Posted on 08/13/2008 5:38:47 PM PDT by ZACKandPOOK
While Al-Timimi was recruiting for the Taliban, he was also connected to one of the principals on Al Qaeda’s WMD Committee, Mohammed Abdel-Rahman. The CIA and FBI apparently have known this for years but have kept it secret as part of their ongoing confidential national security and criminal investigation. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman spoke at the first conference of the Islamic Assembly of North America (”IANA”) in 1993 and was noted to be from Afghanistan. Mohammed Abdelrahman spoke alongside Ali Al-Timimi again, for example, in 1996 in Toronto and again that December in Chicago at the annual conference. The December conference was held after blind sheik Abdel-Rahman was indicted. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman was close to bin Laden and was engaged in planning key operations. OBL considered him like a son. Mohammed was on the three member WMD committee with Midhat Mursi. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman ran a training camp that was part of the larger complex of several camps. He was an explosives trainer.
The “Superseding Indictment” in United States of postal employee Ahmed Abdel Sattar et al., explains that on February 12, 1997, with Mohammed Abdelrahman back in Afghanistan, a statement issued in the name of the Islamic Group threatened, “The Islamic Group declares all American interests legitimate targets to its legitimate jihad until the release of all prisoners, on top of whom” is Abdel Rahman. Three months later, on May 5, 1997, a statement issued in the name of the Islamic Group threatened, “If any harm comes to the [S]heikh [,] al-Gama al-IsIalamiy[y]a will target [] all of those Americans who participated in subjecting his life to danger.” The statement also said that “A1-Gamaa al-Islamiyya considers every American official, starting with the American president to the despicable jailer [] partners endangering the Sheikh’s life,” and that the Islamic Group would do “everything in its power” to free Abdel Rahman.
The same person who posted notice of the 1996 conference where Al-Timimi, Bilal Philips and Mohammed Abdel-Rahman spoke, then posted notice of a protest titled “STOP RAILROADING OF SHEIKH OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN - PROTEST US POLICIES AGAINST ISLAM.” The Rally was to take place on June 20, 1997 in front of the US Bureau of Prisons in Washington DC.
An FBI affidavit, drafted in support of a warrant for the search of Post Office employee Sattar’s Staten Island apartment, explains that Sattar was the communications hub to and from the imprisoned Abdel-Rahman. The 42-year-old postal worker worked as a paralegal during the blind terrorist’s federal trial for attorneys Lynne Stewart and Stanley Cohen. Sattar was in frequent contact with IG leaders worldwide, including Rifa’i Taha Musa (”Taha”) and WMD Committee member Abdel-Rahman’s son Mohammed.
Al Qaeda continued to seek religious approval from blind sheik Abdel-Rahman for its attacks. The US indictment of the Post Office worker in contact with Mohammed Abdel-Rahman alleged: “On or about June 19, 2000, one of Abdel Rahman’s sons, Mohammed Abdel Rahman, spoke by telephone with SATTAR and asked SATTAR to convey to Abdel Rahman the fierceness of the debate within the Islamic Group about the initiative, and said that “even if the other side is right,” SATTAR should tell Abdel Rahman to calm the situation by supporting “the general line of the Group.” The indictment of the US Post Office worker Sattar further alleges: “On or about June 20, 2000, SATTAR spoke by telephone with Mohammed Abdel Rahman and advised him that a conference call had taken place that morning between Abdel Pahman and some of his attorneys and that Abdel Rahman had issued a new statement containing additional points which made clear, among other things, that Abdel Rahman was not unilaterally ending the initiative, but rather, was withdrawing his support for it and “stating that it was up” to the “brothers” in the Islamic Group now to reconsider the issue.
The indictment of the US Post Office employee Sattar further alleges: “On or about September 21, 2000, an Arabic television station, Al Jazeera, televised a meeting of Usama Bin Laden (leader of the al Qaeda terrorist organization), Ayman al Zawahiri (former leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization and one of Bin Laden’s top lieutenants), and Taha. Sitting under a banner which read, “Convention to Support Honorable Omar Abdel Rahman,” the three terrorist leaders pledged “to free Abdel Rahman from incarceration in the United States. During the meeting, Mohammed Abdel Rahman, a/k/a “Asadallah,” who is a son of Abdel Rahman, was heard encouraging others to “avenge your Sheikh” and “go to the spilling of blood.”
In December 2001, the blind sheik’s lawyer Montasser Al-Zayat — the fellow in touch with US Post Office employee Sattar who claimed in March 1999 that Zawahiri was going to use weaponized anthrax against US targets — claimed that Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, 29, had died from wounds received during the bombardment of the Tora Bora caves in eastern Afghanistan. He said his information came from an Islamic activist in London. The report was false. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman was arrested in mid-February 2003 and Ali Al-Timimi’s townhouse was searched two week later.
The FBI feels that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. They are criticized for making arrests too soon — other times they are criticized for not acting sooner. They are criticized when they don’t give out any information. They are criticized when they do. All the while, the public is seldom well-positioned to second-guess the issue. That is why upon the closing of Amerithrax, if it remains on its present course, there should be Congressional hearings and an US DOJ Inspector General investigation.
I never heard of Ali Al-Timimi until I read your thread today....
Here are some URLs relevant to the 2 P.M. briefing.
If I were a science writer there, I would ask for their explanation of what the FBI calls the “silicon signature,” the issue of isotope ratios (which MSNBC indicated that the culture had been grown in the Northeastern United States), and the issue of subtilus contamination.
On the issue of the genetic inquiry, the key take-how is that it narrowed it only to 8 known isolates (at how many labs, 4?), and 100 known people KNOWN to have access. The phrasing “sole custodian” as to Ivins in the FBI affidavits creates a misleading impression. He was the “sole custodian “ of the flask but not of the stream of genetically identical isolates downstream from the flask. The flask did not have a silicon signature. The flask did not have subtilus contamination.
