The real anthrax killer?

The real anthrax killer?

Chicago Tribune: In late June, the federal government agreed to pay former military scientist Steven Hatfill a settlement worth $5.8 million for floating his name as a “person of interest” in the notorious 2001 anthrax attacks. Hatfill was never charged and the government didn’t admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

That turn of events left one gaping question: If Hatfill wasn’t the culprit, who was?

That question now may have been answered.

Bruce Ivins, a top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the attacks, committed suicide just as the Justice Department was prepared to file criminal charges against him in the attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Ivins was an 28-year veteran at the government’s elite biodefense research laboratories in Maryland. He shared the 2003 Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, the highest honor bestowed on civilian Pentagon employees, the Associated Press reported. He had been questioned earlier, but it wasn’t until the FBI doubled back to re-examine old leads and potential suspects that his name apparently surfaced again.

So now, is this case closed? Maybe. Justice Department officials are expected to decide soon whether to do just that.

But we can’t help but wonder. The FBI seemed sure about Hatfill too. How strong is the evidence that Ivins sent envelopes of deadly anthrax spores, killing five, crippling the national mail service and rendering millions of Americans afraid to open their mail? Authorities said that they had made “substantial progress” in the investigation using “new and sophisticated scientific tools.” But they refused to elaborate.

Some of Ivins’ colleagues told reporters that the scientist was “hounded” by aggressive FBI agents; Ivins’ attorney asserted his client’s innocence in the aftermath of the suicide.

Looming over all this is a bigger question: Why? Why, for instance, did the anthrax killer target Sens. Patrick Leahy and Thomas Daschle? What, if anything, connected two female victims, one in new York and one in Connecticut? Why did a letter go to The Sun, a Florida supermarket tabloid? To NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw?