DoJ Evidence Against Ivins Compelling

While we wait for confirmation and further explanation from the scientific community (and I suspect specifically from Northern Arizona University's Paul Keim) about the forensic evidence that ties Bruce Ivins to the 2001 anthrax attacks, we can comb the documents released today by the DoJ. At least from my perspective, the evidence against Ivins is very compelling.

Among the presented information is the fact that the Ames strain of Bacillus anthracis contained in the mailed letters can be directly linked to a single spore batch, called RMR-1029. This identification was accomplished by the detection of 4 characteristic genetic mutations, which are otherwise not described in the DoJ documents; however, it is possible that these mutations refer to the use of highly mutable single nucleotide repeat (SNR) markers described in a previous post here on the subject.

Of the 16 domestic labs that had RMR-1029 before the 2001 anthrax attacks, only one—the USAMRID facility in Fort Detrick, MD—was located where the identified "federal eagle" envelopes used in the attacks were distributed and sold (Maryland or Virginia).

At Fort Detrick, RMR-1029 was stored in the B3 biocontainment suite in Building 1425, to which Bruce Ivins had "unrestricted access." Moreover, Ivins had been "the sole custodian of RMR-1029 since it was first grown in 1997."

Because the B. anthracis spores in the letters sent to the Post and Tom Brokaw (postmarked 9/18/2001) were physically different* from those contained in the letters to Senators Leahy and Daschle (postmarked 10/9/2001), the investigators concluded that the spore batches were created from the RMR-1029 flask at Fort Detrick on two separate occasions. This conclusion is supported by the presence of a B. subtilis contaminant in the Post/Brokaw letters, which could not have been derived from the Fort Detrick flask.

On the basis of nighttime work records at Fort Detrick, the DoJ proposes that Ivins produced the Post/Brokaw B. anthracis during September 14-16 and the Leahy/Daschle spores sometime from September 28 to October 5. It is important to note that Ivins worked alone during these late-shift periods, and that his work time differed considerably from those of other Fort Detrick researchers with access to RMR-1029.

Probably most damning is the allegation that Ivins stalled the genetic identification of the RMR-1029 batch at Fort Detrick by submitting possibly sabotaged or false samples to the FBI for analysis. Initial samples provided by Ivins in 2002 were unusable, according to the DoJ documents, and a second sample of RMR-1029 from Fort Detrick did not contain the characteristic 4 mutations. In 2004, the FBI seized the RMR-1029 flask, which subsequently indicated a genetic match to the B. anthracis contained in the letters. 

A final note of curiosity is the return address provided on the Senators' letters: "4th Grade, Greendale School, Franklin Park, NJ, 08852." Former person of interest Stephen Hatfill had been loosely linked to the fictitious address, owing to erroneous media reports that he lived near a "Greendale Elementary School" while in Zimbabwe. The DoJ documents suggest that the return address may be an indirect reference to the Greendale Baptist Academy in Wisconsin and a related suit filed by the ultra-conservative American Family Association against the Wisconsin Department of Public Services, which was investigating the corporal punishment of a 4th-grade student at the Academy. The DoJ notes that "Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ivins," who were practicing Catholics, made several donations over the years to the AFA and received the organization's newsletter, which would have referenced the suit.

* Genomic sequencing, however, revealed that the B. anthracis spores in all 4 letters were identical.

Scanning electron micrograph of spores of Ames strain of B. anthracis from CDC/Janice Haney Carr.