Amerithrax (60 page)

Hatfill’s travel expenses to Britain during his two-week trip were paid by the British Foreign Office. At Porton Down he trained as a United Nations bioweapons inspector so he could be on call to go to Iraq and track down anthrax and other germ weapons. During the course Hatfill worked with twenty or so other international scientists who attended the course. Inside, the scientists created a mockup of an Iraqi germ warfare laboratory. Scientists on the UN course re- called Hatfill as “well-rounded, energetic and outgoing.” That type of personality certainly did not fit the FBI’s sus- pect profile of a “loner.”

Although Hatfill claimed to have had no access to an- thrax during his two-year fellowship at the Institute, Fort Detrick’s Dasey said, “He could have worked in proximity to someone who was working on anthrax.”

And what of the doctor who told President Clinton in 1998 that he would have to place greater priority on nego- tiating a protocol to enforce the biological arms treaty if he wanted to stop the spread of germ weapons? She had met with FBI agents in June after months of complaining that

they were failing to pursue a prime suspect who seemed to fit their own profile. The day of Hatfill’s press conference the doctor told the AP, “I have never mentioned any names, not publicly, not to the Senate committee or staff, not to anyone. I have never said or written anything that pointed only to one specific person. If anyone sees parallels, that’s their opinion.” She added that Hatfill “has been misin- formed” about her role and that she has “a certain sympa- thy” for him. “He may be falsely accused,” she said, “and I don’t think the FBI should do that publicly.” Several days after this person met with the FBI, said Hatfill, agents ap- proached him and asked if they could examine his apartment to “swab the walls for anthrax spores.” Hatfill consented to the search.

Ronald Kessler, an author of two books on the FBI, said Hatfill’s complaints were predictable. “A lot of these claims don’t make any sense,” he said, adding that FBI Director Mueller’s record of conducting investigations had been flaw- less since he took over almost a year earlier. Kessler said that if the FBI disclosed Hatfill’s name, the Bureau probably had its reasons. Athan Theoharis, a history professor from Marquette University said the Bureau’s conduct toward Hat- fill was troubling and heavy-handed. Theoharis said if the FBI had evidence against Hatfill, it should reveal it. If not, it should have conducted the investigation quietly. “Here,” he said, “you have a case of publicity that has the effect of convicting.”

Hatfill told the
Washington Post,
“I went from someone with pride in my work, pride in my profession, to being made into the biggest criminal of the twenty-first century, for something I never touched. What I’ve been trying to contribute, my work, is finished. My life is destroyed.”

“MSNBC,
at the time he had those press conferences,” said former FBI agent Candice DeLong, “had me commenting right afterward on Dr. Hatfill’s press conference. Talk about your righteous indignation.” That evening on the
ABC World News Tonight
, Terry Moran discussed the former govern- ment scientist and germ warfare expert’s passionate denial of any involvement in the anthrax attacks. “Dr. Steven Hat- fill is one of dozens of scientists who have taken lie detector tests at the FBI’s request,” said Moran, “but the only one whose case has been discussed publicly in great detail.”

Moran told how Dr. Hatfill in his first public comments had described himself as the victim of an unethical inves- tigation and a media frenzy. From Washington, ABC’s Barry Serafin had details. After keeping a low profile for months, Serafin said, “Hatfill went public today to deny any involvement in the anthrax attacks. Hatfill... focused on viruses, not bacteria such as anthrax.” Serafin said Dr. Hatfill had allowed a search of his apartment near Fort Detrick in June, but was upset when agents returned this month with a warrant for highly publicized searches of his apartment and that of his girlfriend’s. Hatfill had complained of gov- ernment leaks, specifically a manuscript of a novel he had been writing. Today, part of the manuscript had been ob- tained by ABC affiliate WJLA in Washington. WJLA re- porter Rebecca Cooper reported that Hatfill’s novel envisioned a biological attack on Congress in which mem- bers of Congress, congressional aides, and hundreds of Washington residents become ill or many die. “Late today,”

continued Serafin, “the FBI responded to Hatfill’s remarks, saying any credible allegations concerning mishandling of evidence will be investigated thoroughly. As far as the FBI is concerned, Hatfill is not a suspect, but along with others he remains a person of interest.”

Brian Ross spelled out why investigators seemed to re- main suspicious of Hatfill.

“In 1999, while working for a defense contractor,” said Ross, “Hatfill commissioned a report looking at how anthrax might be sent through the mail. That report suggested there would be about 2.5 grams of anthrax in an envelope. And, except for the AMI letter that was thrown away, that’s what was in last fall’s mailings.”

Ross elaborated, explaining that Hatfill did not work on the report. Under instructions from the CIA, Hatfill and an- other scientist, Joseph Soukup, commissioned a study of a hypothetical anthrax attack in February 1999. The work was done by bioterrorism expert William Patrick III. Ross listed some of the things that apparently intrigued the FBI about their person of interest. Some of his former coworkers at Fort Detrick were the first to tell the FBI they were suspi- cious of him as the anthrax mailer. Ross listed the loss of his top secret security clearance August 23, 2001 and the apparent misrepresentation of a number of items on his re- sume.

“Although he has claimed that he was a member of the

U.S. Special Forces from 1975 to 1977,” said Ross, “the

U.S. Army has denied this. Army records indicate that he took part in a special forces training course but dropped out of it. Dr. Hatfill moved to England in 1994 and his CV claims that he became a member of the Royal Society of Medicine. But a spokeswoman for the society told the
New York Times
last week that they had no record of him being a member. He has also claimed to have a Ph.D. from Rhodes University in South Africa but has since removed this claim, saying there had been a misunderstanding. He was said at that time to be mad at the world, mad at the government, and many in the FBI thought that perhaps gave him the motive for some kind of revenge against the government. As well, he’s known as a person who has worked around

anthrax experts, although the FBI concedes he could not himself make anthrax, does not have what they call ‘the bench skills’ to make it.”