Investigation of Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax, United States, 2001: Epidemiologic Findings,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0353.htm
“First Case of Bioterrorism-Related Inhalational Anthrax in the United States,” Palm Beach County, Florida, 2001, Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0354.htm
“First Case of Bioterrorism-Related Inhalational Anthrax, Florida, 2001: North Carolina Investigation,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0389.htm
“Opening a Bacillus anthracis–Containing Envelope, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: The Public Health Response,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0332.htm
“Inhalational Anthrax Outbreak among Postal Workers, Washington, D.C., 2001,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0330.htm
“Bacillus anthracis Aerosolization Associated with a Contaminated Mail Sorting Machine,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0329.htm
“Epidemiologic Investigations of Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax, New Jersey, 2001,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0322.htm
“Surveillance for Anthrax Cases Associated with Contaminated Letters, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, 2001,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0399.htm
“Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax Surveillance, Connecticut, September–December, 2001,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0398.htm
“Environmental Sampling for Spores of Bacillus anthracis,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0355.htm
“Call-Tracking Data and the Public Health Response to Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0390.htm
“Coordinated Response to Reports of Possible Anthrax Contamination, Idaho, 2001,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0390.htm
“Bioterrorism-Related Anthrax: International Response by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, October 2002
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no10/02-0345.htm
Beecher, Douglas J., “Forensic Application of Microbiological Culture Analysis To Identify Mail Intentionally Contaminated with Bacillus anthracis Spores,” Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Aug. 2006, p. 5304-5310
Bowen, G. J., J. R. Ehleringer, L. Chesson, E. Stange, and C. E. Cerling. 2007. “Stable isotope ratios of tap water in the contiguous USA,” Water Resour. Res. 43:W03419.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006WR005186.shtml
Budowle B, Harmon R., “HIV legal precedent useful for microbial forensics,” Croat Med J. 46(4):514-21 (Aug 2005).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16100753&ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Budowle, B., M. D. Johnson, C. M. Fraser, T. J. Leighton, R. S. Murch, and R. Chakraborty. 2005. “Genetic analysis and attribution of microbial forensics evidence,” Crit. Rev. Microbiol. 31:233-254.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=16417203&dopt=AbstractPlus
Budowle B, Murch R, Chakraborty R., “Microbial forensics: the next forensic challenge,” Int J Legal Med. 119(6):317-30 (Nov 2005).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=15821943&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Budowle, B., S. E. Schutzer, M. S. Ascher, R. M. Atlas, J. P. Burans, R. Chakraborty, J. J. Dunn, C. M. Fraser, D. R. Franz, T. J. Leighton, S. A. Morse, R. S. Murch, J. Ravel, D. L. Rock, T. R.
Slezak, S. P. Velsko, A. C. Walsh, and R. A. Walters. “Toward a system of microbial forensics: from sample collection to interpretation of evidence,” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:2209-2213 (2005).
http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/5/2209?ijkey=11f63da16d84d14221469a04d0917d00b4ae7e74&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Budowle, B., S. E. Schutzer, A. Einseln, L. C. Kelley, A. C. Walsh, J. A. L. Smith, B. L. Marrone, J. Robertson, and J. Campos. Building microbial forensics as a response to bioterrorism. Science 301:1852-1853 (2003).
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/301/5641/1852?ijkey=6c5eda5d0b0d4dec11807281f555d5087c756235&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Cliff, J. B., K. H. Jarman, N. B. Valentine, S. L. Golledge, D. J. Gaspar, D. S. Wunschel, and K. L. Wahl, “Differentiation of spores of Bacillus subtilis grown in different media by elemental characterization using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry,” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:6524-6530 (2005)
http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/71/11/6524?ijkey=8feb323b80876abedc9727959678c8b67e431489&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Horita, J., and A. A. Vass, “Stable-isotope fingerprints of biological agents as forensic tools,” J. Forensic Sci. 48:122-126 (2003)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=12570211&dopt=AbstractPlus
Keim et al., “Microbial forensics: DNA fingerprinting of Bacillus anthracis (anthrax),” Analytical Chemistry, 2008 Jul; 80 (13): 4791-9
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/ancham/80/i13/html/0708feature_keim.html
Kreuzer-Martin, H. W., L. A. Chesson, M. J. Lott, J. V. Dorigan, and J. R. Ehleringer, “Stable isotope ratios as a tool in microbial forensics. 2. Isotopic variation among different growth media as a tool for sourcing origins of bacterial cells or spores,” J. Forensic Sci. 49:961-967 (2004).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15461095&dopt=AbstractPlus
Kreuzer-Martin, H. W., L. A. Chesson, M. J. Lott, and J. R. Ehleringer, “Stable isotope ratios as a tool in microbial forensics. 3. Effect of culturing on agar-containing growth media,” J. Forensic Sci. 50:1372-1379 (2005).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=16382831&dopt=AbstractPlus
Kreuzer-Martin, H. W., M. J. Lott, J. Dorigan, and J. R. Ehleringer, “Microbe forensics: oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope ratios in Bacillus subtilis cells and spores,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:815-819 (2003).
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/3/815.abstract?ijkey=fab4cbbab441ba7dff87548c7f41866771a131bb&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
J.B. Petro, and D.A Relman, “Understanding Threats to Scientific Openness, Science, December 12, 2003
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;302/5652/1898/DC1
Shoham, Dany & Jacobsen, Stuart “Technical Intelligence in Retrospect: 2001 Anthrax Letters Powder,” International Journal for Intelligence and Counterintelligence, October 2006
Wahl, K. L., N. B. Valentine, S. C. Wunschel, D. S. Wunschel, K. H. Jarman, and C. E. Petersen. Microorganism analysis and identification by MALDI-TOF-MS. Abstr. Pap. Am. Chem. Soc. 226:U121 (2003).
Wunschel, D. S., E. A. Hill, J. S. McLean, K. Jarman, Y. A. Gorby, N. Valentine, and K. Wahl. Effects of varied pH, growth rate and temperature using controlled fermentation and batch culture on matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization whole cell protein fingerprints. J. Microbiol. Methods 62:259-271 (2005).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15979749&dopt=AbstractPlus
Wunschel, S. C., K. H. Jarman, C. E. Petersen, N. B. Valentine, K. L. Wahl, D. Schauki, J. Jackman, C. P. Nelson, and E. White. Bacterial analysis by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry: an inter-laboratory comparison. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 16:456-462 (2005).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15792714&dopt=AbstractPlus
Ali Al-Timimi worked at George Mason University’s Discovery Hall throughout 2000 and 2002 period. The Mason Gazette in “Mason to Pursue Advanced Biodefense Research” on November 17, 2000 had announced: “The School of Computational Sciences (SCS) and Advanced Biosystems, Inc., a subsidiary of Hadron, Inc., of Alexandria, are pursuing a collaborative program at the Prince William Campus to enhance research and educational objectives in biodefense research. The article noted that the program was funded primarily by a grant awarded to Advanced Biosystems from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As a 2007 GMU PhD thesis “An Assessment of Exploitable Weaknesses in Universities” by Corinne M. Verzoni offices and research located in Discovery Hall, making this an attractive building on the Prince William Campus to target for information and technology.” The 2007 PhD student biodefense student explained: “Discovery Hall currently has BSL 1, 2 and 2+ labs in which students work with attenuated and vaccine strains of Fracella tularemia, anthrax and HIV. GMU will eventually have new biological labs featuring a BSL-3 lab which will have anthrax and tularemia.”
