Legal News

In Wake of Ivins Death, FBI, DOJ Come Under Fire

By Dan Slater

Bruce Ivins in a 2003 photo. (Frederick News Post/Associated Press)

For those of you who took the weekend off from newspapers and talk shows, and worried that, as a result, you might miss some crucial development in the Bruce Ivins story, you can rest easy. (If you left town on Thursday night and are just now getting back, Ivins was the biodefense researcher at Fort Detrick who committed suicide last week as federal prosecutors prepared to indict him in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks.)

Some news sources suggested the possibility that Ivins sent the anthrax letters because he was working on a vaccine and wanted to create the urgency for it. That theory, however, was largely discounted today by the WSJ.

The Journal notes that prosecutors may move quickly to unseal evidence against Ivins and formally close the case after DOJ officials sign off on a decision to dismiss the grand jury. Prosecutors already have egg on their face after striking a recent settlement with Dr. Steven Hatfill, a former Army scientist whom John Ashcroft had mistakenly labeled “a person of interest” in 2002. As for Ivins, in the wake of his suicide his Venable lawyers put out a statement last week suggesting that the investigation drove an innocent Ivins to his death.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle at a news conference on Capitol Hill, May 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

Meanwhile, Tom Daschle, the former Democratic leader of the Senate and one target of the 2001 anthrax letters, went on Fox News yesterday and said that, “From the very beginning, I’ve had real concerns about the quality of the investigation.” He added: “Given the fact that they already paid [Steven Hatfill] $5 million for the mistakes they must have made gives you some indication of the overall caliber and quality of the investigation.” Daschle said he didn’t know if the Ivins investigation was “just another false track and a real diversion of where they need to be. We don’t know and they aren’t telling us.”

As we often do when it comes to controversy, we cue the WSJ editorial board:

We often disagree with Tom Daschle, but the former Senate Majority Leader had it right yesterday when he said that last week’s suicide of a U.S. microbiologist shouldn’t end the probe into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Given how the FBI has mishandled this case, the Bush Administration has an obligation to make its evidence and the history of its investigation public. . . .Public accountability is crucial because it relates to how we should respond to future biological or chemical attacks. Much of the Beltway political class believes that the current criminal justice system is adequate to handling such terror attacks, but the anthrax episode doesn’t inspire confidence. Whether or not the FBI has finally cracked the case, the public needs to know why it has taken so long.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 04, 2008 (boomark / email).