By Jerry Markon The Washington Post WASHINGTON — Since it began a decade ago, the federal government’s massive investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks has been plagued by missteps and complications. Investigators initially focused on the wrong man, then had to pay him a nearly $6 million settlement. In 2008, they accused another man, Bruce…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The feds are getting out the check book to cover an anthrax lawsuit filed by the wife whose husband — a Florida tabloid photo editor — was killed in 2001 by an anthrax letter. The Associated Press reports that the U.S. government has agreed to pay widow Maureen Stevens $2.5 million…
Michael P. Kortan is the assistant director of Public Affairs for the FBI at headquarters in Washington. By Michael Kortan N.Y. Times Letter to the Editor WASHINGTON — I take issue with several points in your Oct. 18 editorial “Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters?” First, the National Academy of Sciences report concluded that the anthrax…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Maureen Stevens’ legal battle with the feds over the anthrax death of her husband seems to be over. Reuters reports that the widow of the deceased Florida tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens — one of five people killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks in the U.S. — has reached a settlement…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com You needn’t go to the oddsmakers in Vegas to predict whether the anthrax case will be reopened for a fresh examination. Just ask Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.). Grassley, one of several politicians who have been skeptical of the FBI findings that government scientist Bruce Ivins sent the letters, said it would…
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and SCOTT SHANE New York Times A decade after wisps of anthrax sent through the mail killed 5 people, sickened 17 others and terrorized the nation, biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the F.B.I.’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues. Now, three…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A federal judge has allowed the Justice Department to correct a court filing that created an embarrassment and public relations goof for the agency in the anthrax case. ProPublica reported Friday that U.S. District Judge David Hurley of West Palm Beach, Fla., gave the ok to the government to withdraw a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A federal judge temporarily blocked the Justice Department from correcting a court filing that undercut the FBI’s conclusion that Army researcher Bruce Ivins was responsible for the anthrax letter attacks in 2001, PBS Frontline, McClatchy and ProPublica reported in a joint story. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley of West Palm Beach,…