Instead of starting a center from scratch, GMU chose to join forces with Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey’s existing research firm, Hadron Advanced Biosystems Inc. Hadron was already working under contract for the federal government, having received funding from DARPA. Dr. Alibek told the Washington Post that he and Bailey had spent their careers studying an issue that only recently grabbed the country’s attention, after the anthrax mailings the previous fall. Dr. Bailey and Alibek met in 1991, when a delegation of Soviet scientists visited the USAMRIID at Ft. Detrick. Dr. Bailey explained that the purpose of the tour was to show the Soviets that the US was not developing offensive biological weapons. Bailey said he tried to engage Alibek in conversation but Alibek remained aloof. Alibek, for his part, explains that he was suspicious of this American smiling so broadly at him. A year later, Alibek would defect to the US and reveal an illegal biological program in the Soviet Union of a staggering scope. Alibek says that one reason he defected was that he realized that the Soviet intelligence was wrong — that the US research was in fact only defensive.
Former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Ames researcher Bailey coinvented, with Ken Alibek, the process to treat cell culture with hydrophobic silicon dioxide so as to permit greater concentration upon drying. He was in Room 156B of GMU’s Discovery Hall at the Center for Biodefense. The patent application was filed March 14, 2001. Rm 154A was Victor Morozov’s room number when he first assumed Timimi’s phone number in 2004 (and before he moved to the newly constructed Bull Run Hall). Morozov was the co-inventor with Dr. Bailey of the related cell culture process under which the silica was removed from the spore surface.
One ATCC former employee felt so strongly about lax security there the scientist called me out of the blue and said that the public was overlooking the patent repository as a possible source of the Ames strain. ATCC does not deny they had virulent Ames in their patent repository pre 9/11 (as distinguished from their online catalog). The spokesperson emailed me: “As a matter of policy, ATCC does not disclose information on the contents of its patent depository.”
George Mason University, Department Listings, accessed August 17, 2003, shows that the National Center For Biodefense and Center for Biomedical Genomics had the same mail stop (MS 4ES). The most famed bioweaponeer in the world was not far from this sheik urging violent jihad in an apocalyptic struggle between religions. Dr. Alibek’s office was Rm. 156D in Prince William 2. The groups both shared the same department fax of 993-4288. Dr. Alibek advises me he had seen him several times in the corridors of GMU and was told that he was a religious muslim hard-liner but knew nothing of his activities. At one point, Timimi’s mail drop was MSN 4D7.
BIODEFENSE, THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR
3-8545
FAX 993-4288 . . . . . . . . MS 4E3
www.gmu.edu/centers/biodefense
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
KEN ALIBEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156D Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-8545
Deputy Director
Charles Bailey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
156B Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-4271
Partnerships and Education Assistant
Mary-Margaret Flannery . . . . . . . .
182B Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-4263
Research
Kathryn Crockett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Prince William II . . . . . . . . . 3-4297
Anne Keleher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156A Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-8396
Research Assistant Professor
Monique Van Hoek . . . . . . . . . . . .
156E Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-4273
BIOMEDICAL GENOMICS, CENTER FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2674
FAX 993-4288 . . . . . . . . MS 4E3
www.gmu.edu/centers/genomics
DIRECTOR
VIKAS CHANDHOKE . . . . . . . . . .
181B Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-2674
*Christina Largent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182F Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-2674
Assistant Director of Operations
Tom Huff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
225D Prince William II . . . . . . . . 3-1255
George Mason University - Department Listings 12
Al-Timimi, Ali . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4294
DelGiacco, Luca . . . . . . . . . 3-4041
Dols, Shellia . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3768
Fortney, Amanda . . . . . . . . 3-4289
Gandreti, Vijaya . . . . . . . . . 3-4580
Gorreta, Francesco . . . . . . . 3-2672
Schlauch, Karen . . . . . . . . . 3-4269
Charles Bailey at 3-4271 was the former head of USAMRIID and joined the Center in April 2001. He continued to do research with Ames after 9/11. Dr. Alibek reports that shortly after the mailings, he wrote FBI Director Mueller and offered his services but was advised that they already had assembled a large group. A 2004 report describes research done by Dr. Alibek and his colleagues using Delta Ames obtained from NIH for a research project done for USAMRIID. There were two grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 2001. One $3.6 million grant dated to July 2001 and the other was previous to that.
Ali Al Timimi had the same telephone number that Dr. Victor Morozov of the Center for Biodefense would later have when he joined the faculty and occupied the newly constructed Bull Run Building, which opened in late 2004 (Rm. #362). Dr. Morozov focuses on the development of new bioassay methods for express analysis, high-throughput screening and proteomics. He has recently developed a new electrospray-based technology for mass fabrication of protein microarrays. Dr. Morozov is currently supervising a DOE -funded research project directed at the development of ultra-sensitive express methods for detection of pathogens in which slow diffusion of analytes is replaced by their active transport controlled and powered by external forces (electric, magnetic, gravitational or hydrodynamic). His homepage explains that: “A variety of projects are available for students to participate in 1. Develop methods for active capturing of viruses and cells. 2. AFM imaging of macromolecules, viruses and cells. 3. Develop active immunoassay. 4. Analyze forces operating in the active assay of biomolecules and viral particles. 5. Develop immobilization techniques for antibodies and other biospecific molecules. 6. Study crystallization dynamics and morphology of organic and inorganic crystals in the presence of protein impurities. 7. Develop software to analyze motion of beads. 8. Develop software to analyze patterns in drying droplets. 9. Develop an electrostatic collector for airborne particles.”
Al-Timimi obtained a doctorate from George Mason University in 2004 in the field of computational biology — a field related to cancer research involving genome sequencing. He successfully defended his thesis 5 weeks after his indictment. Curt Jamison, Timimi’s thesis advisor, coauthor and loyal friend, was in Prince William II (Discovery Hall) Rm. 181A. The staff of Advanced Biosystems was in Rm. 160, 162, 177, 254E and several others. Computational sciences offices were intermixed among the Hadron personnel on the first floor of Prince William II to include 159, 161, 166A, 167, 181 B and 181C. Rm. 156B was Charles Bailey, former commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, who was head of the Center for Biodefense. Defense contractor Hadron had announced the appointment of Dr. Bailey as Vice-President of Advanced Biosystems in early April 2001. “Over 13 years, Dr. Bailey had served as a Research Scientist, Deputy Commander for Research, Deputy Commander and Commander at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute. As a USAMRIID scientist, he designed and supervised the construction of BL-3 containment facilities. His hands-on experience with a wide variety of pathogens is chronicled in 70 published articles. During his 4 years with the Defense Intelligence Agency, he published numerous articles assessing foreign capabilities regarding biological weapons.” When I asked Dr. Bailey to confirm Al-Timimi’s room number relative to his own, his only response was to refer me to University counsel. Counsel then never substantively responded to my inquiry regarding their respective room numbers citing student privacy. Ali’s friend and thesis advisor, Dr. Jamison never responded to an emailed query either. GMU understandably is very nervous about losing the $25 million grant for a new BL-3 regional facility to be located very near our country’s capitol.
