew.
USAMRIID radiation was sometimes was ineffective. See 2004 report in pumpkin graphic. After irradiation, it was kept in the cold room near the loading dock.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/in-2004-the-fbi-was-told-that-ivins-handled-irradiation-of-dugway-spores-which-then-were-kept-in-the-cold-room-even-though-irradiation-was-not-always-successful/
And there was a Dugway shipment vaguely rumored to have gone missing.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/dugway-anthrax-will-it-take-congressional-subpoena-power-to-fill-in-the-blanks-in-the-email-asking-about-weaponized-anthrax-that-came-to-detrick-and-then-was-shipped-out-and-some-was-missing/
Ivins calculated that it would take 300 ml. to make the anthrax used in the mailings.
Are there in fact shipment records proving that USAMRIID shipped back the 340 ml of Ames that was sent from Dugway to USAMRIID after irradiation? Can Dan Vergano help? He knows his way around an EA 101 form or did when for USA Today when years ago he unsuccessfully sought the EA 101s relating to transfer of Ames.
CDC referred my more recent loosey-goosy request back to USAMRIID — after these months of delay. But now USAMRIID has gone silent on the request (and so I don’t know what to expect or when to expect it. The truly wonderful USMRMC FOIPA officer won’t give me an estimate … which is not like her. I’ve suggested that JAG has it — lawyers representing the Army would have wanted to see the record so directly related to the so-called “murder weapon”. There’s a big JAG and a little JAG and I apologize if I have been unfair to anyone. But if JAG DIDN’T get and keep the written record of the so-called “murder weapon” then there are more profound issues than a willful violation of FOIPA. Let’s start by asking Attorney Miller at JAG.
Is the 340 ml of Ames the source of the so-called “Iraq sample” that Ivins was asked to look at? Ivins intentionally mislabeled it and then what was left of the powder went missing when Fellows left. Google “Iraq sample” in this blog.
GAO: Why are the so-called “Iraq sample” and Battelle discussed under the heading about IVINS’ knowledge of reported proposals to start conducting animal challenges at USAMRIID with dried Ames anthrax powder? What consulting did the DARPA-funded researchers at GMU’s Center for Biodefense who came to share a suite with Ali Al-Timimi do for Battelle in 1999? What work with virulent Ames did SRI in Frederick, MD do for those researchers?
DXer said
What does FBI Special Agent Darin Steele say about all of this? Darin gave an interview for the book in smearing Dr. Ivins. Is he equally free about answering questions about the documentary evidence relating to the 340 ml?
Why were the FBI Special Agents only willing to talk to the author who was writing a book arguing that the man who had committed suicide was a pervert? When at the same time former lead Amerithrax investigator Richard Lambert was ordered not to talk to press about the staggering amount of actual documentary evidence being withheld by the FBI?
Is that how the FBI rolls (over a dead guy)?
DXer said
Darin, why didn’t you know that Juidth McLean thought she was controlled by an alien who had implanted a microchip in her butt. You did. Didn’t you?
Why did you and author Willman and the FBI rely so centrally on Judith and at the same time you concocted your code theory — unsupported by the actual forensics relating to the examination of the letter?
Why did FBI Agent Darin Steele think that the “T” in NEXT was double-lined in concocting his interpretation of a code?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 17, 2011
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/why-did-fbi-agent-darin-steele-think-that-the-t-in-next-was-double-lined-in-concocting-his-interpretation-of-a-code/
We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes regularly. But why didn’t you correct your mistakes when better evidence and analysis came to light? I have the same question for Mr. Willman.
the material on the CASE CLOSED blog about Judith McLean (see prior posts linked below) is relevant to an evaluation of the validity of David Willman’s conclusions in his recently published “The Mirage Man” … because Willman himself, in his publicity blurb (see below), shows just how much he relied on the psychic who says … she was granted her abilities by an extraterrestrial being … got sick in 2001 from doing astral recovery work at Ground Zero and in Afghanistan after 9/11 … and was pursued by nasty Taliban entitied
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/why-is-all-this-material-about-judith-mclean-relevant-to-an-evaluation-of-the-validity-of-david-willman’s-conclusions-in-his-recently-published-“the-mirage-man”-because/
The Psychiatrists Are Selling A Report Relying On A Counselor Who Says She Was Granted Special Powers By An Alien Controlling Her By A Device Implanted In Her Butt, But The USG Has Taken Steps To Keep The DOJ’s Reliance On That Evidence Sealed For 5 Years
Posted by Lew Weinstein on November 15, 2011
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-psychiatrists-are-selling-a-report-relying-on-a-counselor-who-says-she-was-granted-special-powers-by-an-alien-controlling-her-by-a-device-implanted-in-her-butt-but-the-usg-has-taken-steps-to-ke/
DXer … the FBI, before July 2008, was mistaken. After that, by failing to acknowledge and correct mistakes, they became immoral, outrageous and pathetic.
