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Anthrax Case Details To Be Made Public

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The New York Times

Published: August 6, 2008

WASHINGTON - In the face of growing questions about the strength of the evidence, the Justice Department is preparing to declare the 2001 anthrax case solved and to make its case publicly today against a military scientist who killed himself after investigators linked him to the attacks, federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Officials at the FBI are particularly eager to close the case and publicly rebut accusations from defenders of the scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, that the bureau may have hounded an innocent man into committing suicide.

The legal process for effectively closing the case, and unsealing court records that are secret under grand jury rules, has proved to be a slow one. Justice Department officials plan to ask Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to make documents from the investigation public, but they first want to brief relatives of many of the five people killed and 17 injured in the anthrax attacks.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday that the authorities had a "legal and moral obligation" to speak with the victims' families before releasing information publicly. The Justice Department plans to brief the families and release the documents today, although no announcement has been scheduled, Mukasey and other officials said.

Three victims said the Justice Department alerted them Tuesday to a briefing for the families in Washington on Wednesday.

Patrick O'Donnell, who worked as a magazine sorter in New Jersey when he was sickened by the anthrax, was on his way to Washington on Tuesday to attend the gathering. O'Donnell seemed confident, based on the news he has heard, that the FBI had solved the case.

"It has taken a long time," he said. "I guess they sat on these people long enough that they broke them. It is hard to believe it is almost over."

Officials said FBI Director Robert Mueller might speak to some of the victims, a reflection of the importance the bureau attaches to the 7-year-old case.

Members of Congress have demanded that Mueller explain why the case remained unsolved for so long.

In June, the Justice Department agreed to pay a settlement worth $4.6 million to another scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, after publicly pursuing him as a suspect for years.
Ivins worked on anthrax vaccines for 18 years at at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md.

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