Anthrax investigators focusing on strain from military facility (Possible Suspect:Mike Failey)

? Federal anthrax researchers are attempting to match the strain that killed a Boca Raton man and four others to a weaponized strain secretly manufactured at a U.S. military facility in the Utah desert, according to sources familiar with the probe.

Agents are examining lab workers and researchers who had access to the weaponized, powdered anthrax grown at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Grounds and later supplied to Battelle Memorial Institute, a military research company based in Columbus, Ohio.

Among those interviewed include a fired researcher at Battelle who, according to FBI records, made remarks about an anthrax project in the basement of his Milwaukee home.

``This is complete nonsense,'' Michael P. Failey told The Herald Thursday. ``I have never been a researcher of anthrax. I've never had access to anthrax. I didn't even know it was a bacteria until I saw it on TV. All I did was mention the word, that's it.

FBI sources said Thursday that Failey is not a prime suspect in the anthrax mailings but has not been ruled out.

``We have developed no information that he ever had access to anthrax while he was at Battelle, and there was no anthrax in his home,'' said one FBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

``He is one among many we have interviewed as possible suspects,'' said another FBI official.

The FBI sources also said there is no conclusive evidence the anthrax used in the deadly mailings was stolen from the U.S. military. It is clear, however, that a strong theory has emerged that the refined powder used in the anthrax attacks bears striking similarities to U.S. military grade anthrax manufactured only at Dugway.

``The anthrax at Dugway is the only known sample they intend to check right now. The investigation is clearly focused on the Dugway anthrax,'' said Dr. Ronald Atlas, dean of the University of Louisville Biology Department, and incoming president of the American Society of Microbiology.

``The word in the scientific community is that they are very close to something.''

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Thursday the FBI has ``winnowed'' the field of its investigation.

For use in their comparisons, government scientists are using the strain of anthrax taken from the body of Robert Stevens, a tabloid photo editor from Lantana who was the first to die from the deadly mailings.

``Since it was the first one they had, it is the only one on which they completed the [DNA] sequencing,'' Atlas said. ``They only did enough on the others to make sure it was identical.''

If medical researchers are able to conclusively match the Boca anthrax to that stored at its source, investigators could be able to home in on specific suspects. Researchers have already identified the mailed anthrax as the Ames strain, a virulent strain often used in research to develop vaccines. For decades, the strain was stored and distributed by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md.

It went to several universities, government contractors, and military institutions in England and Canada. It also went to Dugway Proving Grounds, which developed small amounts of powdered anthrax to find ways to combat it.

As a strain moves from facility to facility, its genetic makeup can change slightly in ways that allow experts to identify it, Atlas said.

FBI records show Failey's name first emerged during the terrorism probe even before Stevens died Oct. 5.

Milwaukee police were called by Failey's mother after he became involved in a dispute with a neighbor, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit. Failey was allegedly drunk, the affidavit said, and told the police about his work.

``Failey informed the officers that he was currently involved in a project in the basement . . . that involved the development of `simunitions' that will facilitate the dissemination of anthrax,'' wrote FBI agent Parker Shipley.

`TRUMPED UP' Failey, who has a doctorate degree in nuclear and environmental chemistry from the University of Maryland, said Thursday the affidavit was ``trumped up'' and that his mention of anthrax was innocent.

``I'm really angry at the agent,'' he said. ``That's not what I meant and he knows it. I don't even remember how the word anthrax came up, but it wasn't like that.''

The FBI searched Failey's home Sept. 26 and found no incriminating evidence. On Oct. 16, they returned and seized his computer, he said.

``I've never had anthrax. This whole thing is stupid. I'm just trying to live my life in peace,'' Failey said.

Seth Borenstein of the Knight Ridder Washington bureau contributed to this report.

When Alibek defected that left 53,000 people "exposed". When he convinced the other guy to defect, that left the same 53,000 "unemployed" and without incomes in an economy which was collapsing. Besides that, the "program" was located in laboratories and other facilities far removed from the flesh pots of Moscow.

Do any of these 53,000 want to kill someone? - The question maybe ought to be to ask if any of them DON'T want to kill someone!

"Failey may be in luck. He may now be able to bring a legal suit against the media, a la Richard Jewell. Can you say 'big-bucks settlement'?"

Richard Jewell was a hero who caught the ugly end of "no good deed shall go unpunished", but this guy looks like a drunken hothead.

You say Alibek convinced Pasechnik to defect. I don't deny that that's possible. According to Alibek's account in his book, he did approve Pasechnik's trip abroad, on which he defected. But Alibek claims he was totally unaware of Pasechnik's plan to defect. Is there evidence that Alibek was involved in the defection -- which preceded Alibek's (the book gave me the impression that the two defections were a couple of years apart)?

It went to several universities, government contractors, and military institutions in England and Canada.

But we assume the security breach was at Dugway. Reminds me of the drunk looking for his keys under the streetlamp.

Cop: "Where did you drop them?"

Drunk: "Over there somewhere," pointing to the shadows.

Cop: "Then why are you looking here, under the streetlamp, when you know you dropped them over there?"

Drunk: "Because I can't see over there, it's too dark."

We are playing with words here. I could do or say something rather unintentionally that would convince you to defect.

In any case, I have always been under the impression Ken left first, or at least made up his mind about what he had to do first. Am I in error? If so, that's readily corrected.

There are folks who think Ken defected just for a higher income. There are others who say he did it out of principle. My own thought is that he found himself in a rather dangerous place and needed no esoteric reasons to leave it!

If Janco is being charged with making false statements, that makes it seem much more likely that there is nothing to his story. Pity we don't have a source for the article.

I know. It sounds like a real article, but the truth is that I have no way of knowing. The Usenet poster could have made mistakes transcribing it (or conceivably even made it up). It might not be an article at all, but the poster's personal summary of what he remembered reading. Even if it is a real article, we don't know the reputation of the newspaper or wire service it's from, so we can't judge reliability.

This is one reason FR is such a resounding success; all the discussions are based on attributed articles that you can make some kind of judgment about.

Anyway, I'll keep my eyes open for a real source on the Janco situation.

There's no way in hell the government is going to charge Janco with making false statements(they believed him or they'd never have arrested the men) if they did he could sue and get this into civil court where he could have the Pakistanis subpoenaed and brough into court and where the whole case could be brought to light.

The last thing the government wants at this point is to find that any foriegners were involved in the Anthrax murders because this could lead to a grass roots political uprising for immigration reform and mass deportation of illegal aliens and terror linked foriegn individuals.

For globalism to be achieve mass immigration and terror attacks must continue......(along with other factors that push forward globalism aka the movement towards world government--things like: gun control via mass shootings , property rights destruction via enviromentalism, So called "free Trade", destruction of American manufacturing and industry; detruction of the American trucking indutry, destruction of the family farmer; militarization of law enforcement, etc...

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