ABC reported there was scant evidence that led to any- one, Dr. Hatfill or anyone else. The FBI had no fingerprints or DNA, and at the moment some of the thrust of its inves- tigation had focused on other letters that were mailed with phony anthrax, including one sent from London in Novem- ber to Senator Daschle.

Moran concluded with the most important statement, “We should emphasize, as Brian did, that the FBI has not formally named Dr. Hatfill as a suspect in this case.” Just as the Bureau had not named Richard Jewell or Wen Ho Lee.

As agents nosed around the scientific community, one name kept coming up: Dr. Hatfill’s. “In the small, insular world of germ scientists, his outsized personality stood out,” wrote
Newsweek
. “He told colleagues tales of his exploits as a Cold Warrior in the ’70s, fighting with the SAS troops and the notorious Selous Scouts of the white Rhodesian Army against black rebels. He claimed a brilliant career in the U.S. military, bragging to a friend that he flew fighter planes and helicopters. On his resume he listed impressive credentials, including degrees in medicine from a Rhodesian university and a Ph.D. in microbiology from Rhodes Uni- versity in South Africa.”

On Monday, August 12, the news was still focused on Hatfill’s bold press conference. Ross said on
Good Morning America
, “Despite the attention Hatfill has been receiving, he is not believed to have the ability to make anthrax. The only person in the U.S. known to be able to make anthrax is a man named William Patrick, who happens to be a friend of Hatfill’s.”

THE
FBI had taken nearly a year to test all mailboxes around Hamilton Processing Center, the fountainhead of the contaminated New Jersey mail stream. If no other boxes were found to be tainted, then all the letters had been mailed from the same Nassau Street box. United States Represen-

tative Rush Holt criticized the FBI on Thursday. “It ap- pears,” he said, “that it has taken the FBI nearly a year to test all these mailboxes for anthrax. One does not need to be a trained criminologist to know that identifying where the tainted envelopes entered the mail stream should be a primary goal of the FBI investigation....I have doubt whether the FBI has even now tested all the mailboxes feed- ing Hamilton for anthrax.”

Finally Governor James E. McGreevey announced pub- licly that anthrax spores had been found in a single curbside mailbox. Dr. Clinton R. Lacy, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services said the positive result on the mailbox came from full lab tests. Mail carrier Cleveland Stevenson was still servicing the mail- boxes in the area, but now he was wearing gloves.

All day Monday, Postal Inspector James Britt and a Tren- ton detective canvassed the streets surrounding the box across from the Princeton University campus showing local shop owners and workers a color photo. “Does this person look familiar?” “Have you seen him in the area around the third week of September? In October?” “No,” came the an- swer. All along Nassau and Bank Streets they stopped citi- zens and showed them a color photo of a younger and mustachioed Hatfill. “I’ve seen him in the newspaper,” said one. “I’d love to say that I did see him on the street here but I didn’t. Obviously, you are looking for some sort of connection between the two.” They questioned merchants whose establishments were near the mailbox where Ameri- thrax had mailed his letters. Several merchants said they recognized the man as Hatfill, having seen him on television. They spoke to shop owners a block away and around the post office. A female employee of a Palmer Square cof- feeshop told investigators she recognized the picture shown to her by an FBI agent and police officer. She said she didn’t know who Steven J. Hatfill was, but thought she saw the man in the photo in her shop late the previous summer. “I definitely recognized him,” she said. “I remembered his face.” Agents interviewed her for about three minutes and

took her name and phone number.

On Tuesday, the FBI safety-packaged an additional

thirty-nine swabs taken from other Trenton mailboxes and sent them to the state lab for full analysis. Mail drop boxes in New Jersey had been tested based on postal coding that recorded when items entered the mail system. The Postal Service was able to pinpoint boxes where mail originated through this coding. Agents fanned out in downtown Prince- ton. They paid a visit to Princeton University and took sam- ples of all the photocopy machines throughout the institution. No anthrax research was conducted there, and the inspectors declined questioning anyone in the Princeton microbiology department.

Agents searched fruitlessly the rest of the day for a con- nection between Hatfill and that public mailbox. Anthony Federico, chief of the Princeton Borough police, said he ex- pected them to complete their rounds with the help of his officers before long. “They’re just going around and talking to people,” he said. Several Justice Department officials de- clined to say whether or not the circulation of Hatfill’s pic- ture signified an advancement in the investigation. Agents were told that late the previous November, Hatfill was in the Trenton area. He had been attending a conference with a colleague. However, detectives could not place him there any earlier, at the time of the anthrax mailings.

Pat Clawson said the FBI should either reveal why the government was interested in him or clear him. “The only thing the FBI has said is that he has a very colorful back- ground, yet they are destroying this man’s reputation,” Clawson said. “Normally when you’re doing a photo can- vassing, you have photos of more than one person, because you want to eliminate false identifications. The fact that the FBI is using only one photo makes the entire process sus- pect.

“I just spoke to him,” said Clawson, “and he categori- cally denies that he’s ever been in Princeton. He couldn’t find it on a map, and he doesn’t even know where it is in New Jersey.” Clawson didn’t know where Hatfill was on the days when the anthrax letters were mailed from Princeton. The FBI apparently knew. Hatfill provided them with his diary and travel calendar in May or June.

The FBI publicly declared that Hatfill was no more or

less important than thirty other “people of interest” in the investigation, but conceded that he was being treated dif- ferently. A U.S. official close to the case speaking on con- dition of anonymity told the AP that Hatfill’s apartment was the only home searched under a warrant in connection to the case.