The reports on the study on the effectiveness of the mailed anthrax in the Canadian experiment was reported in private briefings in Spring and Summer of 2001. An insider thus was not dependent on the published report later that Fall. (The date on the formal report is September 10, 2001).
Dr. Charles Bailey for DIA wrote extensively on the the biothreat posed by other countries (and presumably terrorists). He shared a fax number with Al-Timimi. What came over that fax line in Spring and Summer of 2001? At some point, Dr. Al-Timimi, Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey also shared the same maildrop. It certainly would not be surprising that the two directors who headed the DARPA-funded Center for Biodefense — and had received the biggest defense award in history for work with Delta Ames under a contract with USAMRIID — would have been briefed on the threat of mailed anthrax. The 1999 short report by William Patrick to Hatfill at SAIC on the general subject was far less important given that it did not relate to actual experimental findings.
Plus, it is common sense that while someone might use as a model something they had surreptitiously learned of — they would not use as a model something in a memo that they had commissioned. Thus, it was rather misdirected to focus on the 1999 SAIC report commissioned by Dr. Hatfill rather than the 2001 Canadian report. The Canadian report related to the anthrax threat sent regarding the detention of Vanguards of Conquest #2 Mahjoub in Canada. Mahjoub had worked with al-Hawsawi in Sudan (the fellow with anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop). The anthrax threat in late January prompted the still-classified PDB in early February 2001 to President Bush on the subject.
In Fall 2001, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (”AFIP”) had detected silicon dioxide (silica) in the attack anthrax — with a characteristic big spike for the silicon. The reason for the silicon dioxide/silica claimed to have been detected by AFIP has never been explained (and it’s been nearly a half decade). No silica was observable on the SEMs images that Dr. Alibek and Dr. Matthew Meselson saw. The Daschle product was “pure spores.” Was silicon dioxide used as part of a microdroplet cell culture process used prior to drying to permit greater concentration? As explained in a later related patent, the silica could be removed from the surface of the spore through repeated centrifugaton or an air chamber.
Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey had filed a patent application in mid-March 2001 involving a microdroplet cell culture technique that used silicon dioxide in a method for concentrating growth of cells. The patent was granted and the application first publicly disclosed in the Spring of 2002. Weren’t the SEMS images and AFIP EDX finding both consistent with use of this process in growing the culture? It’s been suggested informally to me that perhaps the silicon analytical peak was more likely due to silanol from hydrolysis of a silane, used in siliconizing glassware. But didn’t the AFIP in fact also detect oxygen in ratios characteristic of silicon dioxide? Wasn’t the scientist, now deceased, who performed the EDX highly experienced and expert in detecting silica? Hasn’t the AFIP always stood by its report. In its report, AFIP explained: “AFIP experts utilized an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (an instrument used to detect the presence of otherwise-unseen chemicals through characteristic wavelengths of X-ray light) to confirm the previously unidentifiable substance as silica.” Perhaps the nuance that was lost — or just never publicly explained for very sound reasons — was that silica was used in the cell culture process and then removed from the spores through a process such as centrifugation.
Dr. Morozov is co-inventor along with Dr. Bailey for a patent “Cell Culture” that explains how the silicon dioxide can be removed from the surface. Perhaps it is precisely this AFIP finding of silicon dioxide (without silica on the SEMs) that is why the FBI came to suspect Al-Timimi in 2003 (rightly or wrongly, we don’t know). The FBI would have kept these scientific findings secret to protect the integrity of the confidential criminal/national security investigation. There was still a processor and mailer to catch — still a case to prove. After 9/11, intelligence collection takes precedence over arrests. As Ron Kessler explains in the new book, Terrorist Watch, many FBI officials feel that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Outside observers are constantly second-guessing them about how to proceed rather than trusting that they are in the best position to balance the competing considerations of national security, intelligence gathering, the pursuit of justice, and the safeguarding of civil liberties. Above all, in disclosing the theory of access to know-how, the FBI has needed to protect the due process rights of Al-Timimi while he defended himself on other charges.
An example from October 2006 of equipment that went missing from GMU’s Discovery Hall was a rotissery hybridization oven belonging to the Center for Biomedical Genomics. “This equipment can be used to manufacture biological agents and genetically modified agents, which could potentially be used as biological weapons,” the Corinne Verzoni explained in her PhD 2007 thesis. “Upon hearing about instances or missing equipment in Discovery Hall, the author contacted campus security who was unaware of instances of missing equipment. Missing equipment should be reported to the equipment liaison. Missing equipment may not be reported to campus security because labs tend to share equipment. Equipment also goes missing because it is not inventoried if it is under $2,000.
One of her other examples was equally dramatic:
“A DI system is a de-ionized water system, which removes the ions that are found in normal tap water. The assistant director for operations noticed the DI system in Discovery Hall was using the entire 100 gallons in two days, which is an enormous amount of water for the four DI taps in the whole building. According to the assistant director for operations, it is difficult to calculate the reason for that much water since no leak was found. A large amount of water used over a short period of time for unknown reasons could indicate that the research is being conducted covertly.”
“A student with legitimate access to Discovery Hall,” she explained, “has easy accessibility to equipment. A student with access to the loading dock could steal equipment on the weekend when campus security is not present in Discovery Hall. A student could also walk out of the entrance with equipment on the weekend without security present.” She concluded: “The events at GMU demonstrate opportunity to create a clandestine lab, the ability to sell items illegally, or the ability to exploit school equipment.” In a late September 2001 interview on NPR on the anthrax threat, Dr. Alibek said: “When we talk and deal with, for example, nuclear weapons, it’s not really difficult to count how much of one or another substance we’ve got in the hands. When you talk about biological agents, in this case it’s absolutely impossible to say whether or not something has been stolen.” A spokesman at the GMU “Office of Media Relations” emailed me in mid-December 2007 noting: “While working toward a doctorate in bioinformatics here at George Mason University, Mr. Al-Timimi had no access to any sensitive or secure materials or matter. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know.” When I emailed him questions, he did not know of the answers and then never got back to me.
William Clark, author of Bracing for Armaggedon (2008) describes the Dark Winter exercise from Summer 2000
“In what looks like a potential coup, the FBI has worked with Russian police and intelligence agencies to arrange a ‘sting’ operation that netted a senior Al-Qaeda operative as he was attempting to purchase fifty kilograms of plutonium in Russia. This individual had also made inquiries about obtaining certain biological warfare weapons produced some years earlier by Soviet Union laboratories. The United States needs to craft a careful plan about how much of this to make public and how much to keep under wraps. The Russians are already beginning to leak information that many on the U.S. side want kept classified.”
