<i>FBI profiles anthrax letter writer By Susan Candiotti CNN Washington WASHINGTON (CNN) --The three anthrax-tainted letters at the heart of a post-September 11 outbreak of biological terrorism were all but certainly written by the same person -- probably a male loner who might work in a laboratory, FBI officials said Friday. The officials, linguistic and behavioral experts who have been analyzing the three known anthrax letters, made their assessments more than a month after the first anthrax outbreak in Florida, where no letter was ever recovered -- and at a time of growing congressional frustration over the lack of progress in the investigation. Seventeen people have been diagnosed with anthrax infections since early October; four of them have died. "It is highly probable, bordering on certainty, that all three letters were authored by the same person," the officials said. Two of the letters, sent to NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw and the New York Post, were described as "identical copies." The other letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in Washington, "contains a somewhat different message than the others," the officials said. The anthrax in the Daschle letter, the officials said, "was much more refined, more potent and more easily dispersed" than the anthrax in the other two. At a separate briefing for reporters, postal officials said much of the anthrax crisis remains a mystery. Authorities still don't know the exact location where the letters originated in the Trenton, New Jersey, area. And they've not been able to rule out the possibility that more than three letters were involved. "Trying to get a handle on this is like trying to get a hold of a forest fire," said Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan conceded. Other observations: -- "The author uses dashes in the writing of the date (09-11-01). Many people use the slash to separate the day, month, year." -- The name and address on each envelope is noticeably tilted on a downward slant from left to right. This may be a characteristic seen on other envelopes he has sent. -- "Behaviorally, the author is likely an adult male. If employed, likely to be in a position requiring little contact with the public." -- "He may work in a laboratory. He did not select victims randomly," sending the letters to specific people and addresses. -- The writer is a "non-confrontational person, at least in his public life" who "prefers being by himself more often than not." -- He may have become more secretive and exhibited an unusual pattern of activity. Additionally, he may have displayed a passive disinterest in the events which otherwise captivated the nation. He also may have started taking antibiotics unexpectedly. Federal officials have asked anybody with "credible information that might help identify this person" to contact the FBI at 1-800-CRIMETV (274-6388) or at www.ifcc.fbi.gov. The FBI said that the public in the past has helped the agency solve high profile cases by coming forward to identify the author by what he wrote or how he wrote it. The Unibomber was arrested after his own brother told authorities he recognized phrases in Ted Kaczynski's published manifesto. Post office on letter paths U.S. postal officials provided more details about the path of the three letters at their briefing. They said identification codes have provided some clues. The Brokaw and Post letters arrived at the Trenton, New Jersey, processing center, in Hamilton Township, on September 18 and had their postage canceled within three hours of each other. Still, officials could not say definitively whether the letters arrived together at the post office. Those two letters passed through the same letter canceler, and a worker who did maintenance on that machine later contracted cutaneous anthrax. The Daschle letter arrived in the Hamilton Township facility October 9 and was canceled at 5:45 p.m. It arrived October 11 at the Brentwood facility in Washington, where four postal workers contracted inhalation anthrax and two of them died. One of the postal employees who died, Joseph Curseen Jr., worked at the sorter that handled the Daschle letter. The other, Thomas Morris Jr., worked in a government operations section where the letter was also processed. Several other sorters also tested positive for anthrax contamination at the Brentwood facility. Postal officials said those machines were downwind of the sorter that handled the Daschle letter. The two postal employees who survived their bouts of inhalation anthrax worked in those downwind areas.</i>
I suppose this individual has also sent anthrax letters to Pakistan, Lithuania, and Peru? And who sent the letter to Daschle's office - you know, the weaponized stuff? It still doesn't add up.
From the Houston Chronicle: <i>FBI officials said there is a high probability, "bordering on certainty" that the three letters processed at Hamilton came from the same person and that the person refined the anthrax strain between Sept. 18, when he sent the letters to New York and Oct. 9, when he mailed the letter to Daschle.</i>
So this single individual initially sent three letters to Florida (from Florida), Tom Brokaw, and the Ney York Post (from NJ), then he milled another batch (with a machine that costs over $100,000, and with a coating that only national entities could produce and apply) and then sent those off? And I guess the Pakistani anthrax is just a copycat? Or did he do that to throw the FBI off? I still don't believe it. I believe that it is quite likely that a single person may have mailed it, and they certainly did it from the US, but to say that this individual is acting alone is ridiculous. Until I see a single shred of evidence that points to a lone nut I refuse to believe it. ALL of the evidence released to the public points to Al Qaeda: Two different batches, one was weaponized using processes that only Iraq, the US, and Russia are known to be capable of doing. English is likely the sender's second language. Anthrax letters have also turned up in Pakistan (of all places), Peru, and Lithuania. Mohammed Atta met twice with an Iraqi Intelligence agent in the Czech Republic, and then inquired about crop dusters in Florida. An Iraqi defector claims that Iraq gave Al Qaeda a ton of anthrax; dead animal carcasses are seen for months before 9/11 around Al Qaeda training camps. UN weapons inspectors analyzing the weaponized anthrax claim that it is identical to the anthrax they discovered in Iraq five years ago. That is all evidence. I have yet to see a single piece of evidence that points to domestic terrorism, and I suspect that the FBI is just engaging in a ruse. They cannot possibly be that dense...
