Of course, you all remember the terrible anthrax scare that hit the United States in late 2001. Like most Americans, you might be asking “Yeah, whatever happened with that? Didn’t they catch the guy?”

Actually, no, they didn’t. Alas, the FBI’s lead suspect in the case—Dr. Bruce Ivins—committed suicide during the investigation. And coincidentally, the anthrax-tainted letters disappeared immediately. Likewise, all other leads turned into dead ends. The FBI is pretty confident that Ivins was the perpetrator for a bunch of valid reasons, but there still lurks this horrible possibility that someone else was responsible, and simply capitalized on Ivins’ suicide to make him the scapegoat.

The Czar brings this up because the National Research Council released its report today regarding its own investigation. Mind you, their intent was a careful scientific investigation of the anthrax itself, and makes no attempt whatsoever to point the finger at a perpetrator.

The report’s findings contradict the FBI’s initial assessment of the anthrax spores used in the letters—that they absolutely came from Flask RMR-1029 out of Fort Detrick, MD. The report concluded they probably did, but the FBI ruled out other, possibly critical, alternative origins. Let the Czar repeat that another way: although the FBI jumped to a conclusion, the report found no evidence the FBI was wrong (compare this to Wikipedia’s less-than-flattering assessment, which omits this clarification).

However, more interestingly, the report concurred with the FBI that although the anthrax probably had a common source, the spores in the New York letters were not the exact same creatures as in the Washington, DC letters. In other words, the report said the FBI’s theory that one flavor of anthrax was used initially, but later refined for a second attack, appears right on the money.

The FBI naturally issued a statement timed with the release of the report clarifying that their conclusions were not based on the same techniques used by this reporting body. The FBI appreciates confirmation of many of their conclusions, but they stipulate that many other investigative techniques and investigations led them to their conclusions. This seems fair. In other words, the report might sound like the FBI simply put out a wild guess and got lucky about the source of the anthrax, but in fact the FBI knew a lot more than they are telling.

Indeed, that last sentence will ring true for a while. Many people deep inside the world of biological warfare insist that Dr. Ivins is innocent, that he would not have the brains or ability to do such a thing; however, a good many people who knew him agree he could easily have had the knowledge and up to two years of opportunity to develop both flavors of anthrax from that very flask. The case is closed, the evidence sealed—it may be a long time before we discover what the FBI really knew about Dr. Ivins and why they were so persistent about his involvement.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.