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Anthrax: Hatfill Case Casts Doubt on Screening Processes Academic and military records show that Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biological scientist who has recently been the public focus of the FBI in its investigation into last fall’s anthrax attacks, might have falsified several claims in his resume, the Baltimore Sun reported today (see GSN, Aug. 5). The apparently misleading resume, however, did not prevent the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases from hiring Hatfill in 1995, according to the Sun. The U.S. Defense Department also apparently did not attempt to verify Hatfill’s resume before granting him “secret” security clearance in 1999, the Sun reported. “Obviously, if this is true, he was not adequately vetted by the U.S. government to work with dangerous pathogens,” said Elisa Harris, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland who is studying regulation of biological programs. False Academic Credentials In a 1997 resume submitted to the National Institutes of Health, Hatfill said he had earned a doctorate degree in “Molecular Cell Biology/Biochemistry” from Rhodes University in South Africa, according to the Sun. Rhodes University Registrar Stephen Fourie, however, said that while Hatfill had been enrolled at the university for a couple of years and submitted a doctoral thesis, he did not earn a degree. A NIH official said yesterday that the agency has what seems to be a photocopy of a doctoral degree from Rhodes University with Hatfill’s name on it, the Sun reported. A 1999 resume from Hatfill, however, lists a “Ph.D. Thesis” where the previous resume had listed a “Ph.D. Degree,” according to the Sun. False Military Background In Hatfill’s 1997 resume, he claimed to have “served with U.S. Army Special Forces” and to have been a member of the 7th Special Forces Group, according to the Sun. According to Army records, however, Hatfill began Special Forces training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in 1976 but was “academically dropped” after a month, Army spokesman Walt Sokalski said. Without Special Forces training, Hatfill could not have been a member of the 7th Special Forces Group, and his records do not indicate any such service, Sokalski said. In the 1999 resume, Hatfill no longer mentioned having been a member of the 7th Special Forces Group, according to the Sun. Instead, Hatfill only noted that he had “served with the U.S. Army Institute for Military Assistance,” the institute from which he was dismissed, the Sun reported (Scott Shane, Baltimore Sun, Aug. 8). Hatfill also has reportedly claimed military experience with two units of the former Rhodesian (now Zimbabwean) military during the white Rhodesian government’s war against black rebels in the late 1970s. Several experts have alleged that the Rhodesian government used biological weapons against rebels during the conflict. Stephen Dresch, an activist with Forensic-Intelligence.org, however, said former Rhodesian military sources have reported no evidence of Hatfill serving with either of the two military units he has claimed — the C Squadron of the Rhodesian Special Air Service and the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian paramilitary unit. “In a nutshell, no one here has ever heard of this man. I have checked with the former commander of the Selous Scouts and two previous commanders of the SAS. Their collective comment of this man’s claims do not bear repeating,” Dresch quoted the source as saying. “Both of the units were very small and it is unlikely that anyone could have served that was soon forgotten” (Mike Nartker, GSN, Aug. 6). Hatfill’s attorney Victor Glasberg has declined to comment on Hatfill’s resume, the Baltimore Sun reported. USAMRIID spokesman Chuck Dasey said that the responsibility for verifying the claims Hatfill made in his resume rested with the National Research Council, part of the National Academy of Sciences, because Hatfill had been a NRC fellow. Supercanine Bloodhounds? Meanwhile, doubts have been raised over a Newsweek report last week that bloodhounds trained to detect the scent of the envelopes used in the anthrax attacks had reacted strongly when taken to Hatfill’s apartment and other locations that he had visited, according to the Sun. Three expert bloodhound handlers have said they did not think that any useful scent of the person who mailed the anthrax-tainted letters would have remained on the envelopes months after they were sent and decontaminated. “Anything is possible,” said Weldon Wood, former president of the National Police Bloodhound Association. “But is it feasible after this length of time and what the letters have been through? I would doubt it” (Shane, Baltimore Sun). FBI Not Close to Arrest U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the FBI is not close to making an arrest in its “Amerithrax” investigation into last fall’s anthrax attacks, USA Today reported today. The investigation is still ongoing and at an increased intensity, Ashcroft said a week after the FBI searched Hatfill’s apartment for the second time (see GSN, Aug. 2). Authorities, however, are still not close to a “conclusion” to the case, he said. “Progress is being made,” Ashcroft said. “But until you cross the thresholds of information that will provide the basis for action, it may be that the progress doesn’t mean a lot” (Johnson/Locy, USA Today, Aug. 8). Government Mail Delivery Still Slow U.S. agencies are still experiencing delays in receiving mail, mainly due to sterilization and handling procedures put into place after last fall’s anthrax attacks, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 29). “I was getting invitations for holiday parties as recently as June of this year,” said Rob Nichols, deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Public Affairs at the Treasury Department. “If someone needs to get a document to us urgently, we will make them aware of the difficulty, and that first-class mail is not the way to do it.” Out of the 13 U.S. cabinet departments, 10 have reported an average mail delivery time of a week to 10 days after the postmark, according to the Post. The U.S. State Department has reported delays of up to three weeks. The irradiation process for sterilizing government mail causes most of the delays, the Post reported. The U.S. Postal Service irradiates all government mail sent to Washington at a New Jersey facility, adding four additional days to the delivery. Each department, however, has its own procedure for further handling once the mail arrives, according to the Post. To standardize the various handling procedures, the General Services Administration released a set of guidelines last month. According to the guidelines, U.S. agencies should stop routine testing of mailrooms for anthrax spores because of the low probable risk (see GSN, July 22). Gloves and masks are not needed for safety, the guidelines say. Instead, departments should screen all mail with X-rays and place mailrooms in enclosed areas, preferably with separate ventilation systems, according to the guidelines (Helen Rumbelow, Washington Post, Aug. 8).
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