The FBI yesterday identified fugitive and anti-abortionist Clayton Lee Waagner as the primary suspect in a wave of anthrax hoaxes sent to abortion clinics earlier this month (see GSN, Nov. 9).  Meanwhile, investigators are retracing the paths of anthrax samples sent to researchers for clues to the origin of the recent anthrax attacks.

Waagner was linked to the anthrax hoaxes by matching his fingerprints to one taken from a hoax letter, an FBI official said.  Waagner allegedly told fellow anti-abortion activist Neal Horsely that he had sent the letters, the Washington Post reported.  Horsely, who runs a Web site called the Nuremberg Files that lists abortion providers, said that Waagner made the admission when he took Horsely hostage in his own home last Friday (Eggen/Slevin, Washington Post, Nov. 30).

Waagner, a self-proclaimed anti-abortionist, escaped in February from federal custody where he had been convicted on federal charges related to weapons violations and stolen cars.

“The Department of Justice considers Waagner’s threats and all anthrax hoaxes to be serious violations of federal law,” said U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (Megan Garvey, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 30).

Investigation Continues

Efforts to examine the anthrax spores in a letter mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) showed the need for investigators to come up with an intricate plan to open the tainted letter mailed to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Washington Post reported yesterday.

As scientists placed the spores from the Daschle letter on microscope slides, the spores floated off the surface, the Post reported.  When the scientists tried to weigh the spores, again they became airborne due to tiny drafts and table vibrations.  Finally, scientists doused the spores in liquid chemicals and coated others in paraffin wax before examining them.

Investigators examining the Leahy letter have come up with a detailed plan for opening the letter and maximizing recoverable evidence (see GSN, Nov. 29).  Over the last few days, they have conducted test openings on a “body-double” envelope wrapped in tape like the Leahy letter, the Post reported.

“The U.S. Army and the FBI … know the sample is precious,” said Maj. Gen. John Parker, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command Center.  “They want to make every study count toward the end of linking the sample to the perpetrator.”

The Leahy letter is particularly valuable because other anthrax samples have been virtually exhausted.  Some of the anthrax in the Daschle letter was lost when it was opened by an aide, and the rest has been used by scientists.  The letter to the New York Post got wet before it was opened, turning the contents into an unworkable mass resembling “Purina Dog Chow,” according to U.S. Army scientists.  As for the letter to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, very few spores remained after opening the letter, according to the U.S. Army (Rick Weiss, Washington Post, Nov. 29).

Investigators examining how the culprit might have acquired a sample of the Ames strain of anthrax have found that the distribution of the strain is much more limited than previously thought, according to government documents.  It may even be limited to about a dozen labs, an anthrax researcher said.

The FBI’s investigation has moved “way beyond” the short list of laboratories that received samples of the Ames strain, FBI spokesman Mike Kortan said yesterday.  The short list was used as a guide for investigators to trace any possible movements of the strain, according to a government official.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has sent samples of the Ames anthrax strain to U.S., Canadian and British researchers, according to the Washington Post.  The list of facilities includes the University of New Mexico, Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and Porton Down in Britain, which in turn sent Ames anthrax to two other U.S. universities in Arizona and Louisiana, the Post reported.

The U.S. military sent out the Ames anthrax strain to “legitimate workers in the field” under strict controls, said USAMRIID senior research scientist Col. Arthur Friedlander.  “This is not a cavalier thing that one does,” Friedlander said.  “When anyone isolates strains, they are shared through the scientific community.  That’s how research gets done.  It follows a long tradition of collaboration with people that we are familiar with.”

The small number of laboratories known to have possessed the Ames strain should make it easier for investigators to narrow down who might be responsible, Friedlander said.  “The world of anthrax researchers is quite small.  There isn’t a large group of people working with fully virulent strains,” he said.  “Obviously, if there were 1,000 labs it would be a different order of magnitude than if there were only a handful” (Fainaru/Warrick, Washington Post, Nov. 30).

Washington Christmas Cards to be Delivered on Time

Washington mail service is returning to normal, even though thousands of letters held in the anthrax-tainted Brentwood Road postal facility are just now getting to their destinations, a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman said this week.

The Brentwood facility is still closed, but Washington mail is being sorted at suburban mail centers, according to the Washington Post.  The letters stuck inside Brentwood when it was closed have been sent to Lima, Ohio, for sanitizing.

“Most of that mail is being wrapped in a small bag with a note that explains why it is postmarked in October but only being delivered now, said Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Yackley.  “Some of it won’t be bagged and marked, but all of it will be sanitized… Our goal with this batch of mail is safety rather than speed” (Neely Tucker, Washington Post, Nov. 30).

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