- *HENRY C. LEE* of Vince Foster cover-up fame has been
called in to try make the investigative research of the Federation of American
Scientists go away.
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- Presumably we are supposed to believe that Lee has greater
expertise in investigating this kind of case than Barbara Hatch Rosenberg:
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- Anthrax Story - Ft. Detrick Cleared
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- The Frederick News-Post From Staff Reports
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- No Fort Detrick scientist, past or present, is probably
a suspect in the anthrax letter case, according to the Hartford, Conn.,
Courant.
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- The newspaper, which has been closely following the FBI
investigation, said a renowned forensic expert believes Detrick personnel
have been cleared.
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- Henry C. Lee said the FBI wouldn't be sending its anthrax
investigation samples to Detrick for testing unless it had confidence in
the Army's biowarfare research lab.
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- The FBI wouldn't risk dropping the samples into the hands
of a potential suspect, Mr. Lee said.
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- "These last two months, (FBI agents) have probably
interviewed everyone at Fort Detrick and didn't find a suspect," he
told The Courant. "They don't want to publicly rule anyone out, but
their actions suggest that's what's going on. They don't think it's anybody
who currently works at Detrick."
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- The FBI confirmed last week that it recently asked dozens
of labs known to handle the strain of anthrax used in the letter attacks,
which killed a Connecticut woman and four others, to send samples to the
Detrick lab.
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- A scientist at Detrick told The Courant he didn't expect
the perpetrator to be identified soon. The physical evidence gathered so
far doesn't point to any one lab, let alone any one person, said the scientist,
who is close to the FBI probe and requested anonymity.
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- That's also the opinion of Mr. Lee, the newspaper said.
Speaking as a knowledgeable outside observer, he said the FBI's dragnet
tactics point to an investigation that's still far from closing in on its
prey.
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- The Courant said the FBI set up a virtual satellite office
at Detrick in the past two months to methodically interview employees about
their work. Agents also asked about the personalities of colleagues, probing
for someone who fits their profile of a disgruntled loner who might be
responsible for the attacks.
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- The newspaper said agents have also interviewed former
Army scientists at the lab. It said Joseph Farchaus, who co-authored a
paper on inhalation anthrax before he left Detrick in 1999, said two agents
visited him at his house outside Trenton, N.J., just after Christmas.
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- Mr. Farchaus told The Courant he would have been surprised
if the FBI had not paid him a visit, given his expertise and where he lives,
not far from where the anthrax letters were mailed. When the agents finished
questioning him, they asked if they could have a look around his house
and yard, presumably to check for signs of a do-it-yourself anthrax lab,
he said.
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- The newspaper said at least a dozen other people reportedly
have had their homes, offices and vehicles searched in the same manner.
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- The exact number of the people interviewed is hard to
determine because both the FBI and Army command have maintained a strict
close-mouthed policy since the investigation began, The Courant said.
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- But top government officials, including White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer, broke their silence twice in the past two weeks, both times
to deny reports that they have focused their search on a single former
Detrick scientist. Mr. Fleischer announced that the FBI actually had a
"handful" of suspects, prompting bureau officials to clarify
that they had a "floating list" of about 20 names, but that none
was considered a suspect.
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- In a telephone interview Monday night, Chuck Dasey, a
spokesman for Fort Detrick, told The Frederick News-Post the anthrax testing
is being conducted at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases (USAMRIID) lab.
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- He said he had "no idea" how long the sampling
process would last.
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- "It will last until we catch them," he said.
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- The FBI presence at Detrick is not interfering with any
other work there, he said.
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- "We are cooperating with the FBI as much as possible,"
said Mr. Dasey. ___
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