Posted by Lew Weinstein on December 23, 2014
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/dxer-the-fbi-before-july-2009-was-mistaken-after-that-by-failing-to-acknowledge-and-correct-mistakes-they-became-immoral-outrageous-and-pathetic/
DXer said
FBI Special Agent Steele. You’ve heard about Yazid Sufaat’s interrogation since his arrest on the current terrorism charge, right?
“My first class was criminal law, and I was taught by this senior lawyer Kitson Foong.
“I still remember the first class; he was teaching how to commit the perfect murder.
… happiest moment as a lawyer when clients Yazid Sufaat, …
A lawyer hooked by ‘the perfect murder’
Malaysiakini (subscription)-Jun 27, 2015
: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/303332#ixzz3nhHMQ8N3
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
How To Get Away With Murder – Trailer
DXer said
Hatfill trivia question – what month and year did (Dr) Hatfill scavenge the three biological safety cabins from Detrick? (I don’t know). And where did he pick them up? (I don’t know).
DXer said
According to the Washington Post, the FBI early contemplated a Kuala Lumpur connection in the context of a Hatfill Theory.
Hey, Yazid Sufaat: When you and Hambali were recruiting scientists in 1999 and 2000, did you ever learn about (Dr.) Hatfill’s work relating to biodefense? Did (Dr.) Hatfill ever visit KL?
[Hatfill forged a PhD certificate and so I cannot bring myself to call him doctor. (Forging a PhD certificate is really wrong and very reckless behavior.)]
The FBI Director was a Princeton man. And from corresponding with Attorney Richard L. Lambert, I know how sharp he is. Why were they so fixated on Dr. Hatfill? (That is, we are told that they were fixated by340 the investigators who were interviewed by Mr. Willman for his book).
Was the 340 ml. successfully irradiated and shipped out or not? USMRMC: What do you say? Please provide the documents sitting on Sandra’s desk as we speak. Regardless whether the 340 ml. was though successfully irradiated, where was it shipped?
Is that 340 of b. anthracis Ames sent from Dugway to USAMRIID the shipment that or was rumored to have been misdirected or waylaid or delayed? CDC: What do the FedEx records show?
Did the misdirected or delayed or missing shipment relate to this 340 ml of virulent Ames in June 200 FBI? If so, that would explain why the FBI Director and chief investigator Lambert were so fixated on Hatfill. (I otherwise found that there was no “there there” after closely considering the theory over many months and even years).
For ANYONE to be handed 340 ml. of genetically matching virulent Ames would make a theory as to their culpability much easier to swallow.
One of the initial hurdles of any theory was always that the person would have to grow that quantity unnoticed. That didn’t seem to fit either Hatfill or Ivins. The spores appeared to be fermenter grown. Like at the fermenter in Dugway.
http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/pursuithatfill.html
Source: Washington Post, September 14, 2003
The Pursuit of Steven Hatfill
By Marilyn W. Thompson
It also sought help from police in Kuala Lumpur after a hoax package arrived at a Nevada Microsoft office bearing a Malaysian postmark. For several years, Hatfill had been involved with a Malaysian-born woman who had come to the United States from Kuala Lumpur and worked at a financial consulting firm. Now the FBI began to ponder whether this widowed mother of two had had a role, witting or not, in the anthrax mailings.
Last summer, according to a complaint filed by a Hatfill lawyer, agents showed up at the woman’s Northwest condominium with a search warrant and tore the place apart. They told her that Hatfill had “killed five people,” the complaint alleges. By the time they were finished, her home “looked like a war zone.”
DXer said
My longstanding view of “The Hatfill Theory” is posted here:
The “Hatfill Theory” was part of the same unstoppable train wreck as the “Ivins Theory.” There was a change of cars (investigators), but it was the same flawed train of reasoning and the investigators never overcame the earlier truncated emphasis of the investigation.
