The controversy over the 2001 anthrax killings isn’t likely to go away — not for a long time at least.
The latest: The Associated Press reports that the widow of National Enquirer photo editor Robert Stevens, who was killed by an anthrax letter in 2001, has doubts that the lone scientist Bruce Ivins was behind the anthrax that killed five all together and sickened 17 others.
Maureen Stevens made her claims in filings in a lawsuit she has against the government, alleging it didn’t do enough to safeguard the dangerous anthrax strains at the government lab Ft. Detrick in Maryland.
Meanwhile, Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers reports:
“Buried in FBI laboratory reports about the anthrax mail attacks that killed five people in 2001 is data suggesting that a chemical may have been added to try to heighten the powder’s potency, a move that some experts say exceeded the expertise of the presumed killer (Bruce Ivins).”
Stevens claims are based on sworn statements made by two of Ivin’s superiors who claimed Ivin’s didn’t have the expertise to pull it off, AP reported. One scientist claimed it would have taken more than one person to pull off the attacks.
The Justice Department and FBI had planned to charge Ivins in the murders, but he committed suicide in July 2008 before that could happen.
To read the full McClatchy story click here.
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- Meet Miami’s Top FBI Agent (Miami Herald)
- DEA Investigates Illegal Import of Death Drugs (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
