FBI Used Aggressive Tactics In Anthrax Investigation

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New details about the FBI investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks have only reinforced a long-standing trend — the more we hear about the probe, the more botched it sounds.

Today the Washington Post reports that FBI agents harassed Ivins’s daughters and offered his son millions of dollars to help convict Ivins in the anthrax killings. That’s according to a friend and former co-worker whom Ivins confided in last fall.

It was around the time that FBI agents showed Ivins’ 24-year-old daughter pictures of the victims who had died in the 2001 anthrax attacks and told her, “Your father did this,” the scientist said. The agents also offered her twin brother the $2.5 million reward for solving the anthrax case — and the sports car of his choice.

Talking abrasively to potential witnesses might not be uncommon for criminal investigators. But offering money and a car?

Also according to the same scientist, FBI agents had approached Ivins and his family in public. The Post reports:

One day in March, when Ivins was at a Frederick mall with his wife and son, the agents confronted the researcher and said, “You killed a bunch of people.” Then they turned to his wife and said, “Do you know he killed people?” according to the scientist.

The only person to say publicly that Ivins talked like a homicidal sociopath was Jean Duley, Ivins’ therapist, who was cooperating with the FBI investigation.

In fact, it was an FBI agent who suggested that she contact authorities about a so-called “Peace Order” and make those allegations available in public documents.

Duley got involved with the investigation after Ivins launched into a homicidal tirade during one of their therapy sessions, she said. Ivins talked about the possibility of facing capital murder charges soon and his desire to kill people and “go out in a blaze of glory,” Duley told Maryland court officials.

Fearing Ivins may hurt someone, Duley contacted the local police in Frederick, MD. That one call from Duley led local police to remove him from the military research facility in Ft. Detrick and take him to a local mental health facility. (Duley sought a restraining order because Ivins threatened her when he learned she had contacted the police, she said.)

The Frederick Police response offers a stark contrast to the FBI, which was apparently concerned enough about Ivins to put him under surveillance more than a year ago, but not to seek to revoke his security clearance at Fort Detrick, where he handled deadly biological agents like bubonic plague.

The flawed investigation has already forced federal taxpayers to pay out nearly $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed against the Department of Justice by Steven Hatfill, the other scientist the feds accused in the case who had nothing to do with it.

This afternoon, we’re expecting more details of the investigation. The FBI says these newly unsealed documents will prove their case against Ivins. We’ll see.

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