Posted by Lew Weinstein on May 10, 2011
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/the-hatfill-theory-was-part-of-the-same-unstoppable-train-wreck-as-the-ivins-theory-there-was-a-change-of-cars-investigators-but-it-was-the-same-flawed-train-of-reasoning-and-the-inve/
DXer said
More specifically, see the substantive comments here:
“Hatfill Theory” and “Ivins Theory”: Both Are Jewells In The Rough
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/the-hatfill-theory-was-part-of-the-same-unstoppable-train-wreck-as-the-ivins-theory-there-was-a-change-of-cars-investigators-but-it-was-the-same-flawed-train-of-reasoning-and-the-inve/comment-page-1/#comment-12864
At this more specific link, I reviewed all the arguments put forth by proponents of a Hatfill Theory and concluded there was no “there there.”
But the mere existence of the theory makes it a public interest imperative that USMRMC disclose the records relating to the irradiation and/or shipment of the 340 ml of virulent Ames that was shipped from Dugway to USAMRIID in June 2001.
DXer said
The seed stock for Flask 1029 was Flask 1030 — which was sent to Dugway in 1997.
In August 2000, 175 ml was shipped from Dugway to Ft. Detrick. (see document yet to be uploaded)
In June 2001, 340 in virulent Ames was shipped from Dugway to USAMRIID. (see document yet to be uploaded).
The FBI was told that USAMRIID irradiation of Dugway virulent Ames shipped for irradiation was not always successful. And there were inquiries about misdirected shipment of such anthrax. Were one of those shipments the one not successfully irradiated? Was one of those shipments the one rumored to have been misdirected? Both were shipped by FedEx, which now refuses to transport select agents.
Vahid Majidi in his e-book that he thought a Hatfill Theory was reasonable but that he could ultimately be excluded by what was determined to be a lack of access to the genetically matching Ames at USAMRIID.
What access did people have to the cold room near the loading dock? Does Vahid Majidi even know the building the loading dock was in? In the August 2008 presentation, he and the US Attorney Taylor appeared not to realize that virulent Ames was permanently kept by researchers (in small amounts) throughout Building 1412. See Henry Heine interview. Putting aside Mr. Hatfill, in August 2008, their false claims about the location of the genetically matching Ames caused them in their comments in August 2008 to overlook the fact that there were many many dozens who had access in Building 1412 — and it was not just access to Ames in Building 1425 that needed to be considered.
Prospect pegs the date the cabinets were retrieved by Hatfill to August 2000.
“It’s not easy to shine a light into the secretive world of U.S. military bio-warfare defense work. And it’s awfully hard to tell suspicious activities from ordinary ones when you’re casting about in the dark. For instance, as previously mentioned, in August 2000 scientists at USAMRIID saw Hatfill taking some old biosafety cabinets from a hallway, throwing them in the back of his car, and driving off. Theoretically, the cabinets could have enabled a knowledgeable user to cultivate deadly germs off-site. One scientist reported the incident to the FBI with understandable concern. But a spokeswoman for the U.S. Special Forces told the Prospect that Hatfill was authorized to take the cabinets as props for a then-classified training session, in which he was to show Special Forces how to recognize a makeshift germ lab. The cabinets were destroyed after two demonstrations, the spokeswoman said ..”
Who is Steven Hatfill?
LAURA ROZENJULY 2, 2002
http://prospect.org/article/who-steven-hatfill
Chuck Dasey corroborated that the biosafety cabinets were “old and nonfunctional.” Relying on the spokesman, Robert Graysmith reports in his book that “they had gone to the Army’s Special Forces Command to help train soldieries to identify apparatus that might be found in a bioweapons facility.”
Scott Shane wrote about it in the Baltimore Sun on February 22, 2002:
“Among others, the agents asked about a former Fort Detrick scientist who returned a few years ago and took discarded biological safety cabinets, used for work with dangerous pathogens. Like some other military lab workers, the scientist has expertise on weaponizing anthrax and has been vaccinated against it, sources say.”
“The scientist acknowledged that several years ago, with Army permission, he took three biosafety cabinets that were being discarded at Fort Detrick, but he said they were for use in a classified Defense Department project that he could not discuss.”
In Hatfill lawsuit against Foster for libel, the biosafety cabinets alleged libelous statements included:
o. that in August 2000, Dr. Hatfill “trained forces at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, using a makeshift bioterror ‘kitchen’ lab that he built himself out of scavenged parts, as well as biosafety cabinets taken [or ‘borrowed’] from USAMRIID;”
p. that the biosafety cabinets supposedly “taken” or “borrowed” from USAMRIID were “suitable for turning germs into weapons,” and “are still missing and are said to have been destroyed;”
Hatfill averred that “Each of the statements a through r was false in one or more material respects.”
