Anthrax letter attacks

DATE: September-November, 2001

THE EVENT: One week after the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon of September 11, 2001, the discovery of the bacterium that causes the deadly disease anthrax in letters mailed to various parties in New York, Florida, and Washington, D.C., triggered a forensic investigation.

SIGNIFICANCE: Beyond their human toll, infecting twenty-two people overall and killing five, the anthrax attacks that took place in September, 2001, caused heightened panic at a time when the United States was reeling from the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The 2001 anthrax attacks led to a number of policy changes surrounding preparations to combat biological terrorism in the United States.

On September 11, 2001, the United States endured the largest act of terrorism it had ever experienced when hijackers flew commercial airliners into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. These attacks led to a change in ideology within the country that was just getting under way when the United States was attacked again, this time by an unknown assailant using the naturally existing bioterrorism source known as anthrax.

Anthrax

Anthrax is a life-threatening disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. This bacterium is assiduous in that it turns dormant and into a spore stage when it does not have a host or is threatened by extreme temperatures, and it can survive in this state until it comes into contact with a new host. Then, even if it has been dormant for decades, it can spread very quickly.

Anthrax is most commonly found in agricultural areas, where it often infects cattle, sheep, goats, and other animals, but it can also occur among humans. Humans typically contract the disease through handling products from infected animals (cutaneous anthrax), by inhaling spores from contaminated products or animals (inhalation anthrax), or by eating the meat of infected animals (gastrointestinal anthrax). Anthrax is not known to spread from one person to another as do cold viruses; the large majority of people who become infected with anthrax experience cutaneous exposure. Anthrax outbreaks are rare in the United States, although they were more common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; from the early twentieth century onward, anthrax has been most commonly encountered in developing countries.

Because anthrax kills humans through the multiplication of the B. anthracis bacterium within the body, it is most deadly when it reaches the lungs or the bloodstream. Cutaneous anthrax, the least dangerous form of the disease, typically results in blisters or ulcers on the skin. Indeed, more than three-fourths of people who contract cutaneous anthrax survive without medicinal treatment. Inhalation anthrax is the most dangerous of the three forms of the disease; more than half of those infected do not survive despite treatment. Treatment success is greatly influenced by how early the infection is uncovered and treated. People who come into contact with B. anthracis generally become sick within a week or ten days, but symptoms can take up to two months to appear.

Anthrax has been used in warfare since World War II, and a number of nations have developed biological weapons that include B. anthracis. Although some countries have destroyed their biological weapons facilities, others continue to test new strains of anthrax and conduct research seeking new antidotes for this disease.

The Attacks

On October 1, 2001, Claire Fletcher, an employee at the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) news division in New York City began to develop facial swelling and nausea. Her symptoms were confirmed as cutaneous anthrax, and she was provided antibiotics and later recovered. On October 4, Robert Stevens, an employee at the tabloid newspaper Sun, contracted inhalation anthrax and died the next day. Sun was published by American Media, Incorporated, located in Boca Raton, Florida

Although the first victim of the anthrax attacks was not identified until October 1, the attacks arguably began when the letters that contained the anthrax were first sent. Five such letters were postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey, on September 18, 2001, and sent to locations in New York City and Florida. Specifically, letters were sent to the news divisions of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and CBS as well as the New York Post in New York City and to the National Enquirer and American Media in Boca Raton, Florida.

Two more letters containing anthrax were also postmarked in Trenton on October 9, 2001; these were addressed to the Washington, D.C., offices of Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. After an aide at Daschle’s office opened the letter, it was found to contain a more potent form of anthrax than had been used in the earlier mailings; initial news media reports referred to it as “weapons grade” anthrax. The U.S. government mail service was temporarily shut down in response to the attacks, and the letter addressed to Leahy was found a month later, on November 16, after it had been routed to the wrong ZIP Code and placed in an impounded mail bag.

In all, five people died as a result of the anthrax attacks and another seventeen were injured. Many of those who were injured continued to experience ill effects, including fatigue and memory loss, years later. Moreover, a few postal inspectors became ill during the massive cleanup effort that followed the attacks, which continued for two and one-half years. Including the costs of cleanup and replacement of equipment, as well as the investment of human resources, some estimates put the monetary figure for the total damage caused by the attacks at more than one billion dollars.

The Investigation

After 2001, the anthrax attacks became known as Amerithrax, the case name given to them by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The investigation that ensued relied on a combination of investigative work and forensic testing. Investigators from the FBI, U.S. Postal Service, and other governmental agencies worked on the case, but through the seven ensuing years, no suspects were arrested.

Investigators observed that the anthrax used in the attacks was not all of the same grade. That mailed to television networks and the newspaper was of a brown granular form that caused only cutaneous anthrax, while that mailed to the senators and to Florida was a higher grade that caused inhalation anthrax. However, both types came from the same Ames strain that had been distributed to biological research labs across the United States and overseas.

Investigators narrowed the origin of the letters to Princeton, New Jersey, after anthrax spores were found in a mailbox near Princeton University. Hundreds of mailboxes in the area were tested, and no others tested positive. After further testing of the anthrax used in the attacks, investigators backed away from referring to the higher-grade anthrax as “weapons grade.” However, several scientists still thought that the anthrax spores had been combined with additives that rendered the material more easily inhaled. They argued that only someone with advanced expertise could have created such a mixture.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) tests of the anthrax inhaled by the first victim, Robert Stevens, ruled out laboratories in England as the source of the anthrax. Later testing found a match with the original Ames strain of anthrax produced at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Testing also indicated that the anthrax had been made within the two years preceding the attack, using a water source in the northeastern United States.

The person most closely scrutinized by investigators was Dr. Steven Hatfill, an American virologist and bioweapons expert who consistently denied any involvement. U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft labeled Hatfill a “person of interest,” and significant amounts of government time and resources were invested in looking into possible connections between him and the anthrax attacks. Hatfill later sued several newspapers and magazines for libel and the FBI and U.S. Justice Department for violating his constitutional rights. In June, 2008, he was exonerated when he won a large settlement from the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, the investigation was moving in a different direction, as the government built a case against Bruce Ivins, a veteran biological-weapon researcher for the U.S. Army who had worked on the type of anthrax used in the attacks. Ivins had a history of suspicious behavior around the time of the attacks. In July, 2008, as the Justice Department was preparing to present its case against him to a grand jury, Ivins committed suicide. In early August, a federal announced that Ivins was the sole culprit behind the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins clearly had the means and opportunity to perpetrate the attacks. Less certain was the question of what his may have been. One theory was the possibility that he stood to profit from his patents for a powerful anthrax vaccine.

Bibliography

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"Amerithrax or Anthrax Investigation." FBI, www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/amerithrax-or-anthrax-investigation. Accessed 14 Aug. 2024.

Cole, Leonard A. The Anthrax Letters: A Medical Detective Story. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2003.

Graysmith, Robert. Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer. New York: Berkley Books, 2003.

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