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Anthrax II: FBI Investigates Hatfill’s Connections to Southern Africa FBI agents have reportedly traveled to Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, and South Africa to gather more information on Steven Hatfill, the former U.S. Army biologist who has become the public focus of the bureau’s investigation into last year’s anthrax attacks, Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mirror reported Sunday (see GSN, Oct. 7). The FBI is believed to be investigating possible connections between Hatfill and the white Rhodesian regime’s alleged use of anthrax against black rebels in the Zimbabwe independence movement during the 1970s, according to an ABC source cited in the newspaper story. “We are not sure if the FBI is still in Zimbabwe or has gone to South Africa,” the source said. “American law enforcement is in southern Africa to confirm or disprove the many dubious claims on Hatfill’s resume and probably to build a character profile.” Hatfill has claimed to have served in the Rhodesian military and the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian paramilitary unit — both of which have been accused of using anthrax against the rebels, according to the Sunday Mirror. Hatfill has also said he later traveled to South Africa for further medical training and a year’s service in the South African military’s medical units, the newspaper reported. The South African military’s medical units have been linked to Project Coast, the apartheid regime’s biological and chemical weapons program (see GSN, May 21). The FBI might be traveling to South Africa to examine possible connections between Hatfill and Project Coast, according to a military source. “This could be the link the FBI is trying to establish during their visit to that country,” the military source said. Hatfill’s claims about his military service in southern Africa, however, have been called into question. For example, U.S. records show that Hatfill was in the United States for two of the years he claimed to have served in the Rhodesian military, according to the Sunday Mirror (see GSN, Aug. 8). The FBI is also believed to be interested in connections between Hatfill and Robert Symington, a former Godfrey Huggins Medical School professor who is believed to have established the Rhodesian biological weapons program. Symington is suspected of having helped Hatfill gain admission to the school, the Sunday Mirror reported. U.S. officials in Zimbabwe refused to comment on reports of the FBI’s presence there. “The case of the anthrax attacks remains an open investigation and a matter of public concern. I can’t speak on the status of the FBI investigations, but as an embassy, I can say that there is no FBI in Zimbabwe right now,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Bruce Wharton said (Innocent Chofamba-Sithole, Sunday Mirror, Oct. 19). For further information, see: CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax GSN Anthrax Attack Chronology (Dec. 12, 2001)
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