CASE closed? Not if senior US politicians have anything to do with it. They are calling for an investigation into FBI evidence revealed last week that points the finger at Bruce Ivins, a senior anthrax researcher for the US army, for the spate of anthrax mail attacks in 2001.
Ivins鈥檚 death last month means this evidence will now not be examined in a court of law, but Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is calling for a 鈥渇ull and thorough vetting鈥� of the claims.
Grassley notes that 鈥渕ore than 100 people鈥� had access to the flask of anthrax spores that the FBI says genetically matched the spores used in the attacks. He wants to know how many samples of that batch were sent to labs other than Ivins鈥檚, and how the FBI ruled out other people who might have had access to them.
Advertisement
Details of oxygen isotopes in the anthrax used in the attack could help to identify where the bacteria were grown, Grassley says. He also wants to know why records of late-night work in Ivins鈥檚 lab did not focus the investigation on Ivins earlier, and whether there is video evidence that it was Ivins working those after-hours sessions.
鈥淲hy did records of late-night lab sessions not focus the investigation earlier?鈥�
