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Anthrax: Agents Invoke Search Warrants in Two States, Sources Say Federal agents investigating last year’s anthrax attacks obtained warrants to search properties in Maryland and Florida yesterday, the Baltimore Sun reported (see GSN, July 12). Both search sites are possibly tied to former U.S. military biologist Steven Hatfill, according to the Baltimore Sun (see GSN, July 8). In Maryland, investigators searched parts of the Detrick Plaza Apartments in Frederick. Until July, Hatfill had lived at the complex, which is beside the main gate to his former employer, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Hatfill recently took a job as associate director of Louisiana State University’s National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, the Sun reported. Agents at the Frederick complex appeared to search two large trash bins and Hatfill’s former third-floor apartment, according to the Sun. According to the Associated Press, the agents were acting on a search warrant, but the FBI has declined to comment on that information, the Sun reported. Hatfill gave agents permission when they searched his apartment in late June (see GSN, June 26). In Florida, investigators acted on a warrant to again search a storage facility where Hatfill had once rented a unit. The agents searched a unit other than the one they had searched previously, according to the Sun. Investigators have never identified Hatfill as a suspect, according the Sun (Frank Roylance, Baltimore Sun, Aug. 2). One law enforcement official, however, indicated that authorities were focusing more on Hatfill. “We’re obviously doing things related to him that we’re not doing with others,” the official said. “He is obviously of more interest to us than others on the list at this point” (Jackman/Eggen, Washington Post, Aug. 2). Hatfill has done nothing wrong, said his lawyer, Thomas Carter. “He’s a patriot — he’s going to continue to cooperate in every way,” Carter said. Meanwhile, Federation of American Scientists analyst Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, who has been outspoken about the FBI investigation of the anthrax attacks, said agents also visited her in New York yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 4, 2001). “They asked me what evidence I felt they should be pursuing,” she said. Officials are pressuring investigators to identify the person responsible for the attacks by their one-year anniversary in mid-September, the agents told Rosenberg. “One of them said, ‘Every time my boss passes my desk he points to the calendar,’” she said (Roylance, Baltimore Sun). 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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