Although i am not hopeful that the FBI will do the right thing in this case, it's quite a gift to have an agency not only so grossly incompetent (e.g., Hatfill) but also so slavishly beholden to appeasing the CheneyBushFelons that it enables honest researchers to piece together some more of the gross outlines of this blatantly criminal organization known the Bush Administration.

For example, the fantastic oversights by the FBI, such as excluding Battelle Ventures, LLC as a possible source of high quality anthrax, would lead any reasonable person--especially one remotely informed and interested in this 7-year old case--to consider with renewed interest this company.

Thanks FBI for exposing the agency's intentions in this crude performance of your investigative skills!

($Millions) 2001/ 2000*

Total Revenue $1,049.3/ $971.4

i think FY 2001 ends in Sep 2001

revenue FY 2007

Total Revenue $4,180.7 (that's billions)

6 years, 400% growth in revenue/operations.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=78516

or click on signature.

"Whether you believe the FBI got its man or there's more to the story, a review of the investigation is in order. If in fact Ivins was the country's own Dr. Evil, what does that say about our ability to be victorious in the "war against terror?"

The killer targeted government and the media and the FBI embarked on its most costly and exhaustive investigation in history. Fear helped catapult us into the Patriot Act and a war that's cost the lives of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilians. This deserves more than pinning it on a dead man and walking away."

You'll probably get to have TWO conversations w/ the man. If so, no tragedy there was a "glitch" the first time. C'est la vie.

http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0808&L=foi-l&T=0&F=&S=&X=0EDD7F386867010034&Y=kimo%40webnetic.net&P=1888

And for historical purposes, a quick look at our (self-promotion alert) FOIA

Files (see www.sunshineingovernment.org) shows Dr. Ivins was featured

prominently in two stories in 2004 that focused on sloppy safety practices

at USAMRIID.

See:

Anthrax slip-ups raise fears about planned biolabs

By Dan Vergano and Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY

Bruce Ivins was troubled by the dust, dirt and clutter on his officemate's

desk, and not just because it looked messy. He suspected the dust was laced

with anthrax.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-13-anthrax-labs_x.htm

Anthrax Leaks Blamed on Lax Safety Habits

August 20, 2004 in print

edition A-12

ion/2004-10-13-anthrax-labs_x.htm/26394/Zaplet1/default/empty.gif/3433363462

6337643438396235333930>

By Charles Piller, Los

Angeles Times

An Army investigation into anthrax contamination outside secure labs at the

nation's chief biodefense research facility blames cavalier attitudes for

the safety breach.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/aug/20/nation/na-anthrax20

ion/2004-10-13-anthrax-labs_x.htm/26394/Zaplet1/default/empty.gif/3433363462

6337643438396235333930>

______________

Rick Blum

Coordinator, Sunshine in Government Initiative

www.sunshineingovernment.org

_____

From: State and Local Freedom of Information Issues

[mailto:FOI-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Hammond

Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 2:39 PM

To: FOI-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU

Subject: Re: More on FOIA and the anthrax attacks

Another interesting FOIA note on the anthrax attacks:

Some of us who follow this closely have been taken aback by the

widely-published claims by several ex-USAMRIID personnel that USAMRIID does

not handle powdered anthrax. The claims by the USAMRIID exes don't jive with

the record (but nonetheless have been repeatedly printed).

Some people may recall that, in 2002-03, it was widely reported that

powdered anthrax was manufactured at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in the

late 1990s and since - and by some accounts in very large quantities of a

pound or more. It was also reported that samples of this "weaponized"

anthrax were shipped to USAMRIID.

As was reported in 2002-03, and as is the general understanding of people

like myself that try to watch these things, powdered anthrax is, in fact,

handled at USAMRIID. In fact, it appears to be one of these shipments of

powdered anthrax from Dugway that was used as seed to grow out the anthrax

that was used in the letters.

In fact, the widely-cited findings of the report of the anthrax

contamination in Ivins B-3 suite at USAMRIID - first obtained by USA Today,

I believe, under FOIA - specifically states, on page 10, that USAMRIID

employees were handling, apparently as of Spring 2002, powdered anthrax.

And, interestingly, if you click on the link below, you will see that the

details about this powdered anthrax were deleted in a big redaction labelled

as (b)6. But the context of the redaction strongly suggests that what was

blanked out does not have to do with personal medical records. It seems to

have to do with the origin and characteristics of the powdered anthrax being

handled in the Ivins lab.

In other words, in addition to appearing to contradict the (false) published

assertions of ex-Detrick scientists that powdered anthrax isn't handled

there, the findings of the Ivins lab contamination investigation, as

released under FOIA, appear to contain improper redactions, specifically,

information about the origin and characteristics of powdered anthrax has

been redacted as "personal medical information".

EH

On Aug 8, 2008, at 6:41 AM, Richard M. Smith wrote:

From a Helper to the Suspect in the Anthrax Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/washington/08scientist.html?_r=1

=slogin&pagewanted=print> &hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

But in 2000, Dr. Ivins's careful record-keeping landed him in trouble.

Opponents of the Pentagon's policy mandating vaccination of active-duty

troops had filed Freedom of Information Act requests for notebooks of the

scientists at Fort Detrick involved in research on the anthrax vaccine.

Dr. Ivins had written in one notebook that the vaccine had made some animals

sick, Dr. Byrne recalled. When the notebook became public, critics of the

vaccine cited it as evidence that the vaccine not only might have been

ineffective but was also perhaps making military personnel ill, said Mark S.

Zaid, a lawyer who filed the lawsuit.

It was a frustrating turn of events for the scientists who had worked so

hard to produce safe vaccines, both the one that was being challenged and a

separate, more advanced vaccine that they were developing.

In retrospect, Mr. Zaid said he wondered if the incident might have deeply

angered Dr. Ivins, threatening his years' worth of research on anthrax

vaccines, as the opponents of the Pentagon program ultimately succeeded

briefly in getting the military to discontinue mandatory vaccinations.