anthrax

Robert Mueller Has Been Botching Investigations Since The Anthrax Attacks

http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/08/robert-mueller-botching-investigations-since-anthrax-attacks/

Robert Mueller Has Been Botching Investigations Since The Anthrax Attacks

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the anthrax attacks following 9/11 -- one of the most important of his career -- did not go well, to say the least.

Daniel Ashman
By Daniel Ashman
February 8, 2018

Mystery surrounds Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia and President Trump. Some think he is the ultimate professional, others that he is a Democrat lackey, still others maintain he is working on Trump’s side.

We can see how he works if we look at how Mueller ran his second-most important investigation as FBI Director. In September of 2001, an entity began mailing anthrax through the US Postal system, hitting such prominent targets as NBC and Senator Daschle’s office. The terrorist attacks killed five and left others hospitalized. The world panicked.

Head of the FBI's Anthrax Investigation Says the Whole Thing Was a Sham

Agent In Charge of Amerithrax Investigation Blows the Whistle

The FBI head agent in charge of the anthrax investigation – Richard Lambert – has just filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit calling the entire FBI investigation bullsh!t:

In the fall of 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, a series of anthrax mailings occurred which killed five Americans and sickened 17 others. Four anthrax-laden envelopes were recovered which were addressed to two news media outlets in New York City (the New York Post and Tom Brokaw at NBC) and two senators in Washington D.C. (Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle). The anthrax letters addressed to New York were mailed on September 18, 2001, just seven days after the 9/11 attacks. The letters addressed to the senators were mailed 21 days later on October 9, 2001. A fifth mailing of anthrax is believed to have been directed to American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida based upon the death of one AMI employee from anthrax poisoning and heavy spore contamination in the building.

Executive management at FBI Headquarters assigned responsibility for the anthrax investigation (code named “AMERITHRAX”) to the Washington Field Office (WFO), dubbing it the single most important case in the FBI at that time. In October 2002, in the wake of surging media criticism, White House impatience with a seeming lack of investigative progress by WFO, and a concerned Congress that was considering revoking the FBI’s charter to investigate terrorism cases, Defendant FBI Director Mueller reassigned Plaintiff from the FBI’s San Diego Field Office to the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters and placed Plaintiff in charge of the AMERITHRAX case as an “Inspector.” While leading the investigation for the next four years, Plaintiff’s efforts to advance the case met with intransigence from WFO’s executive management, apathy and error from the FBI Laboratory, politically motivated communication embargos from FBI Headquarters, and yet another preceding and equally erroneous legal opinion from Defendant Kelley – all of which greatly obstructed and impeded the investigation.

FBI's AMERITHRAX Case just unravelled. Ex-FBI agent who directed investigation suing FBI, turns whistleblower.

Preface by Washington’s Blog: See also ,  and our archive of Anthrax articles.

By Meryl Nass, M.D.  Dr. Nass is  a board-certified internist and a biological warfare epidemiologist and expert in anthrax. Nass publishes Anthrax Vaccine.

Here is the Complaint, filed on April 2, 2015 alleging gross mishandling of the case on many levels, and concealment of evidence exonerating Bruce Ivins:

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1714250-former-fbi-special-agent-in-charge-richard.html

Excerpts:

5. This complaint further details how Defendants’ derelict failure to perform their mandated legal duties to Plaintiff was driven by Defendants’ blinding animus toward Plaintiff for Plaintiff’s prior whistleblower reports of FBI and DOJ mismanagement of the FBI’s investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001 (code named “AMERITHRAX”).

From pages 23 to 25:

50. In the fall of 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, a series of anthrax mailings occurred which killed five Americans and sickened 17 others. Four anthrax-laden envelopes were recovered which were addressed to two news media outlets in New York City (the New York Post and Tom Brokaw at NBC) and two senators in Washington D.C. (Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle). The anthrax letters addressed to New York were mailed on September 18, 2001, just seven days after the 9/11 attacks. The letters addressed to the senators were mailed 21 days later on October 9, 2001. A fifth mailing of anthrax is believed to have been directed to American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida based upon the death of one AMI employee from anthrax poisoning and heavy spore contamination in the building.

2 U.S. Government Agencies Say FBI’s Anthrax Case Is Full of Holes

 

By Meryl Nass, M.D.  Dr. Nass is  a board-certified internist and a biological warfare epidemiologist and expert in anthrax. Nass publishes Anthrax Vaccine.

Here is the GAO report released today, two years in the making, a study done for unnamed “congressional requesters.” In past years, the requesters have been listed, but in this case, they are not. This most likely reflects the sensitivity of this matter. Why so sensitive?

Because the FBI botched its investigation, never had even the shred of a case against Ivins, and this is not the first time they were called out on it. The 2011 National Academy of Science (NAS) report pointed out the same things as this GAO report: that FBI and its contractors developed methods that were not validated. They never proved that the anthrax in the letters actually grew from parent spores in Ivins’ flask, as FBI purports. This failed claim forms the linchpin of the FBI’s entire case.

