FBI’s Allegation that Ivins was “Sole Custodian” is False

George Washington’s Blog
Thursday, Aug 7, 2008

The FBI made numerous claims in today’s official press conference. They are largely refuted by Dr. Meryl Nass, an expert on anthrax.

I want to focus on the FBI’s primary piece of “evidence”: That the anthrax suspect, Dr. Bruce Ivins “has been the sole custodian of RMR-1029 [the specific batch of anthrax used in the attacks] since it was first grown in 1997″.

In fact, according to the New York Times:

“After four years of painstaking scientific research, the F.B.I. by 2005 had traced the anthrax in the poisoned letters of 2001 to a single flask of the bacteria at the Army biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., according to government scientists and bureau officials.”

(this is the flask containing RMR-1029 concerning which Dr. Ivins was the “custodian”).

(Article continues below)

Sounds bad for Dr. Ivins, right?

Well, the Times article continues:

“But at least 10 scientists had regular access to the laboratory and its anthrax stock — and possibly quite a few more, counting visitors from other institutions, and workers at laboratories in Ohio and New Mexico that had received anthrax samples from the flask at the Army laboratory.”

As Dr. Nass points out, “Having received a sample, or obtained it surreptitiously, they would be “custodians” of it too.”

So concluding that the anthrax used in the attack to RMR-1029 narrows down the list of suspects to:

• At least 10 scientists at Fort Detrick

• Numerous visitors to Fort Detrick (including former Fort Detrick scientists, such as this one, who improperly accessed the lab)

• Workers at labs in Ohio and New Mexico

• And people who might have stole the anthrax from any of the people listed above

That’s a pretty big list of suspects. Indeed, Ivins’ attorney argues that hundreds of people had access to the flask.

Indeed, his attorney also states that Ivins never denied to the FBI that the anthrax could have come from his batch.

Its not so clear that Ivins is guilty after all, is it?

Moreover, the sample of RMR-1029 possessed by Dr. Ivins was not weaponized. Many of Ivins’ colleagues say that he simply did not have the knowledge to weaponize it into the dry form used in the attacks, while scientists at such facilities as the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah did.Note: As of December 2001, the following labs worked with the Ames strain of anthrax:

 

1. USArmy Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (Ft. Detrick, MD)
2. Dugway Proving Ground (Utah)
3. Naval Research Medical Center and associated military labs (MD)
4. Battelle Memorial Institute (Ohio; plus laboratories in many other locations)
5. Duke University Medical School, Clinical Microbiology Lab. (NC)
6. VA Medical Center, Durham (NC)
7. USDA laboratory and Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames (Iowa)
8. LSU College of Veterinary Medicine
9. Northern Arizona State University (Arizona)
10. Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IL)
11. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque (NM)
12. Institute for Genomic Research (MD)
13. Chemical and Biological Defense Establishment, Porton Down (UK)
14. Center for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton (UK)
15. Defense Research Establishment, Suffield (CA)

It is unclear how many of the above labs worked with RMR-1029, but it is possible that the New York Times missed some labs in its list.

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6 Responses to “FBI’s Allegation that Ivins was “Sole Custodian” is False”

1. Isaac_Newton_g=9.8m/s2... Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 6:09 am

   we are literally a kidnapped society

2. blaje Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 7:28 am

   Man, this is like communist Russia with suspects suddenly disappearing.

3. MAR Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 8:48 am

   I’m your Uncle Sam, don’t you trust what I tell you to be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? What have I ever done to you?

   Blaje, no it’s not ‘like’ communist Russia…it is communist Russia…we spent so many years comparing ourselves to the Russians (communistis) we became them.

   Isaac, not me I left finally when I saw the writing on the wall in coup d’etat in 2001, I figured this country (read gov.)was so corrupt in the mid-1970’s…what took me so long?

4. zbigview Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 11:21 am

   MAR
   What took you so long?

5. MAR Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am

   Zbigview: I think it was the redneck father, ie fascist, and the programming of high (you have to be high to go there) school.

   But zbig…I got to that understanding long before my fellow countrymen/women did (read sheeple). If I really understood and knew history of my country I would have left after I got out of high school…I mean with all the killing in Central America and Viet Nam, and the gd lies from washington…but, I did finally leave.

   Hey, are you any relation to zbignew?

6. Highlander Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 11:51 am

   There is much to be gleaned from all of this, but not many people will be gleaning anything, inasmuch that they have been told that gleaning is an act of terror.

   Back in the 1960’s - 1970’s, people were frying their mind on drugs.

   Then in the 1980’s people were to that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

   That was followed-up in the 1990’s with ‘minding your own business.’

   Come the 21st Century and now —it would seem— we are being told that thinking is tantamount to being a terrorist.

   So, just shut up, don’t think, keep your head down, and just follow orders.

   Go that?