FBI Took Coolers From Anthrax Investigation

Fox News | August 19 2004

WASHINGTON — When an anthrax investigation at Fort Detrick, Md., wrapped up last month, FBI agents carried out at least three coolers from the building where the dangerous bacteria is stored, a source told FOX News.

Investigators with the "Amerithrax" task force, which comprises FBI and postal service agents, took their three-years-long hunt to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md., earlier this summer. The Fort Detrick portion ended July 23.

Agents also searched computers and discs, and some equipment may have been removed from USAMRIID, sources said.

It has long been speculated that the anthrax in tainted mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks was somehow stolen from the Fort Detrick labs.

In a separate development, suggesting the government's investigation continues to move forward, FOX News has learned that at least four scientists affiliated with Fort Detrick were asked to testify before a grand jury, in Washington, earlier this summer.

Law enforcement officials are unwilling to discuss this matter given the secret nature of the grand jury. A Fort Detrick spokesman would not comment directly, saying only that scientists have been fully cooperating with the investigation.