The facts indicate that AFIP was never again trusted with any aspect of the Amerithrax investigation.
The were evidently "out of the loop" and didn't have a clue as to what other labs had determined.
When scientists at The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) mistakenly believed that chemicals they themselves had used to kill a spore sample were put into the spores by the anthrax mailer, they compounded their mistake at a White House meeting on October 24, 2001, by passing around pictures of the mysteriously oozing "goop." And that quickly resulted in leaks to the media. Reports indicate that the FBI saw right through the error, since the FBI immediately requested additional tests to see what the mysterious "goop" oozing out of the spores might actually be. (USAMRIID had been sitting on their erroneous finding for over a week without doing further tests.)
When scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) mistakenly assumed that the presence of the elements silicon and oxygen in the Daschle powder meant it was "weaponized" with silica, the FBI evidently realized that that made no sense if the silica could not be seen under a Scanning Electron Microscope. So, the FBI began consulting with experts on weaponized anthrax powders to see what other explanations there might be for the unexpected presence of those elements. The answer -- lab contamination -- turned out to be extremely critical to the investigation.
When the CDC reported that the onset of Bob Stevens' illness began "11 days after handling suspicious mail on September 19," they were referring to the J-Lo letter. Based only upon eye-witness testimony, the CDC reported that two letters received at the office of American Media Inc. (AMI) contained powders. They did not mention that sampling tests for the presence of anthrax spores on the three floors of the AMI building clearly showed that only one of the letters contaminated the building with anthrax. So, the FBI went back into the AMI building to search for both letters and, evidently, to do further tests to make certain which letter contained anthrax, and, presumably, to determine if the anthrax powder (or powders) were from the same batch and same mailing sent to ABC, CBS, NBC and The New York Post -- or a different batch and a different mailing.
Errors and unclear statements made by other agencies complicated an already very complicated case. And so did the Hatfill fiasco. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I think the FBI may still make an arrest in the Amerithrax investigation. I can see good reasons why they didn't do it during Alberto Gonzales' time as Attorney General. I just hope there will be a "right time" in the near future.
Your opinion stated as fact.
Once again, AFIP ANNOUNCED that silica was the key aerosol enabling component.
The were evidently "out of the loop" and didn't have a clue as to what other labs had determined.
I think that this is totally true, but that could just as easily be as much an issue of politics as an issue of competence. This would be especially be true if high powers were interested in obscuring the true nature of "Amerithrax".