* 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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* LMW … reflections on the possibility that the Stevens’ $2,500,000 settlement was really “hush money” as part of a desperate ongoing attempt by the FBI to keep the truth about the 2001 anthrax attacks hidden from the American people

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the FBI has charged a dead man who could never defend himself in court ... without offering convincing proof

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There is no way to put a value on a human life, and it is hard to argue that the U.S. government, specifically the USAMRIID laboratories, was not negligent in allowing someone to take anthrax in its possession and use it to commit 5 murders and hundreds more attempted murders.

That is, if you believe the FBI and think it was USAMRIID scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins who was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, or even that Ivins was involved in any way.

The problem is the FBI has never made its case against Ivins, and many others, perhaps hundreds of labs and thousands of individuals who had contact with those labs, had access to the batch of anthrax identified as the source from which the attack powder was prepared.

So it is very important to note that the Stevens’ settlement

included the sealing and/or destruction of witness testimony

which may have added to the conclusion that it was NOT IVINS.

If it wasn’t Ivins, then perhaps the government should not be liable in the Stevens’ case, and that in turn raises the possibility that the $2.5 million was, from the government’s point of view, really “hush money” to keep important elements of the truth about the 2001 anthrax attacks and the FBI investigation of those attacks from the American people.

The FBI has asserted, with no physical evidence, no witnesses, and no science, that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. The FBI has not proven that Ivins prepared the powdered anthrax or that he mailed the letters, or that he was involved in any way, let alone that he was the sole perpetrator. To my mind, this leaves only 3 possibilities …

1. the FBI has more evidence against Dr. Ivins that they won’t show us.
2. the FBI has not solved the case at all and after the largest investigation in the history of the FBI, costing $100 million (now $102.5 million), they don’t know who did it.
3. the FBI does know who the perpetrators were (not Ivins) but for some reason won’t say.

Any of these alternatives conceals a terrible truth, and the Stevens’ settlement continues what appears to be a desperate ongoing attempt by the FBI to keep that truth hidden from the American people.

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* Congress and the GAO should act to prevent the Department of Justice from destroying the depositions of Patricia Fellows and Mara Linscott – by subpoena if necessary

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LMW COMMENT …

This is the most blatant in a long series of cover-ups

to prevent the American people and the Congress from knowing 

what happened in the anthrax attacks

and the subsequent failed FBI investigation.

It is pathetic and shameful!

Director Mueller and the FBI should be held to account for their behavior.

Director Mueller wins a battle, but he may still lose the war ... the FBI has charged a dead man without proof, and the Director must know it

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* Plaintiffs in the case of Stevens vs U.S. have agreed to shred the depositions of Patricia Fellows and Mara Linscott … LMW: it sure seems that this is “hush money” to keep important elements of the truth from the American people

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Director Mueller wins a battle, but he may still lose the war ... the FBI has charged a dead man without proof, and the Director must know it

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LMW COMMENT … 

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.

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* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

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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

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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.

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* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

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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

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

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* 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

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* The Deposition Of Patricia Fellows and Mara Linscott Will Remain Sealed; Taxpayer Money Was Used In A Settlement Once Again To Hide Evidence of Government Negligence By An Overbroad Protective Order Under Rule 26(c)

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* The FBI uploaded some 302 interview statements about work involving virulent Ames for which Dr. Patricia Fellows and Dr. Mara Linscott provided technical assistance ; the civil depositions should be unsealed under the balancing test of the controlling precedent.

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* The Government Has Not Shown Any “Good Cause” That Should Prevent the Unsealing By Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley Of The Depositions Of Bruce Ivins’ Former Assistants Patricia Fellows and Mara Linscott

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* After seeing the discovery he argued should be subject to a protective order, judging from comments to the press, Plaintiff’s Attorney in Stevens v. United States apparently agrees there is no reason that it remain sealed

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