***
“The security advisor signals for the TV to be turned off. He sits down, and the President stands up and looks around the table.
“In view of the potential extreme urgency of the situation, I am setting tonight’s agenda temporarily aside. I talked just a few minutes ago with Secretary of the Health and Human Services, who confirms that we do indeed have smallpox in Oklahoma City. In fact the latest word I have is that there may be cases up in Pennsylvania and in Georgia as well, although these cases have not yet been confirmed to me by the Secretary. *** We are considering this a bioterrorist attack on the United States.”
Question: Did Ali Al-Timimi know the Dark Winter exercise scenario by reason of being at Discovery Hall of the DARPA-funded Center for Biodefense and sharing a fax and maildrop and water fountain with the leading anthrax scientist and the former deputy commander of USAMRIID?
Presently, Al-Timimi’s prosecution is on remand while the defense is given an opportunity to discover any documents that existed prior to 9/11 about al-Timimi and to address an issue relating to NSA intercepts after 9/11. In May 2007, Ali’s defense counsel has explained to the federal district court, upon a remand by the appeals court, that Mr. Timimi was interviewed by an FBI agent and a Secret Service agent as early as February 1994 in connection with the first World Trade Center attack. The agents left their business cards which the family kept. Defense counsel Turley further explained that “We have people that were contacted by the FBI and told soon after 9/11 that they believed that Dr. Al-Timimi was either connected to 9/11 or certainly had information about Al Qaeda.” The federal prosecutor, Mr. Kromberg responded: “I’d like to clarify something. Mr. MacMahon (Timimi’s earlier defense counsel) never said that the document that he saw showed that there was electronic surveillance. If there was an interview of Ali Timimi in 1994 and he did not say anything exculpatory about what happened in 2001, it’s hard to imagine how that, how that conceivably could be discoverable in 2003 or 2004.” Kromberg continued: “The same thing with the interview after 9/11. The government never denied that the FBI interviewed Al-Timimi nine days after 9/11. Our position was that there was nothing discoverable about that interview.” The court, for its part, weighed in: “Yes, but I think, I think most prosecutors err on the side of caution on that one, because who determines what is relevant? I mean, again, that’s why we have an adversary system.” According to Al-Timimi’s defense counsel in a court filing, Ali “was described to his brother by the FBI within days of the 9-11 attacks as an immediate suspect in the Al Qaeda conspiracy.”
At a conference on countering biological terrorism in 1999 sponsored by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Alibek was introduced by a former colleague of Dr. Bailey:
“Dr. Llewellyn: This is rather strange because I just met Dr. Alibek today. He was introduced to me by Dr. Charlie Bailey, who now works for SRA. But Charlie and I were associated with the Army Medical Research and Development Command Defense Program for over 20 years.
***
Dr. Alibek: Thank you very much for your attention.”
Isn’t SRA who Al-Timimi worked for 1999 where he had a high security clearance for work for the Navy? See Milton Viorst’s article “The Education of Ali Al-Timimi. Did Dr. Bailey also work there at SRA in 1999? Did they work together? When I emailed Dr. Bailey in December 2007 to confirm Ali had the room right near his at Discovery Hall he politely referred me to counsel and took no questions. Dr. Alibek and Dr. Popov have told me that Ali is not known to have worked on any biodefense project. Dr. Popova told me I should direct any such questions to Dr. Bailey. Dr. Bailey told me I should direct any questions to University counsel. University counsel declined to answer any questions.
This is one of those uncomfortable questions that Condoleeza Rice in 1999 in writing about bioterrorism the public might have to ask about intelligence matters relating to bioterrorism. Unfortunately, it is easier to ask the question than get any answers from this Administration.
For those interested in reading relevant background material, I recommend Peter Lance’s XXX which addresses an analogous instance of infiltration and the failure of the CIA, US Army and FBI to properly avoid it, and then upon it being discovered, forthrightly address it.
In December 2001, the CIA obtained the record of a request by Ayman Zawahiri to Al Qaeda’s military commander, Egyptian Mohammed Atef, for a book that extensively featured Dr. Ken Alibek and discussed the method of microencapsulation, the method used to weaponize the Daschle and Leahy anthrax. As Professor Turley at GWU, who represents “anthrax weapons suspect” Al-Timimi infers, the FBI and CIA very likely were enthused at the prospect of continuing a FISA warrant on Ali Al-Timimi’s phone and email to pursue this lead. According to Ali’s lawyer, he was in contact with folks associated with Al Qaeda’s network including Bin Laden’s sheik (the subject of Bin Laden’s 1996 declaration of war) immediately before and after the first anthrax mailing. According to his lawyer, Ali even met with the “911 imam” to discuss a planned hand delivery of a warning to every member of Congress on the first anniversary of the anthrax letters to the Senators.
The book that Ayman asked Atef to get (and it is sold by Amazon) explains:
“This coating process - called microencapsulation - is also considered evidence of possible Soviet assistance, since only the Soviets and Americans (before 1969) managed to coat...” The authors interviewed both Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey (and specifically acknowledged their help). The authors explained:
“Dr. Malcolm Dando, the distinguished biologist and Professor of International Security at the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, Englad, talks of microencapsulation, a process by which BW agents can be coated and protected against a variety of harmful outside factors... This process also allows agents to survive longer and to be inhaled more easily, which increases the likeihood of infection and death. Currently, the detection and identification of microencapsulated BW agents is more difficult than for non-encapsulated materials. The Soviets crossed this scientific threshold years ago and were able to ‘spray’ their bacterial and viral agents that were resistant to the sun’s rays.)”
They continued:
“In fact, microencapsulation can already be tailored for the mission. For example, you can apply one coating for added protection from heat, and then another one for the effects of sunlight. A germ would need both coatings if it were packed inside a missile warhead and then had to survive explosive decompression at its target, together with sudden exposure to sunlight.”
Such a coating is used in pharmaceuticals and functional animal feedstuffs, for example, to avoid the destruction by enzymes before reaching the target organ.
A thesis written by Dr. Alibek’s assistant — who the directory from 2002 shows was a couple doors away from Ali Al-Timimi — says if silica was detected it would have been used for this purpose of encapsulation. The author, Dr. Crockett, also acknowledges the help of FBI’s Amerithrax consultant, William Patrick. There was more than one bioweapons thesis by an assistant to Dr. Alibek at GMU’s Center for Biodefense that thanked Dr. Patrick.
