IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
)
STEVEN J. HATFILL, M.D., )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. ) Civil Action Number
) 1:03CV01793
ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT, )
ET AL., )
)
Defendant. )
DECLARATION OF RICHARD L. LAMBERT
I, Richard L. Lambert, declare as follows:
1. This declaration is submitted in support of the
government's motion for a stay of proceedings in this civil
action due to the pendency of a related criminal investigation.
The statements made in this declaration are based on my personal
knowledge of facts and information obtained and reviewed in the
course of my official duties.
2. I am a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). I entered on duty with the FBI in July
1988. I have been a Special Agent for over l5 years. My
education consists of a Bachelor's Degree, Masters Degree in
Political Science, Master's Degree in Public Administration and
Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree. I am licensed to practice law in
the State of Texas. Before entering on duty with the FBI, I
practiced law in Austin, Texas. Since entering on duty with the
FBI I served as a white collar crime and violent crime
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investigator in the St. Louis Field Office; as a Supervisory
Special Agent in the Legal Counsel Division and Office oj
Professional Responsibility at FBI Headquarters; as a Supervisory
Special Agent of an Organized Crime/Drug Squad in the Norfolk
Field Office; as an Assistant Inspector in the Inspection
Division at FBI Headquarters; and as an Assistant Special Agent
in Charge of counterterrorism and foreign counterintelligence
matters in the San Diego Field Office. Since October 5, 2002, I
have been assigned as the Inspector in Charge of the joint
FBI/U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigation known as
''AMERITHRAX."
3. The AMERITHRAX investigation was initiated in
October 200l. The objective of the investigation is to identify
and to prosecute the individual or individuals responsible for
the worst bioterrorism attack in U.S. history. These attacks
involved the mailing of four anthrax-laden letters: two letters
were mailed to New York, New York on or about September l8, 2001
and two letters were mailed to Washington, D.C. on or about
October 9, 200l. It is suspected that a fifth anthrax-filled
letter was mailed to Boca Raton or Lantana, Florida on an
undetermined date. Two United States Senators and two highly
prominent members of the news media were specifically targeted
for anthrax exposure by the perpetrator(s) of the attacks. The
FBI has recovered four envelopes containing letters and anthrax
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powder which were used in these attacks. These envelopes were
addressed to Tom Brokaw at the National Broadcasting Corporation,
the "Editor'' of the New York Post newspaper, U.S. Senator Tom
Daschle, and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy.
4. As a consequence of these mailings, 22 persons were
infected with anthrax; five persons died and l7 survived. Tt is
estimated that over 30,000 individuals underwent an antibiotic
regimen to protect against anthrax infection. At least l7 post
offices and other public office buildings were contaminated with
anthrax, requiring the expenditure of millions of dollars for
clean up and remediation. The total estimated economic damage
from these attacks stands at over one billion dollars. The
concomitant injury to the collective American psyche is
incalculable. These acts of bioterrorism exacerbated the
trepidation and vulnerability felt by the American people in the
aftermath of the September ll, 2001 terrorist attacks, spawning
nationwide fear about the safety of all mail delivered through
the U.S. postal system.
Investigative Methodology
5. The scope and complexity of the AMERTTHRAX
investigation are unprecedented in the FBI's 95 year history. To
date, the FBI has expended over 23l,OOO agent hours in the
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investigation of the anthrax attacks - the equivalent of 89 Agent
work years.
6. To advance the AMERITHRAX investigation, the FBI
has developed an analytical framework for prioritizing
investigative initiatives. This framework consists of a
bifurcated approach which focuses concurrently on traditional
evidence collection methods targeting people and places, and
scientific evidence collection procedures aimed at profiling and
exploiting the rorensic characteristics or the anthrax evidence
itself.
7. With regard to the first prong or this framework,
individual persons have been identified for investigation based
upon the extent to which they exhibit one or more investigative
criteria. The second prong of the AMERTTHRAX investigation is
focused on an examination of the anthrax spores which were found
within the envelopes mailed to the victims of the attacks.
8. Both investigative prongs are active and ongoing
resulting in the collection or additional evidence, the
generation of new investigative leads, and the development of
cutting-edge forensic techniques and analysis.
