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- Sandpoint, ID -- Three veteran investigators have independently
narrowed the field of anthrax mailings suspects to a single Russian defector
affiliated with two heavily implicated defense contractors and the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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- Kanatjan Alibekov, alias "Ken Alibek," the
President of Hadron Advanced Biosystems, should be re-interrogated by the
FBI, according to three researchers who arrived at this conclusion independently.
They say Stephen Hatfill-the military virologist cited by FBI officials
in recent weeks as a chief subject was not likely involved in the mailings
at all.
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- The three men include: Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz-a public
health and emerging diseases expert, Michael Ruppert-a retired Los Angeles
Police Department narcotics detective, and Stewart Webb-a federal whistle
blower credited with supplying key evidence to federal prosecutors during
the 1989 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) scandal. All three investigators
say substantial evidence implicates Dr. Alibekov and the parties he served
before and during the anthrax mailings, including the CIA. This, they propose,
might best explain why the FBI's inquiry has floundered.
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- Their compiled evidence is largely public knowledge.
Dr. Alibekov was the first Deputy Director of Biopreparat-the Soviet Union's
leading biological weapons testing center. He oversaw military anthrax
production for nearly 20 years, and was personally responsible for 32,000
employees at 40 facilities when he suddenly defected to the United States
in 1992 to begin working for the CIA. According to interviews, Dr. Alibekov
allegedly defected to help stop the biological weapons race, not for monetary
reward. Yet, his activities in America indicate otherwise.
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- On May 20, 1998 Dr. Alibekov testified before the Joint
Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress as a Program Manager for the Battelle
Memorial Institute (BMI)-a leading military contractor and one of few institutional
suspects identified by the press. William Broad of the New York Times (Dec.
13, 2001), upon Dr. Horowitz's earlier urging, cited BMI as the chief CIA
contractor for project "Clearvision"-an effort to produce the
deadliest Ames strain anthrax ever developed. It was hyper-concentrated,
silica-laced, electro-magnetized, and extremely transmissible. The facts
indicate Dr. Alibekov, one of two leading anthrax experts contracted by
the CIA at the time of "Clearvision," may have managed the entire
program during which the germ was sent from BMI to the BMI administered
and supplied Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. From here or BMI's anthrax
lab in West Jefferson, Ohio, the never-before-seen anthrax weapon was transferred
to envelopes and mailed from four locations including Trenton, N.J. and
St. Petersburg, FL in early October, 2001. The mailings killed five people
while scores of others were victimized by the ensuing fright and toxic
side effects from taking CIPRO-the "anthrax antibiotic," according
to experts and news reports.
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- More suspicious ties to the Russian defector and Hadron
Advanced Biosystems were realized when investigators learned of the second
leading BMI and CIA anthrax contractor, and close personal friend of Dr.
Alibekov, Dr. William C. Patrick, III. Suspiciously, Dr. Alibekov and BMI
had contracted with this anthrax ace in the Spring of 1998 to predict the
dispersal and damage capability of mailing such a hyper-weaponized germ
much like the one sent to select members of the media and legislators on
Capitol Hill. Evidence indicates Dr. Patrick, who holds several secret
patents on America's anthrax weapons, worked closely with Dr. Alibekov
in developing the anthrax that was mailed.
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- The three independent investigators each cite economic
and political motives for the targeted anthrax mailings. Given the high
grade and technical difficulty in producing and handling this grade of
anthrax, they reasoned, "white collar criminals" with access
to military or pharmaceutical labs most likely acted on behalf of those
who benefited most from the attacks and ensuing fright. Hadron, DynCorp,
and BMI lead the pack of corporate and institutional suspects, the investigators
say. A revelatory organizational chart prepared by Dr. Horowitz depicting
the leading corporate and institutional suspects was mailed to more than
1,500 FBI agents late last year along with an extensive 25-page report
still available over the Internet (link to
- Logically, the three investigators reasoned, the media
was initially targeted to sway public opinion in support of government
orders worth billions of dollars for hyped vaccines and drugs, much of
which benefited Hadron, DynCorp, BMI and their directors and contractors.
DynCorp was the major military and intelligence provider awarded $322 million
to develop, produce, and store anthrax and smallpox vaccines for the nation.
BMI, a leading defense and energy industry contractor, directed the US
military's Joint Vaccine Acquisitions Program. Bioport, LLC became a leading
beneficiary. This British-controlled anthrax vaccine maker in Lansing,
Michigan was sanctioned repeatedly by federal officials and members of
congress for unethical business practices, violating health and safety
guidelines, and vaccine contaminations that some researchers say may have
triggered the mysterious Gulf War illness.
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- Corporate profiteering was firmly secured after the mailings
to Capitol Hill, the investigators say. The specific targeting of Senators
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), traditionally
strong drug and military industry adversaries, reinforced their suspicions.
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- Dr. Horowitz had been studying anthrax advances since
1989. He correctly diagnosed "the beginning of the anthrax scam"
one week before the first mailings were heralded by the media. FBI records
show he urged the bureau to begin their ongoing investigation into anthrax-related
bioterrorism on October 1, 2001. It took bureau officials six months
to finally respond to his repeated urgent correspondence. "Then, rather
than expressing gratitude and following my leads," he said, "my
two interrogators were primed to make me a suspect." For this reason,
Horowitz says, he can "feel for the plight of the bureau's scapegoat"-Dr.
Steven Hatfill.
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- Detective Ruppert, collaborating with investigative journalist
Michael Davidson, followed their suspicions to Hadron and DynCorp through
court records pertaining to a secret pirated military software program
called PROMIS. They learned that Dr. Alibekov's predecessor-Hadron's past
director and founder, Dr. Earl Brian-a business associate of former Reagan
administration Attorney General Edwin Meese-was convicted of fraud during
the 1980s.
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- "Dr. Alibekov's interrogation and lie detection
at Hadron's Advanced Biosystems," Ruppert advised, "may not only
solve the anthrax mailings mystery, but also shed light on the recent untimely
and inexplicable deaths of several biological weapons experts including
Dr. Alibekov's former boss, Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik." Dr. Pasechnik-the
Soviet Union's top biological weapons director-was most likely murdered,
according to Ruppert and Davidson. His demise immediately followed his
volunteering to help solve the anthrax mailings mystery.
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- Dr. Pasechnik defected to Great Britain three years before
Dr. Alibekov defected to America, Mr. Ruppert recalled. Pasechnik abandoned
his work in biological weapons development. Dr. Alibekov, contrary to his
stated reason for defecting, continued to work in this field. Pasechnik's
death, according to British intelligence officer Christopher Davis, was
reportedly due to a stroke. Ruppert and Davidson remain unconvinced.
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- Release: No. DITA-81
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