treeman, First off, nowhere in the article does it say that this is domestic terrorism. It could possible that the person sending these letters is a foreigner, but not associated with Al-Qaida. Unfortunately, there are alot more people who have gripes (justified or not) with the US. Second, the people who do profiles for a living probably have greater access to and have more closely examined the evidence than you. I won't dispute you have some knowledge of what's going on, but these people do this for a living and are usually right on the money. For example, when the FBI was searching for serial killer Ted Bundy, they predicted he'd be driving a VW Beetle. Guess what kind of car Bundy drove? Most of these types who use anonymous means of destruction tend to be fairly (if not very) intelligent and they tend to work alone. Terrorism by its very nature is not anonymous because its aim is to draw attention to a "cause." If Al-Qaida wanted to really frighten the US with biological warfare, they'd be much more likely to use a public means (like the crop-dusting method that has yet to occur) that isn't as inefficient as the letter method. Third, every bit of information you listed is circumstantial and, in some cases, very questionable. In particular, the observation that only 3 nations are capable of producing this strain of anthrax points just as strongly at the US as it does to Iraq. This person might have sent the letters to other countries precisely to throw the FBI off track. And the crop-dusting method hasn't occured (and let's hope it doesn't). You obviously have a good grasp on the subject, but you're allowing your theory to dictate the nature of the evidence. Honestly, I hope you are right that this is Al-Qaida because quite frankly, they'll be easier to catch than a lone psycho. But I won't go so far as to call the FBI dense just because they aren't adhering to what seems obvious.
subtomic: As far as the profile goes, the one the FBI described actually sounds like an Al Qaeda operative, as they (purposefully, it must be assumed) declined to assign the perp a race, age, national origin, etc. Nothing in the given profile actually rules out Al Qaeda, depending on how you interpret "loner". If by this it is meant that this person doesn't hang out with coworkers, neighbors, etc - an Al Qaeda agent wouldn't do that. Actually, this profile fits an Al Qaeda agent, but the fact that the profile is incomplete is leading some people to assume that it's a lone American nut... As far as the evidence goes, you must keep in mind that the only evidence that the FBI might possibly have that we are unaware of is something left on the notes (DNA/hair, clothing fibers, that sort of thing), and I would be willing to guess that the perp was smart enough not to leave much in the way of forensics. He certainly wore gloves, at the least. At any rate, nothing could really be gleaned from thet type of evidence in this case, except for his race. And they aren't commenting on that, are they? The pieces of evidence I listed range from circumstantial to pretty solid (the coating and size - and the fact that it's identical to Iraqi anthrax made 5 years ago - is pretty solid). That is what is publicly known, and aside from that there is the forensics, which would be pretty limited in this case. The truth is that aside from the anthrax itself and the handwriting there just isn't alot to go on. Again, I have yet to hear a single piece of evidence that points to a domestic source, and by domestic I mean American - which is apparently what some people desperately want to believe. And I do not believe that the FBI is dense, I simply think that they're not being entirely honest. Actually, I know they aren't. The test to determine strain and origin takes 12 hours, and it took them 3 weeks to release that information...
treeman -- some of the evidence you put up is certainly circumstantial...but I guarantee i could go into a court of law and prove your point by a preponderance of the evidence. i too have a hard time believing this whole thing has been put together by one guy here in america. i hope i'm proved wrong, but it seems like a reach to me.
Look, just to alleviate Jeff's suspicion that I'd just like to use this as an excuse to go to war with Iraq, I have to say for the record that if I see some solid evidence that points to an American nut then I'll seriously think about changing my tune. I have yet to see any evidence that supports that notion, and all of the evidence available points to Iraqi-supplied and Al Qaeda administered anthrax. That is simply where it points. I honestly do believe that this is the case, because this is exactly the sort of thing that the Iraqis would plan and do. I am not just some nutcase who has a grudge against Saddam Hussein, I honestly believe that his regime is a threat to us. His WMD programs are certainly aimed at us, he is a known funder and trainer of terrorists, he has repeatedly stated that he is at war with us and intends to commit acts just like the anthrax and 9/11 attacks, he tried to blow up the WTC in 1993 (and may actually be behind it this time), he starves his own people so he can keep his anthrax and (almost certainly) smallpox arsenals, he destabilizes the ME (we wouldn't have to be in Saudi if it weren't for his regime), etc, etc - the list goes on. Again, when I see some decent evidence that points somewhere other than Al Qaeda and Iraq, I'll stop saying that it was probably the Iraqis. Until there's some evidence to support it I'm going to continue to regard that possibility as ridiculous.
i haven't seen any solid evidence that points to anyone for the wtc destruction? yet we have no problems bombing hospitals and mosques in afghanistan.
we have "properly analyzed" your arguments up and down on these message boards for some time now. I, for one, have had enough. i do not believe your posts merit or warrant any sort of analysis any longer. if you don't see solid evidence as to 9/11 by now..particularly after Osama's comments in a pakastani newspaper yesterday...then i'd rather just respond with the obvious at this point...you are a joke.
treeman -- thanks..tell me how i put him on an ignore list. seems like the best solution and saves me the trouble of typing out "you're a joke" every time.
Just go in the 'user control panel' at the top right of this page. Then hit the 'edit ignore list' option and type the name into the box. It saved me alot of trouble.
