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Anthrax: Advanced Spores Used in Incidents, Experts Say The composition and manufacturing process used on the anthrax spores sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) are more sophisticated than previously thought (see GSN, Oct. 24), investigators said yesterday, and may reveal clues into the spores’ origin. The spores in the tainted letter sent to Daschle had been treated with an advanced chemical designed to enable the spores to float in the air longer by removing their electrostatic charges, investigators said. Only three nations are believed to have developed this kind of chemical: the United States, the former Soviet Union and Iraq, according to experts. The totality of the evidence, however, suggests that the spores were not produced in the Soviet Union or Iraq, according to a government official. The presence of the advanced chemical was confirmed yesterday through studies at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There was no doubt the spores sent to Daschle had been specially treated because of their high dispersal rate, said four anthrax weapons experts. “The evidence is patent on its face,” said Alan Zelicoff, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories’ Center for National Security and Arms Control. “The amount of energy needed to disperse the spores [by merely opening an envelope] was trivial, which is virtually diagnostic of achieving the appropriate coating.” David Franz, of the Southern Research Institute, said, “In order for a formulation to do what the one in Daschle’s office appears to have done—be easily airborne—it would require special treatment” (Weiss/Eggen, Washington Post, Oct.25). The producers of the spores sent to Daschle produced a dry powder that was remarkably free of extraneous material, said William Patrick, a microbiologist who worked for the U.S. biological warfare program before it was stopped in 1969. Removing the charges is a major step towards making an effective anthrax weapon, according to biological warfare experts. Whoever sent the spores in the Daschle letter had achieved that step, said Patrick. “It’s fluffy,” Patrick said. “It appears to have an additive that keeps the spores from clumping.” The process to remove the charge is a black art, Patrick said, of which few details are known publicly. The idea that the Daschle spores were not the type to be used in weapons was “nonsense,” Patrick said. “The only difference between this and weapons grade is the size of the production. You can produce a very good grade of anthrax powder in the lab. The issue is whether those efforts can be expanded in scale, so you can make large quantities” (William Broad, New York Times, Oct. 25). The spores used in the Florida, New York and Washington incidents appear to have gotten progressively smaller and more potent, investigators said. The ones that arrived at Senator Daschle’s office were the smallest and most lethal. The ones discovered in the Florida incidents, however, were larger and least likely to be dispersed and inhaled, according to the Wall Street Journal. The diminishing spores size may mean the producers have been experimenting with a large amount of anthrax and had access to laboratory equipment, said a law enforcement official. Who Sent the Spores? Investigators are looking at the texts of anthrax tainted letters sent to NBC News, the New York Post and Senator Daschle for clues as to who might have sent them (see GSN, Oct. 24). The three letters each had “09-11-01,’ written across the top, as if following up on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, the wording of the letters is inconsistent with past messages sent by suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, said investigators. Past messages from bin Laden refer to the United States and Israel as “Crusaders” and “Jews,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The anthrax letters use “America” and “Israel” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25). Retired Air Force antiterrorism specialist Gerald Brown said he doubts the anthrax incidents are the work of Muslims or recent U.S. immigrants. “We believe this is home grown,” said Brown, adding he thought the Daschle letter was crafted to be deadlier and to attract more attention after letters sent to news organizations had not achieved a larger response. A case could also be made that the writing in the letters are a disguise by a native English speaker to shift attention to foreign terrorists, other analysts have said. “This is not natural handwriting,” said forgery expert Richard Galasso. “The baseline quality of all this writing is poor. The slow, deliberate, labored writing is either disguised … or could mean the writer is unskilled or not very literate in writing English.” The numeral “1” used in the letters was crafted from three lines, said Galasso, as if ‘writing from a text. This is the way you would formulate ones when you were learning in kindergarten. It’s a person who could be attempting to be childlike in deception.” Some experts say someone unfamiliar with English may have written the letters. “This is just somebody who has learned his letters,” said John Voll, professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University. “When I try and write Arabic, it looks kind of like that,” Voll said. The message of the letters is “pretty simple minded,” said Voll, adding the letters are “in league with a simple minded fanatic or, as some people are saying, a hoax. It’s what every American thinks a Muslim fanatic would write.” The Daschle letter stands out from the others in several ways, said Brown. The handwriting is more forceful, the sentences punctuated and the language more emphatic. This could mean it was written by a different person, Brown said. The letter specifically mentions anthrax, as opposed to the ones sent to NBC News and the New York Post, which could mean the author wanted to attract more attention, according to Brown. The anthrax incidents may be the work of domestic terrorists, said Brown, partly because a letter was sent to Daschle, “who’s on the left. If it’s a home grown militia effort, Daschle’s a likely target”(Peter Slevin, Washington Post, Oct. 25).
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