[John Faust]

Most of the FAS people are sincere-if somewhat leftist-but there are a few genuine extremists in the organization

I have some questions on this theory:

1. Why would they have sent anthrax to Leahy and Daschle? Leahy especially is one of the best friends such people have in the US government.

2. How would someone like that have had the connections to obtain weaponized anthrax from clandestine military sources or clandestine intelligence sources?

3. Wouldn't a bioterror attack be expected to result in a resumption or resurgence of biological warfare research, and isn't this the precise opposite of what these people wanted to achieve?

[genefromjersey]

To try to answer a few parts of your questions:

1.Connections in our biolabs:Security was NOT great.There may have been student interns-almost completely "un-vetted"-with far more access than desirable.There were labor problems at all of our bio and atomic labs,and "gray collar" technicians sometimes engaged in enormously risky "demonstrations".Security people sometimes engaged in thefts.(GAO publicized quite a few of them,but probably revealed only the tip of the iceberg.)

2. Why Leahy and Daschle ? IF this was a "far-left" protest,the plotters may have been fairly sure neither man would actually be EXPOSED to the anthrax letters.The September mailings had put the nation on notice,and special precautions-meager as they might have been-were being taken. Daschle and Leahy would (and I'm sure did) perceive the letters as some sort of right-wing plot.

Overly complicated? Perhaps;but,since we really know very little-beyond what has been published,we should rule almost nothing out.