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Two points regarding the FBI's inept handling of this case...
Firstly, FBI head Robert Mueller personally turned this case into a media circus early on. This is from (http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/itsonlyfair/latimes0362.html) an old LA Times story:
On Oct. 15., 2001, Mueller assigned the anthrax investigation to Van Harp, a veteran FBI official. A photo editor in Florida had already died mysteriously from anthrax about a week earlier. But the onslaught of biological terrorism was not recognized until an aide to the U.S. Senate majority leader opened an envelope Oct. 15 on Capitol Hill, unleashing a plume of powdery material and a wave of national fear.Harp learned that this investigation would not follow FBI procedures for strict confidentiality. For starters, Mueller instructed him to brief U.S. Sens. Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.), then the majority leader, and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Each had been intended recipients of anthrax letters.
FBI officials wanted to assure the senators that the bureau was "very aggressively investigating the case," Harp testified. Nevertheless, sharing confidential investigative information was, he said, "an unusual step."
The same link details how media helicopters were ahead of the FBI on several occasions, indicating some serious leakage and/or a concerted attempt to smear Hatfield. (Note the role played by New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof here).
At one point, Roth and other FBI officials tried to trace who was accessing the central computer file in which all investigative interviews and other developments were stored. Roth said the file was "an open book," used by "a huge group of people."... [FBI Director Robert] Mueller resisted when an official recommended a criminal probe of the leaks, with mandatory lie-detector tests for the anthrax investigators, Roth testified. The FBI director raised a hand and said, " 'I don't want to do that. . . . It's bad for morale to go after these people,' " Roth said.
Mueller testified that he did not recall the episode.
Here's one little incident that perfectly illustrates how the FBI went after Hatfield:
An FBI employee drove over Hatfill's foot, prompting Washington, D.C., police to ticket him for "walking to create a hazard."
Can you believe it? They drove over his foot and then charged him with walking the wrong way!
Secondly, it would be very interesting to know whether the DoJ hindered the progress of this investigation. I've seen reports of Feds being ready to press charges but DoJ holding things up. One can only wonder if that has anything to do with the politicization of the DoJ under Bush.
