I don't believe there's any reason to think the FBI hasn't "made any progress in their investigation." That's only true of "progress" means "an arrest" and "no progress" means "no arrest."
Supposedly, they were ready to make an arrest sometime before Christmas of 2001, but then they backed off. They may have backed off because the conspiracy theorists had started pointing at Dr. Hatfill. A case can get very complicated when everything turns political and respected scientists are pointing at someone else.
The "word" for the past few years has been that the FBI was hoping to make a solid case using the new science of microbial forensics. I'm not sure how that worked out. There are conflicting reports, some of them saying how difficult it is to nail down details about what kind of nutrients were used to make the spores, where the water came from, what kind of equipment was used, etc.
This is not a case the Department of Justice can afford to lose, so they're going to make certain they have a very SOLID case before they make an arrest.
KNOWING who did it and PROVING who did it are two very different things.
Ed
"I don't believe there's any reason to think the FBI hasn't "made any progress in their investigation."
Nice try at spin-control, Ed. Apparently, however, Judge Walton, who, unlike you, has received the FBI's confidential briefings, doesn't agree. In fact, he outright said the he saw no progress and didn't imagine there would be progress.
Anthrax Inquiry Draws Criticism From Federal Judge
October 8, 2004
New York Times
By SCOTT SHANE
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/politics/08anthrax.html?oref=login
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - A federal judge who reviewed a classified update on the F.B.I. investigation of anthrax-laced letters that killed five people in 2001 said on Thursday that he saw little chance of the case's being solved in the next six months.
"Candidly, from my review of the classified information, it doesn't seem to me that anything is going to happen in the near future that's going to change the status quo," said Judge Reggie B. Walton of United States District Court. The judge is handling a lawsuit filed against the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department by a former Army bioweapons expert, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill.