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Anthrax: FBI Searches Forest for Clues to 2001 Attacks FBI investigators began searching a section of forest near Frederick, Md., yesterday in an apparent attempt to obtain more clues in the investigation into the last year’s anthrax attacks (see GSN, Nov. 11). FBI agents told local police officials that they would be conducting a search of the City of Frederick Municipal Forest, 10 miles south of Camp David, over the weekend, according to the Baltimore Sun. So far, investigators have excavated part of a clearing in the area and have searched several small ponds, the Sun reported. An FBI press statement suggested that investigators have begun sampling for anthrax in the area. “It is important to note that based on water, soil and sediment testing already conducted, there is no indication of any risk to the public health or safety,” the statement said. FBI agents are apparently searching the area because of a tip that former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill, who has been the public focus of the bureau’s investigation into last fall’s attacks, was seen there, said Patrick Clawson, Hatfill’s spokesman. Clawson said Hatfill told him yesterday that he had been in the area only as a volunteer with a Boy Scout troop. This latest search will find nothing to connect Hatfill to the anthrax attacks, Clawson said. “The FBI can search the planet until hell freezes over, but it will find that Steve Hatfill was never involved in the anthrax attacks,” Clawson said. “We’d just like to know how many searches it takes to get his reputation and employment restored,” he added (Scott Shane, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 13). Hatfill’s attorney Victor Glasberg yesterday refused to comment on the search. “I know nothing about it, zero about it,” he said (Kate Leckie, Frederick News-Post, Dec. 13). Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department has said that it did not intend for Hatfill to come under such intense media scrutiny by describing him has a “person of interest” in the anthrax investigation, according to department letters sent to Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), which were released yesterday. The department sent the letters in reply to inquiries that Grassley made after Hatfill was fired from his position at Louisiana State University and after the FBI searched Hatfill’s apartment three times (see GSN, Sept. 19). Grassley had asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to explain the dismissal from the university and to define the term “person of interest.” The department did not intend to cause any harm to Hatfill when it described him as a person of interest, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Bryant said in one of the letters. Instead, the department meant “to deflect media scrutiny” and “explain that he (Hatfill) was just one of many scientists” who had cooperated with the FBI investigation, Bryant said. In another letter, Bryant said that, as the main source of funding for the university’s National Center for Biomedical Research where Hatfill was employed, the department was entitled to “substantial involvement” in “the selection of key personnel” (see GSN, Sept. 5). Bryant provided no further details on the reasons for Hatfill’s dismissal, according to the Washington Post. Grassley said yesterday that he appreciates the department’s replies to his inquiries. “I also appreciate the department’s candidness that the action regarding Mr. Hatfill and his employment is unprecedented,” Grassley said in a statement, and that “there is no ... formal definition for the term ‘person of interest’” (Gugliotta/Lengel, Washington Post, Dec. 13). 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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