[randog]

...where did the package come from? Who would they be in contact with who would and could provide anthrax?

I was thinking about that, too, and I seem to remember some homegrown nuts that were busted with anthrax about....5, 6 years ago in Las Vegas? I can't remember how they got it, but they managed it somehow.

[Iwo Jima]

"remember some homegrown nuts that were busted with anthrax.."

Those were legitimate scientists NOT associated with the government who had gotten ahold of a DEAD strain (not illegal, but not easy to do)so that they could make an antidote. They did this because they thought that anthrax was a real teerorist threat which the government wasn't taking seriously (idiots).

They were immediately branded as nuts (just as you did), and were held without bail for months even though they weren't charged with a crime because nothing that they had done was against the law. They were finally let go when they promised that they would do no more work on anthrax.

I could be wrong on some of the details as I am going entirely on memory. But I am sure that this is the gist of that incident. It couldn't have been more than a couple of years ago.