Here is the 2011 WaPo editorial on the need for a comprehensive investigation, following release of the NAS report. Today’s GAO investigation did not fulfill the WaPo’s request to include an investigation of the case against Ivins himself.

Following the NAS report, in October 2011, veteran investigative reporters at McClatchey (Greg Gordon, who is amazing), PBS’ Frontline and ProPublica dug deeper into the case than anyone so far had done, and created a TV show, a huge online cache of documents on the case, and several journalistic pieces, like this one.  Their work revealed new pieces of evidence that further undercut the FBI’s case, like this and this. One article explored the validity of the FBI’s scientific evidence.

UPDATE: These reporters write about the new GAO report here.

Dr. MacQueen: alleged 9/11 hijackers tasked with planting official story in advance

This radio interview of Dr. Graeme MacQueen originally aired on "Guns and Butter" with Bonnie Faulkner in July of 2011. The specific portion regarding Mohamed Atta's absurd encounter with a U.S. loans officer, Johnelle Bryant, was important enough to deserve its own video as it shows how narratives are scripted.

MacQueen calls this story "Mohamed Atta seeks a loan". Months before 9/11, the alleged 9/11 hijackers were trying to attract public attention. According to mainstream news reports, Atta tried to obtain a large loan from a U.S. loans officer and threatened to harm the officer and then gives away the targets of the 9/11 plot. MacQueen argues that this is not characteristic of a top secretive operative planning the biggest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. This is characteristic of a person tasked with planting the narrative ahead of time. MacQueen also shares important information about 9/11 being connected with the anthrax attacks and that the same people were behind both attacks. Stories like these make it easy to see through 9/11. Please distribute widely.

What do Afghanistan, Enron, 9-11, Anthrax and Iraq have in common?

News Stories You May Have Missed - by John Heartson

Q. What do Afghanistan, Enron, 9-11, Anthrax and Iraq have in common?

A. Lots of Lies and Coverups.

I have spent over 500 hours compiling information from news articles, government documents, and energy trade journals. These papers uncover an energy project that got out of hand. The news articles are sourced, (the headlines I added).

The short story. The largest oil and gas reserves are in Central Asia but are land locked. The US covertly supported and courted the Taliban to get a huge pipeline project through Afghanistan.. Clinton backed out after al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. Bush resumed negotiations, then threatened the Taliban with military action and planned an invasion before 9-11 occurred. Many believe that 9-11 was allowed to happen so no one would question the invasion of Afghanistan and the building of bases. Iraq was planned next. Letting 9-11 happen has been claimed by many people within the FBI and the administration. The pre-planned invasion of Afghansitan and Iraq are not theories, they are facts.

Some News You May Have Missed:

Breaking the Set: Anthrax Attacks Inside Job

On the second half of this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin looks back at the anthrax attacks in the United States 11 years later, destroys the government narrative about the attacks and takes a closer analysis of the subject with an interview with Media Roots Journalist, Robbie Martin.

LIKE Breaking The Set @ http://fb.me/BreakingTheSet
FOLLOW Abby Martin @ http://twitter.com/AbbyMartin

Tom Daschle Confronted on Anthrax Attack & Bilderberg

Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle gets confronted about how the anthrax that was sent to him originated from Fort Detrick, Md and the fact he attended the Bilderberg Conference.

http://wearechange.org/tom-daschle-confronted-on-anthrax-attack-bilderberg/

The 9/11 Propaganda Archive: How Scared Should You Be?

MEDIA ROOTS A pair of internet archivists who call themselves 'Neuro Linguistic Programming' have uploaded Part Two of US corporate media print publications from the immediate days and weeks following 9/11. The duo plans to post multiple full issues of Time and Newsweek as well as other timely magazines that are filled with blatant fearmongering and propaganda about terrorism.

Following 9/11, news media accelerated at an amazing rate, and most companies soon adopted internet versions of their paper or magazines. Before this was commonplace, many interesting pieces of information printed about that day most likely were never reprinted again–due to false information or just abandonment by the propagandists. As we know, many government narratives and unfounded claims about 9/11 were re-printed without any journalistic investigation.

Media Roots Radio Transcript: Anthrax Attacks, from the Memory Hole

Media Roots Radio- The Anthrax Attacks, From The Memory Hole by Media Roots

MEDIA ROOTS — Abby and Robbie break apart the official government narrative of the Anthrax Attacks by discussing foreknowledge, government complicity, and gross inconsistencies regarding every aspect of the events on this edition of Media Roots Radio.  The episode is fully transcribed and sourced below.

The Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, NPR, Stewart, Colbert, Fox News and host of U.S. lawmakers receive threatening letters

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, February 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — Several US lawmakers received threatening letters containing a harmless white powder, but the sender warned more missives including a “harmful material” could follow, a Senate official said.

The news sparked alarm and served as a grim reminder of the 2001 anthrax attacks in which letters containing the deadly pathogen were sent to offices of two Democratic senators and several media offices. Five people were killed.