The forensic finding set the respective squads off in alternative investigative directions. One squad focused on, for example, Hatfill, friend of William Patrick who might have learned a trick or two. Another squad focused on Al-Timimi, who also might have learned a trick or two from the same fount of knowledge — given he shared the same water fountain with Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey. In fact, curiously, it now appears that both Al-Timimi and Dr. Bailey worked at SRA International before GMU. Al-Timimi had a high security clearance for work with the Navy at SRA. See Milton Viorst, “The Education of Ali Al-Timimi.” I spoke to Ali’s wife, who is wonderful, but until and unless cleared by counsel, she is not able to discuss why Ali had a high security clearance for mathematical support work for the Navy while at SRA.
Ayman’s requests to Atef had included publications not only on anthrax, but botulinum and plague. There is every reason to think that redheaded Abu Musab al-Suri’s web discussion of biological weapons stemmed from the book learning and networking that Zawahiri and Midhat Mursi were doing.
But carry on. Bruce Ivins used fake screen names to post on the internet, participated in Greek chat boards, and was angry over falsely accused of not having submitted a true sample (which now Dr. Keim confirms he did).
I wonder if anyone is planning a movie on this story...You have more than enought information to write the screenplay...
Who is more dangerous? US-based operatives of Al Qaeda?
Or the Department of Justice who urges this crock that the evidence offered constitutes proof beyond a reasonable doubt of five capital murders?
Al Qaeda isn’t scary. But US DOJ is when they call this Justice.
Now the US DOJ says they don’t know why silica was found even though their “anthrax weapons suspect” was 15 feet from the co-inventors of a process that is used to concentrate anthrax using silicon dioxide in the culture medium. My military expert says the patent is a “wow!” patent that increases viability of a wide variety of pathogens. In the context of anthrax, its effect on viability is somewhat redundant given the exosporium. But on the face of the patent we see that the silicon dioxide in the culture medium (where it is absorbed because of the natural tendency of silicon to be absorbed) serves to dampen vander waals forces and permit greater concentration. We later see a related patent by the former USAMRIID deputy commander and a different Russian scientist who inherited Al-Timimi’s telephone number explaining that the silica on the surface can be removed by repeated centrifugation or an air chamber.
Why did Ali have a high security clearance for mathematical work for the Navy in 1999? Did he work with the former USAMRIID deputy commander then? (the fellow was there at SRA in 1999 at the same time as Ali).
Now I can understand that there are national security reasons to keep information relating to anthrax weaponization secret. And I can understand the Administration is not eager to have it come out that Ali used Andrew Card as a reference having worked for him for 2 months in 1996. But that’s no reason to accuse Ivins especially after the destruction of the anthrax sample. What does the paper trail show with regard to the destruction? Did the father of the lawyer representing Ali Al-Timimi pro bono authorize it? The family are Palestinian activists (brother; sister-in-law) who argued publicly that terrorism should not be attributed to Bin Laden. I don’t think there needs to be an IG investigation as much as a criminal investigation. I no longer think the US Attorney should resign — I think the WMD head should resign. Because these scientists can understand the use of silicon dioxide in the culture medium to concentrate anthrax by overcoming vander waals forces whereas we lawyers can’t. It’s going to take a powerhouse science writer like Matsumoto to get justice.
As for a movie, it’s not possible to even participate in the debate if US DOJ doesn’t have our back. If you can’t trust someone as smart and principled as Robert Mueller or Michael Mason, who can you trust? It’s just not worth paying attention. I’m going to my happy place.
Let Ayman and his colleagues laugh at the havoc they caused through an infiltration that was transparent on its face. Just as the case of Ali Mohammed who made fools of the US Army, FBI and CIA.
Oh, and if the US is attacked with aerosolized anthrax (does it really freakin’ matter whether you use the word “weaponized” if it floats like smoke) then the fault lies with the WMD head who was at that conference.
Spore on a grassy knoll. Screw you, buddy.
In terms of a movie, the title was going to be
SUMMONS TO CONQUEST.
But then I realized that milligan might not like it because George Clooney’s MICHAEL CLAYTON had given me the idea. In the mvoie, it was about people who all had the same dream and were drawn by it. (Here, you can see that the public outcry has crossed all political boundaries.) KINKOS has even published 2,000 copies bound in red copies. And the title especially fit because, I’ve argued, that the Vanguards of Conquest are responsible for the mailing. (VOC is Egyptian Islamic Jihad by another name). But now, given that the fellow, who I don’t believe is a life scientist, has already coined “Spore on a Grassy Knoll.”
So as I’m coming to be less and less pleased with narrative being concocted, let’s go with
“AMERITHRAX: Just a Gorilla In A Rubber Suit.” :0)
Of course, I may be wrong. Let Dr. Michael the materials science expert opining on the silicon come forward this week on the natural variability of silicon. It’s a simple data set that need not await a long off publication date in a peer reviewed journal. Also the weight of the silicon in the attack anthrax. Then I’ll show him the data set of trillion spore anthrax concentration made with siliconizing solution in the culture medium/nutrient bath. And we’ll see whose data set most closely matches the Leahy product.
If you could ask the Gorilla in the Rubber Suit one question, ask if the spores were encapsulated and who co-invented the DARPA funded patent explaining how silicon dioxide used in the culture medium serves to concentrate anthrax.
There’s a beautiful and moving tribute to Christa McAuliffe called “Christa’s Song: Reach for the Stars.” I believe he copyrighted it in 1986 or so but I don’t have it in front of me. He wrote it to pay tribute to her in the Shuttle explosion. Local musicians around the country wrote similar tributes. You may have heard Carley Simon’s version. His copyright application which is available to any enterprising reporter would show his handwriting down at the Madison Building. The woman there, I’m sure, would be very helpful.
Another hero of his was Sally Ride. Using the screen name prunetacos, he once explained that he drove to Baltimore to hear her speak.
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=79946
The FBI has posted a psycholinguistic assessment of the writer of the anthrax letters:
“PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ASSESSMENT
While the text in these letters is limited, there are certain distinctive characteristics in the author’s writing style. These same characteristics may be evident in other letters, greeting cards, or envelopes this person has written. We hope someone has received correspondence from this person and will recognize some of these characteristics.
The characteristics include:
1. The author uses dashes (”-”) in the writing of the date “09-11-01.” Many people use the slash (”/”) to separate the day/month/year.
2. In writing the number one, the author chooses to use a formalized, more detailed version. He writes it as “1” instead of the simple vertical line.
3. The author uses the words “can not,” when many people prefer to spell it as one word, “cannot.”
4. The author writes in all upper case block-style letters. However, the first letter of the first word of each sentence is written in slightly larger upper case lettering. Also, the first letter of all proper nouns (like names) is slightly larger. This is apparently the author’s way of indicating a word should be capitalized in upper case lettering. For whatever reason, he may not be comfortable or practiced in writing in lower case lettering.
5. The names and address on each envelope are noticeably tilted on a downward slant from left to right. This may be a characteristic seen on other envelopes he has sent.
