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Associated Press file photo
A member of the Coast Guard National Strike Force team retrieves swab samples from the offices of
American Media Inc. on Oct. 29, 2001, in Boca Raton, Fla. |
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WASHINGTON -- Scientists this week will begin an 18-month review of the science the FBI used to identify Fort Detrick scientist Bruce Ivins as the sole suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings.The panel of 15 experts was convened by National Academy of Sciences and held its first meeting Thursday. The group laid out its responsibility to study the process and procedure used by the FBI and potentially validate its findings. "We utilized established biological and chemical analysis techniques and applied them in a novel way to a very difficult problem," said Chris Hassell, an assistant director of the FBI who oversees the laboratory division. But the study, which will cost the FBI nearly $880,000, will not explore the investigative methods or detective work that established Ivins as the primary suspect. Ivins died of an intentional overdose of Tylenol after learning he was to be indicted in the mailings that killed five and sickened 17. Instead, experts will review how the FBI matched the anthrax mailed in letters to a specific strain identified from thousands of samples obtained in the early stages of the investigation. "Our principal challenge here, in this particular project, has been the fact that this is still an open case," Hassell said. That fact has irked critics of the FBI case against Ivins, which include many of his former colleagues and supervisors at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The study will affirm the validity of the investigative science but will stop short of explaining how the FBI sorted Ivins from the dozens of people who had access to the strain of anthrax used in the mailings. "Good scientists are confident in their findings but are open to scrutiny," Hassell said. Dr. David Relman, a Stanford University professor who is co-chairman of the study group, said he wants the review to provide assistance and guidance for future investigations. "As we look forward, we want to ensure the best possible science methods and approaches be applied and deployed for future work of this sort," he said. Today, the board will continue with another open session. On the agenda is Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who wants a formal commission to look into the eight-year FBI investigation. The letters were mailed from a mailbox in Holt's central New Jersey district. A group of scientists who worked with the FBI on its case will also address the board.
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