The anonymous sender “has indicated that additional letters containing a powdery substance will be arriving at more Senate offices,” Senate sergeant-at-arms Terrance Gainer said in a email to staff.

“Some of these letters may contain an actual harmful material,” he added, noting the missives were postmarked from Portland, Oregon.

Similar letters, which included complaints about corporate influence over US politics, also were received by several US media outlets, but they did not contain any white powder, said law enforcement officials quoted by US media.

The letters were received by organizations such as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Fox News and National Public Radio, reports said.

CBS News quoted a law enforcement official as saying that in missives to comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the sender warned that 100 letters were sent to the Washington or home-state offices of US senators.

Justice Department takes on itself in probe of 2001 anthrax attacks

The Washinton Post
Published: Jan 27th
By Jerry Markon

Since it began a decade ago, the federal government’s massive investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks has been plagued by missteps and complications.

Investigators initially focused on the wrong man, then had to pay him a nearly $6 million settlement. In 2008, they accused another man, Bruce E. Ivins, who killed himself before he could go to trial.

Now, in the latest twist, the government has argued against itself.

In documents deep in the files of a recently settled Florida lawsuit, Justice Department civil attorneys contradicted their own department’s conclusion that Ivins was unquestionably the anthrax killer. The lawyers said the type of anthrax in Ivins’s lab was “radically different” from the deadly anthrax. They cited several witnesses who said Ivins was innocent, and they suggested that a private laboratory in Ohio could have been involved in the attacks.

The unusual spectacle of one arm of the Justice Department publicly questioning another has the potential to undermine one of the most high-profile investigations in years, according to critics and independent experts who reviewed the court filings.

“I cannot think of another case in which the government has done such an egregious about-face. It destroys confidence in the criminal findings,’’ said Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University.

Chicago Tribune: Science in anthrax letter case comes under attack

Bruce E. Ivins, the chief suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings, committed suicide before the FBI could present its case in court. Years later, some suspicions remain over results of the inquiry.

By David Willman, Washington Bureau
http://www.chicagotribune.com
October 16, 2011

WASHINGTON — FBI Agent Edward Montooth began worrying the moment he got the call early on the morning of July 27, 2008: The chief suspect in the deadly anthrax letter attacks of 2001 had just been rushed to a hospital.

The leader of the FBI investigation knew that if Army microbiologist Bruce E. Ivins died, the opportunity to present the case against him in a courtroom would be lost. Conspiracy theories and speculation, he feared, could well overshadow the evidence.

"They better save [him]," Montooth snapped to a colleague as he hung up the phone.

In previous weeks, Ivins had been warned by his lawyer that he faced an indictment, and the possibility of the death penalty, in connection with the attacks, which killed five people, injured or hospitalized 17 others and helped spur significant changes in national security policies. Ivins died two days after he arrived at the hospital, minutes from his home, in Frederick, Md.

More than three years after Ivins' suicide, Montooth has retired from the FBI, but his earlier concern — that the lack of a trial could fuel suspicions about the government's case — remains valid. Over the last week alone, media reports have questioned anew the evidence against Ivins, while suggesting that the anthrax attacks may have been committed by unidentified wrongdoers.

One account came from three scientists — long critical of the FBI — whose questions were the subject of a story in the New York Times. Another came from the nonprofit group ProPublica, the PBS documentary unit Frontline and McClatchy Newspapers. The coverage highlighted the lingering antagonism toward the FBI among some of Ivins' colleagues at the Army's biowarfare research center at Ft. Detrick, Md.

Did FBI get wrong man for anthrax killings? Scientists raise possibility that man had help or was innocent

New York Times: Scientists’ Analysis Disputes F.B.I. Closing of Anthrax Case

A decade after wisps of anthrax sent through the mail killed 5 people, sickened 17 others and terrorized the nation, biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the F.B.I.’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues.

Now, three scientists argue that distinctive chemicals found in the dried anthrax spores — including the unexpected presence of tin — point to a high degree of manufacturing skill, contrary to federal reassurances that the attack germs were unsophisticated. The scientists make their case in a coming issue of the Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense.

F.B.I. documents reviewed by The New York Times show that bureau scientists focused on tin early in their eight-year investigation, calling it an “element of interest” and a potentially critical clue to the criminal case. They later dropped their lengthy inquiry, never mentioned tin publicly and never offered any detailed account of how they thought the powder had been made.

The new paper raises the prospect — for the first time in a serious scientific forum — that the Army biodefense expert identified by the F.B.I. as the perpetrator, Bruce E. Ivins, had help in obtaining his germ weapons or conceivably was innocent of the crime.

Both the chairwoman of a National Academy of Science panel that spent a year and a half reviewing the F.B.I.’s scientific work and the director of a new review by the Government Accountability Office said the paper raised important questions that should be addressed.

Alice P. Gast, president of Lehigh University and the head of the academy panel, said that the paper “points out connections that deserve further consideration.”

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