***
How does this analysis by the FBI compare to Dr. Bruce Ivins’ handwriting which is publicly available? I’ve had an FBI Agent assure me that hand writing analysis is reliable. Thus, the lack of a match would be admissible exculpatory evidence.
At an Anthrax Lab, the World Changed Quickly
New York Times
November 21, 2001
By JIM YARDLEY
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/21/national/21LAB.html
HOUSTON, Nov. 20 - ***
The layers of security at Dr. Koehler’s laboratory, at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, are byproducts of the new, suddenly uncomfortable world of anthrax research. The deaths of four people in unsolved anthrax attacks have brought heightened scrutiny to the domestic laboratories where anthrax is stored, particularly now that investigators suspect a home-grown terrorist.
For Dr. Koehler, 42, a microbiologist who has studied anthrax for 20 years, the fact that someone made a weapon from the organism to which she has dedicated her professional life is particularly horrifying, even strangely personal. “Even though I had run in circles for years with people who talked about anthrax as a potential bioweapon, I thought, `No way.’” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
***
And though university officials refuse to confirm the fact, Dr. Koehler’s laboratory is among scores of research facilities nationwide whose records have been subpoenaed as federal investigators compile a list of people who have had access to anthrax. The laboratory is one of a limited number - the disease control centers will not say how many - licensed by the C.D.C. to ship and receive anthrax and other potentially lethal organisms.
Dr. Koehler arrived in Houston in 1991, after doing postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School, and for the last decade she and researchers in her laboratory have studied the genetics of Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacterium.
Until this year, she had used only strains that, through mutation, she and her researchers had made nonvirulent, posing no health risk. Then, in January, one of her eight researchers wanted to study how white blood cells respond to early infection, an experiment that would require a virulent strain. With little hesitation, everyone agreed.
The decision prompted several safety steps: Dr. Koehler’s department head provided a small room, situated off a shared equipment room, as a separate laboratory for virulent anthrax. To conduct the experiments, she got supplemental financing from the National Institutes of Health to buy a biosafety cabinet with a protective metal hood. In February, everyone began getting vaccinations against anthrax.
Finally, the research team needed to acquire a virulent strain. Rather than getting one from another laboratory, Dr. Koehler decided to make one from her lab’s mutated, nonvirulent strains.
A virulent bacterium is able to produce anthrax toxin proteins and cover itself with a protective layer called a capsule. The mutated strains that the laboratory had previously worked with did only one or the other. But in September, after a number of failed attempts, Dr. Agathe Bourgogne, a postdoctoral fellow, and Melissa Drysdale, a graduate student, created a virulent strain.
PROFILE: QUESTIONS ARISING ABOUT WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING ANTHRAX THROUGH THE MAIL
October 16, 2001 from NPR’s MORNING EDITION
Ms. THERESA KOEHLER (University of Texas, Houston): Certainly everyone keeps a close eye on their strain collections and is well aware of numbers of strains and types of strains they have. I can tell you—I can’t speak for other investigators or other laboratories, but because of the recent events and increased concern, we’re adding an alarm to our door. But we really have a very secure system for keeping track and maintaining our strains.
KNOX: When pressed, Koehler concedes it would have been a bit easier to steal a vial of anthrax from her lab and others before now. Dr. Martin Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University says an insider could have taken some anthrax from a lab. He didn’t want to be interviewed on tape. `If I were to guess,’ he says, `it was probably some summer intern talking to a friend in a local bar. The friend said, “Could you get me some?”’ Hugh-Jones says various protest groups have been scouting for anthrax for years.
The stalking story gets its legs from him allegedly having moved down the street to her. Sounds creepy. Sounds objective based on addresses and documentary evidence. Yet the reality is that he had moved to Gaithersburg first — in 1979. Right? She came later. He had moved to Frederick by January 1981. The graffiti incident occurred in Fall 2002. He never was the creepy neighbor.
Source: April 22, 1983 Frederick News-Post (”Ms. Ivins is the wife of Dr. Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist at Ft. Detrick. They have lived in Frederick since January 1981.”) See also: March 1, 1982 News-Post describing him as a “resident of Frederick”. And see Sept. 23, 1983 News-Post describing him as a Frederick juggler and describing how after he moved from Gaithersburg, where he had formed the Gaithersburg Jugglers, he moved to Frederick where he formed the Frederick Jugglers.
As I understand the timeline, Nancy Haigwood got her PhD in 1980, a year AFTER Ivins was living in Gaithersburg.
But as part of the Stalker Narrative, says “In the summer of 1982 Haigwood moved in with Scandella, then her fiance, in the Washington D.C. Village. On Nov 30, that year, Scandella woke to find the Greek letters “KKG” spray-painted on the rear window of their car.”
The 2008 article states: “Records show that Ivins was living on the same street, about a block away, shortly after the incident . [HE WAS LIVING IN FREDERICK ACCORDING TO THE NEWS-POST] It was not clear when he moved in. [THAT’S BECAUSE HE DID NOT LIVE THERE; HE AND HIS WIFE HAD MOVED TO FREDERICK IN JANUARY 1981] Scandella did not know that Ivins had been their neighbor until he was told Friday by a reporter.” [THAT’S BECAUSE HE WASN’T THEIR NEIGHBOR].
Note Bruce T. Ivins, a longtime Maryland resident, should be contacted to see if he ever lived in Montgomery Village. While Lexis/Nexis lists the Montgomery Village under “Bruce E. Ivins”, such records need to be cross-checked. (For example, it should be confirmed Bruce E lived at that address and when).
We wouldn’t want Nancy being stalked by the wrong guy.
Now of course this doesn’t bear on the possibility he is the anthrax processor and/or mailer.
But the sorority nonsense never did in the first place.
In this interview of Dr. Michael about silicon, the narrator says it wasn’t sophisticated such as it would be if it came from a terrorist group. : 0)
Tehe. Now it seems that the argument being made is that the Salafi-Jihadists based terrorists are too sophisticated to have made it. That it was beneath them. Bwahaha!
I thought it was because they were in caves rather than walking the halls of the DARPA-funded Center for Biodefense having had a high security clearance for work while at SRA for the Navy.
Let’s consider the other key evidence that Bruce Ivins was stalking Nancy Haigwood. Dr. Haigwood says “He knew my sons’ names and their years in school.”
Wow. Freaky.
Remembering the names of family members and asking them “How’s that lovely wife of yours” is something Dale Carnegie teaches. It’s called being social.
I can tell you that Bruce’s son Andrew was going to St. John’s at Prospect Hall in FREDERICK COUNTY (because he lived in Frederick not Montgomery Village) in Spring 2002, not MONTGOMERY COUNTY, and had graduated the June before the graffiti incident. There was a newspaper story that he was going to be attending Marietta College in Ohio. Didn’t any reporter ask the former husband whether he had a girlfriend who was upset that Nancy had moved in?
