Anthrax suspect identified by DNA

WASHINGTON - DNA taken from the bodies of people killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks helped lead investigators to Bruce Ivins, the scientist who oversaw the highly specific type of toxin in an Army lab, a government scientist said yesterday.

Using new genome technology, researchers looked at samples of cells from the victims to identify the kind of Ames strain anthrax that killed them, the scientist said.

They noticed very subtle differences between the DNA of the strain used in the attacks and other types of Ames anthrax.

Spores taken from envelopes used to mail the anthrax, as well as from the sites where they were sent, also were scrutinized.

With that, investigators linked the specific type of anthrax back to Ivins' biological weapons lab at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., where he oversaw its use and handling for research.

"It had to do with the very specific characteristics in the DNA of the letters and what was in Bruce's labs," said the government scientist, who is close to the investigation. "They were cultures he was personally responsible for."

The scientist spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

The discovery gave the FBI its first solid break in one of the nation's most high-profile unsolved crimes after years of pointing the finger at the wrong suspect.

Combined with other evidence, the Justice Department is expected to close the case this week, concluding that Ivins was the sole criminal behind the attacks that killed five and sickened 17 people, including several postal workers in New Jersey, in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Ivins killed himself last week as prosecutors prepared to indict him on murder charges, authorities said.

Still, concerns lingered yesterday about the investigation. "From the very beginning, I've had real concerns about the quality of the investigation," said former Sen. Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat whose office was one of the targets in the 2001 anthrax attacks, speaking on Fox News Sunday.

In June, the United States agreed to pay a settlement valued at $5.8 million to resolve a lawsuit by another Fort Detrick researcher, Steven Hatfill, who said the government improperly identified him publicly as a "person of interest" in the case.

Ivins' attorney earlier issued a statement saying his client was innocent and had fully cooperated with the FBI for six years. Daschle criticized federal authorities for not briefing him on the developments involving Ivins. "All of us, not only those of us directly affected, but all of us need to know more than we do today," Daschle said, according to Bloomberg News.

Tom Ridge, who served as secretary of homeland security shortly after the attacks and is a former governor of Pennsylvania, defended the FBI. "I know that they were relentless," Ridge said on ABC's This Week program, "both domestically and overseas - with the notion that it could have been a part of a broader terrorist network, but it could also have been the act of a deranged individual or two."

The scientist who described the laboratory investigation that allegedly led to Ivins suggested that investigators did not depend on the new DNA evidence alone since other researchers in Ivins' lab also had access to the type of Ames strain used in the attacks.

Among other things, investigators have said, they looked at who had access to the poison or the labs at the specific time it was mailed.

Those details are expected to be spelled out in sealed court documents that are expected to be released this week if the Justice Department ends the investigation, possibly as early as today or tomorrow.

Although the Army lab where Ivins worked had long been on the FBI's radar, scientists were unable to pinpoint the specific strain used in the attacks until about a year ago.

The FBI recruited top genome researchers from across the country and encouraged them to do groundbreaking work to identify and isolate the type of anthrax in the attacks. At least $10 million was spent on the research in what the scientist called the FBI's most expensive and scientifically compelling case to date.