Terrorism
Judge Approves Request to Release Anthrax Evidence
Posted Aug 6, 2008, 10:08 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal judge has approved a request to release the contents of 14 search warrants issued in an investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth approved release of the sealed materials this morning, the Washington Post reports. The contents are being made public at about noon Eastern Time.
Government scientist Bruce Ivins committed suicide before he could be indicted in the attacks. The search warrants, previously sealed, include affidavits that explain what kind of evidence the government is seeking.
Some of the evidence against Ivins has been leaked to the press since news of Ivins’ imminent indictment was published. DNA linked the anthrax used in the attacks to DNA in Ivins’ lab, and Ivins checked out freeze-drying equipment that can convert liquid anthrax into dry spores. He also aroused suspicion when he cleaned up anthrax contamination in and around his own office in late 2001 and early 2002, but didn't report it.