Maybe Bruce knew the names of her sons and their year in school because they worked in the same field, knew people in common, and the age of children is apparent from when they were born. “Your Johnny must be in Junior High now.”
I can tell you from a similar newspaper article that Nancy’s favorite book was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” In her spare time, she would sew, sketch and play tennis. The best movie Nancy had ever seen was “Romeo and Juliet” because it was the way Shakespeare would have wanted it presented. Her favorite type of music was rock. Her favorite song was “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and her favorite group was “Blood, Sweat and Tears.” She was against protests on campus in 1969 because school was intended as a place for learning, not violence. She was on the senior prom and banquet committee. She has green eyes. She won a “Voice of Democracy” contest sponsored by the VFW.
Now as a National Merit Scholarship winner, she should not have inferred that Bruce Ivins was guilty of five capital murders just because he knew her sons names and their years in school.
In the April 12, 2007 State AP feature “128 Carolina Students Inducted Into Phi Beta Kappa,” it was announced that Bejamin Paul Scandella, a junior environmental science major” son of Dr. Carl J. Scandella of Yellow Point and Nancy Haigwood of Seattle, was among those inducted. It said he was a junior environmental science major.
So it is not evidence of stalking that he knew her son’s school and year as she urges.
Googling her name is the way to keep track of research people in his field are doing. She was an AIDS vaccine researcher.
The Washington Post said in 2001 that she was “a molecular biologist whose vaccine had been ridiculed for years as ‘weird science’ or ‘cold fusion.’ “
Thought Question: Did Bruce Ivins or his colleagues ever ridicule her work? If so, was she upset at him or them for that?
“Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for a AIDS vaccine,” Washington Post, September 23, 2001
When she called the FBI to say Bruce was a stalker, was she mad at him over professional criticism? (I don’t know).
She also says in an AP feature that she “bombarded him with emails.” Let’s see the emails so that we can see if they express a critical view of vaccine work that would give cause for speculating he was guilty of murder based, well, on nothing.
“[An outside scientist wanting to use Nancy’s naked DNA] and his colleagues wrote up their mouse results and submitted the articles to a series of scientific journals, only to be rejected time and time again. “We got the usual runaround: this can’t be true, and even if it was true you people couldn’t do it.” Some of the article’s peer reviewers, outside scientists who advise editors about what they should print, grudgingly admitted that the mice did seem to mount an immune response. But this meant nothing unless protection could be shown in a challenge experiment.”
“Chiron [Dr. Haigwood’s employer] did have the enthusiastic response to Gary’s experiments that he and Phil had hoped for. In early 1990, when the six-month agreement between Chiron and Vical expired, it was not renewed.”
Was one of the reviewers of these peer -reviewed journals? The book describing how her effort failed came in August 2001. Was she angry at Dr. Ivins? Why did she think he was not a nice man? (She agreed with his brother Tom, who after not seeing him for 23 years, said he could go to hell. Bruce had publicly (using the screen name “prunetacos” said that his one brother was a wife-beater who left his wife before their child was born and refused to pay child support. So we may know at least one reason why Tom and Bruce disliked each other. But why did Nancy dislike Bruce? Because he mentioned her son’s academic accomplishment featured by AP?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine
By Patricia Thomas
Published by PublicAffairs, 2001
ISBN 1891620886, 9781891620881
(Hardcover - August 31, 2001).
515 pages
http://books.google.com/books?id=NMIWjr5V8kIC&pg=PA52&dq=%22Nancy+Haigwood%22&sig=ACfU3U0tdq0X_p5ny5AReDvdkqfqGb8qMg#PPA57,M1
Everyone likely has seen the letters to the editor that Dr. Bruce Ivins wrote dating back to April 12, 1997.
But let me share one from October 7, 1992 on the subject of abortion which is the USG’s alternative theories as to motivation.
It is not sound evidence supporting targeting Senator Leahy and Seator Daschle. It is just a thoughtful person stating his reasoned and religiously-based views on abortion. (He favored women clergy as an example of his views relating to the church).
Given that I may have had made mistakes in typing the letter, let me quote a sentence that I know I got right: “I believe that Christians are called to show love and compassion to everyone.” This is the sort of stuff that the government seeks to prove Bruce Ivins a murderer?
“Concern for all, or only the mother?”
“I would like to commend _______ for her articulately written letter of Sepember 28, entitled, like many other letters in the The New-Post,” More on abortion.” She raises several interesting points, argument of when God endows humans with a sould. If a wise God doesn’t waste souls on the unborn, would He be similarly wise and parsimonious by withholding souls from those neonates unfortunate enough to gasp only a few short breaths before expiring? How about those who are maintained on complex life support systems blessed enough to have been given a soul? These are ponderous questions, but they probably aren’t very relevant to the question whether prenatal human life should be a concern for all of us or not, or for only the mother.
Ms. Wright correctly identifies several potential, serious problems which can result when women are denied an abortion. Among the problems are listed are serious child abuse (when an unaborted child is placed in an adoptive home), abject poverty and, for minor girls, being thrown out of a home for being pregnant. In all fairness, however, child abuse, poverty and eviction if a minor by her parents occur in homes where a denied abortion is no part of the family equation. Denying an abortion to a woman is most certainly serious to the mother. On the other hand, not denying her an abortion bodes serious consequences for her parents, not the least of which is its termination.
Finally, I am sorry to see the apparent suggestion that all individuals who are not abortion rights advocates are wholly without compassion.for women who seek or obtain an abortion. I believe that Christians are called to show love and compassion to everyone. I don’t believe that Christians are called upon that individual Christians are required by their faith to either endorse the act of abortion, or to support an unfettered right to ‘abortion on demand, — no apologies, no exceptions.’”
New York Post said:
“He may have never told the woman he had a crush,” said a KKG sister and
Cincinnati Class of 1968 alumna. Last summer, FBI agents interviewed her about
recollections of Ivins.
“They said that he remembered me, but I don’t remember him,” she said. “I don’t think I was the one rebuffing him, because [Ivins] had told [the FBI] that
I was nice to him.”
Now Cincinnati, coincidentally, not too long observed the passing of a different Nancy Haigwood, a distinguished educator.
In the Nature interview this week, Nancy Haigwood has accused Dr. Ivins of being a stalker and suggests that he wrote a letter to the editor in her name.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080821/full/4541039a.html
Okay. Where did it appear? When? What did it say? Is she sure that it wasn’t from the other Nancy Haigwood, the distinguished educator who lived in Cincinnati?
Might such a letter to the editor that appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer from the local Nancy Haigwood be part of the same concocted, imagined stalker narrative?
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