To: Thomas M. who wrote (20793 ) 4/11/2003 7:46:04 PM From: Don Earl Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 93284 Anthrax cover up begins.sunspot.net <<<As part of the scientific sleuthing, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III announced in November that investigators were trying to "reverse engineer" the mailed anthrax.>>> In other words, the letters contained an identical match to top secret US bioweapons, so they decided to try making a case for it being made elsewhere. <<<Several sources discussed the work with The Sun on condition of anonymity. One investigator said that with about a dozen samples completed, scientists have matched the mailed powder closely enough to conclude it was made with "a pretty small operation" that cost "no more than a few thousand dollars." >>> What would we do without all those anonymous sources? Note the statement quoted is "closely enough". Sounds like if they don't use the secret formula, they can't get the same kind of match they did between the letters and Ft. Detrick supplies. <<<The perpetrator would have needed expertise in microbiology to separate the dormant anthrax spores from the living vegetative cells, to dry the spores without killing them and to mill the product, the source said. But the methods used point more to a makeshift lab than a professional operation, the source said. One clue pointing away from a state program was the absence of any additive to neutralize the spores' electrical charge and make them float more freely. Such additives or coatings, including glass-like silica, were routinely used in past U.S., Soviet and Iraqi bioweapons programs, and some accounts have suggested that silica was present in the mailed anthrax. But more thorough testing disproved that. "Everybody was looking for a coating, but there wasn't one," the investigator said. >>> Interesting comment. So the coating was found on previous tests not controled by the army, but goes away with the cover up. See: fas.org <<<"Weaponization" is used here to mean preparation of the form of anthrax found in the Daschle letter: fine particles, very narrow size range, treated to eliminate static charge so it won’t clump and will float in the air. The weaponization process used was extraordinarily effective. The particles have a narrow size range (1.5-3 microns diameter), typical of the optimal US process. The extraordinary concentration (one trillion spores per gram) and purity of the letter anthrax is believed to be characteristic of material made by the optimal US process. The optimal US weaponization process is secret—Bill Patrick, its inventor, holds five secret patents on the process and says it involves a combination of chemicals . There is no evidence that any other country possesses the formula. Under the microscope, the letter anthrax appears to be unmilled. Milled anthrax spores are identifiable because they contain debris. The optimal US process does not use milling. The Daschle sample contains a special form of silica used in the US process. It does not contain bentonite (used by the Iraqis). A “coating” on the spores in the letter sample, indicative of the secret US process, has been observed.>>> Oops! Now you see it, now you don't. Also note the mention of "milling" in the the two articles. The formula in the letters used a non milling process. Back to the Sun article: <<<Two weeks ago, two agents visited Insight magazine reporter Timothy W. Maier in Washington to ask him about an interview he conducted with Hatfill in 1998. They seemed particularly interested in a photograph printed in Insight that year of Hatfill posing in bioprotection gear, demonstrating "how a determined terrorist could cook up a batch of plague in his or her own kitchen using common household ingredients and protective equipment from the supermarket," as the caption put it. Maier said he was surprised it had taken so long after the FBI first started showing an interest in Hatfill before they looked into the article and photograph.>>> Just another nice Irish lad with an interest in justice? There seems to be quite a few nice Irish lads who contributed to the article: David Siegrist, David R. Franz, Richard O. Spertzel, Robert S. Mueller III, and Timothy W. Maier. Interesting. Perhaps more interesting is how "anonymous" sources may leak information to their favorite Irish newspaper all day long, but the FBI won't say a word even under a Senate investigation.