Anti Federalist
02-16-2011, 09:32 PM
FBI Faulted For Overstating Science In Anthrax Case
Published: February 15, 2011
http://m.npr.org/story/133775495?url=/2011/02/15/133775495/fbi-faulted-for-overstating-science-in-anthrax-case
by Joe Palca
The scientific evidence alone is not enough to prove that microbiologist Bruce Ivins was the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks that killed five people in 2001, according to an independent review panel.
The panel of scientists was convened by the National Research Council of the National Academies to review the science that the FBI used in its investigation into the attacks.
Starting a week after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, letters containing anthrax bacterial spores were mailed to NBC News and the New York Post. Letters were also sent to the offices of then-Sen. Tom Daschle and Sen. Patrick Leahy.
After the attacks, the FBI created the "Amerithrax Task Force" to conduct an investigation that the FBI has called "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement."
During the next seven years, the task force expended more than 600,000 investigator work hours, interviewing thousands of witnesses on six continents and evaluating a mountain of evidence. In the end, however, the agency's case against Ivins was largely circumstantial.
Published: February 15, 2011
http://m.npr.org/story/133775495?url=/2011/02/15/133775495/fbi-faulted-for-overstating-science-in-anthrax-case
by Joe Palca
The scientific evidence alone is not enough to prove that microbiologist Bruce Ivins was the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks that killed five people in 2001, according to an independent review panel.
The panel of scientists was convened by the National Research Council of the National Academies to review the science that the FBI used in its investigation into the attacks.
Starting a week after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, letters containing anthrax bacterial spores were mailed to NBC News and the New York Post. Letters were also sent to the offices of then-Sen. Tom Daschle and Sen. Patrick Leahy.
After the attacks, the FBI created the "Amerithrax Task Force" to conduct an investigation that the FBI has called "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement."
During the next seven years, the task force expended more than 600,000 investigator work hours, interviewing thousands of witnesses on six continents and evaluating a mountain of evidence. In the end, however, the agency's case against Ivins was largely circumstantial.