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Specific Harms Reasonably Anticipated from Proceedings on
Plaintiff's Privacy Act Claim
9. A stay of plaintiff's Privacy Act claim is viewed
by the FBI as critical to the integrity and successful resolution
of the AMERITHRAX investigation. Litigating plaintiff's claim
before the criminal investigation is resolved will undermine the
government's ability to investigate and prosecute the
perpetrator(s) of this crime and potentially permit the
restrictive rules of criminal procedure to be circumvented. It
is reasonably anticipated that plaintiff will seek discovery of
and access to information collected under the auspices of the
AMERITHRAX investigation. Such discovery would likely seek
investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes,
including case summaries and other probative evidentiary
documents revealing details of the investigation, such as the
character and nature of evidence acquired, the identities of
individuals who are cooperating, the names and addresses of
persons interviewed, the substance of witnesses' statements,
investigative techniques and procedures, and ongoing and planned
investigative initiatives.
1O. Accepting as true plaintiff's allegation that he
is being investigated in connection with the anthrax attacks, it
rollows that allowing plaintiff to take civil discovery of
investigative files and to depose investigative agents and
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officials could easily enable plaintiff to probe into how and why
he is being investigated and where the investigation is headed.
Indeed, the broad and sweeping nature of plaintiff's complaint
appears calculated to lay the predicate for discovery into every
aspect of the investigation as it might relate to plaintiff.
Plaintiff's complaint alleges numerous specific investigative
actions relating to him -- such as polygraph examinations,
searches of his residence, and electronic surveillance of his
telephone. The complaint further makes allegations regarding the
motives behind, evidentiary basis for, and results of, these
alleged actions. It is not possible to proceed with discovery on
any of these subjects without divulging sensitive information
that will compromise and frustrate the AMERITHRAX investigation.
11. If such information reaches plaintiff or other
individuals, it will afford them a voyeur's window into an
active, pending and ongoing criminal investigation. Such
disclosures will provide information concerning the focus and
direction of the investigation, including the FBI's interest in
specific individuals and the factual predicate for that interest.
Arming plaintiff or other individuals with such knowledge will
afford them multiple opportunities to interfere with and obstruct
the investigation by destroying, hiding, secreting, and otherwise
concealing evidence; coercing, intimidating, harassing, or
retaliating against witnesses; fleeing the country or avoiding
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FBI contact; framing justifications, altering recollections,
crafting alibis, manufacturing exculpatory explanations, or
feigning lack of remembrance.
12. Revealing the specific investigative techniques
being used by the FBI in this case will impair their
effectiveness by permitting plaintiff or other individuals to
identify and employ countermeasures aimed at thwarting them.
13. Once public, it is probable that these disclosures
will subject both those under investigation and witnesses to
intense media scrutiny, thus chilling the cooperation and
diminishing the candor which might otherwise be forthcoming
during interviews with the FBI.
14. If classified information were disclosed in this
case, even inadvertently, it would reveal scientific and
technological matters related to national security; special
intelligence collection activities, sources, and methods; and the
vulnerabilities and capabilities of installations, projects and
plans relating to U.S. bio-weapons defense and national security.
In the hands of those hostile to the U.S., this valuable
intelligence could aid state-sponsors of terrorism or terrorist
organizations in their efforts to genetically engineer or alter
their anthrax bio-weapons to "spoof" or escape detection by
currently utilized U.S. defense technologies.
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15. In addition to the foregoing harms posed by
disclosure of the types of information described above, any
discovery proceedings in this matter will divert and distract FBI
Agents and Postal Inspectors from investigating the most serious
bioterrorism attack in U.S. history. Permitting discovery to go
forward in this matter may impede investigators' ability to
identify, gather and collect evidence in a timely manner. This
consequence will accrue if investigators are embroiled in
responding to interrogatories, requests for production of
documents and depositions.
16. All of these outcomes will seriously and adversely
affect the FBI's ability to effectively and efficiently conduct
the AMERITHRAX investigation.
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Pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 1746,
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and
correct.
Executed this 21st day of November, 2003.
(signed)
Richard L. Lambert
Inspector in Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D. C.