We needn’t delay over this side question of biosafety cabinets. (And I don’t favor a Hatfill Theory). But the documents that USMRMC needs to provide under FOIA relate to the August 2000 and June 2001 shipments of virulent Ames for irradiation. Was it successfully irradiated? Regardless, where was it then shipped?
Was the 340 ml sent in June 2001 used by some unknown person to murder five people? It appears to have been enough without any additional b. anthracis Ames grown.
Secretary of Army McHugh — if he wants transparency and accountability before he leaves next month — will have USAMRMC produce the documents relating to the shipments.
DXer said
The 340 ml. — until we get answers — could lead anywhere (to include misdirected FedEx shipment into AQ’s arms) The June 2001 shipment from Detrick to USAMRIID was shipped FedEx. (FedEx now refuses to transport select agents).
I raised an issue about Fed Ex in connection with a different June 2001 shipment. This one was from Flask 1029 at USAMRIID to Battelle.
When Iyman Faris Visited With Majid Khan in mid-2001, Who Was He Driving For With Respect To Travelling To and Fro Maryland and Columbus, Ohio (down the street from Battelle Memorial Institute)? Dr. Ivins Shipped The Ames Spores From RMR 1029 To Battelle by Federal Express on or about June 18, 2001. What “U.S. Mail” Did Iyman Faris Deliver?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on February 16, 2012
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/when-iyman-faris-visited-with-majid-khan-in-mid-2001-who-was-he-driving-for-with-respect-to-travelling-to-and-fro-maryland-and-columbus-ohio-down-the-street-from-battelle-memorial-institute-dr/
DXer said
In 1997, Ivins sent the four vials (from Flask 1030) to Dugway to use as the seed stock for Flask 1029 (the so-called origin of the murder weapon). See Notebook 3655, page 86.
So let’s be clear: Flask 1030 was the seed stock for Flask 1029.
Sources:
“After reviewing the shipping form for the Bacillus anthracis Ames strain samples he sent to Dugway Provin-g Ground in 1997, IVINS believes the tubes he sent were samples of RMR 1030 a mixed batch of spores prepared by IVINS and ______________
The reason he believes this to be true is that the shipping form indicates the samples were spores in liquid form, unfrozen. The only Ames spores IVINS had unfrozen in liquid form in his laboratory at that time were the spores known as RMR 1030. Also, he compared the concentration of spores in the shipment to the concentration of samples he had in his laboratory at the time of the shipment. The documented concentration for RMR 1030 closely matched that on the shipping form for the spores sent as seed stock to Dugway for the mass production of spores to be used in aerosol challenge studies.”
February 16, 2005
IVINS stated in the voice mail message that the conchntration shown on the 1997 shipping form made him believe that RMR 1~30 was the Ames material he sent to Dugway for use in the mass p~oduction of spores for the making of RMR 1029. He advised that tHe information to support his belief could be found in his USAMRI~ID laboratory notebook #3655, page 86.
February 3, 2005 reporting on February 2, 2005 voice mail message from Ivins
DXer said
The pumpkin image goes with the post about ineffective radiation at USAMRIID — with the ineffectively radiated Ames being kept at an insecure location. Two pages describing a notebook goes here.
I believe the Notebook that the FBI does not want you to learn about — or that the FBI has redacted the discussion of — is Notebook 3655. The FBI and Army are doing all they can not to produce it. Antiobiotic resistance? Microencapsulation research? Beats me. Ask Henry Heine or Patricia Fellows.
But, to be sure, it is Notebook 3655 that relates to Flask 1030.
And this is the FBI’s discussion of what the FBI says Bruce Ivins said at an interview about the particular shipment from USAMRIID to Dugway.
Bruce Interview, 09/08/2004
“The interview was then paused for lunch. After conducting some research during the lunch break, IVINS provided agents with copies of page 70 from notebook # 4010 and page 86 from’notebook # 3655. In addition, IVINS provided agents with a one page document titled “Information on B. anthracis Ames spore lots ll , and a one-page document titled “Spore Preparation Form”. These documents are maintained in an FD-340 in the lA section of the file. From these documents, IVINS noted that the Ames spores sent to Dugway in 1997 were sent in suspension, in four lmL polypropylene tubes, at a concentration of 1 x 10 10 spores per mL. This shipment is consistent with IVINS sending RMR 1030 to Dugway in 1997. Although IVINS isn’t sure that it was RMR 1030 that he sent to Dugway, the concentration of the 1997 shipment, the storage container, and the method of shipment are all consistent with RMR 1030 being sent to Dugway in 1997.”