One person may be behind anthrax attacks

One person, operating alone, could have placed anthrax in envelopes through tiny slits by using a hypodermic needle and a “glove box” or “glove bag” to protect himself or herself from contamination, United Press International has been told by a source knowledgeable of the case. Five people died in the fall of 2001 after anthrax-laden letters were mailed to people in New York, Florida and Washington. One letter, mailed but not delivered to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was recovered unopened with anthrax still in it. This spring, after a grueling 18-month investigation, the source told UPI that it is possible that one person with basic scientific knowledge and access to Ames strain anthrax could have carried out the anthrax attack. “One person could absolutely do it,” said the source who has insight into what the investigation has uncovered. There has been significant debate over whether one person could have carried the attack. One of the key issues is that the anthrax found in the letters to Congress was “weaponized” — dried and physically ground or “milled” into smaller pieces to make it linger in the air and more likely to be deeply inhaled and more deadly. Experts disagree over how complicated it would be to do that and the extent of manpower and equipment necessary to pull it off. Full Story