Questions Arise Over Guilt of Anthrax Suspect

Ten years have now passed since the most deadly biological terrorism attack in the United States took the lives of five people who were exposed to anthrax through the mail. And new challenges have emerged to the strength of the FBI’s case against a single suspect, FoxNews.com reports.

The FBI named Army scientist Bruce Ivins as the suspect in the case in 2008. And he apparently committed suicide that summer. But recent court filings raise questions about whether the FBI really had its man.

The filings show the lab Ivins worked in didn’t have the equipment needed to manufacture the anthrax powder. And Ivins wasn’t the only Army scientist with access to the source of anthrax — thought to be a flask at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

Democratic Rep. Rush Holt is concerned because the anthrax letters were sent from his New Jersey district. He wrote recently in the Asbury Park Press that the FBI investigation had some holes.

"As FBI Director Robert Mueller ultimately acknowledged to me, the case against Ivins was almost entirely circumstantial. . . . The FBI has said it does not have any direct, physical evidence tying Ivins to the attack," Holt wrote.

He would like to see a special committee determine whether the U.S. is better prepared to handle attacks in the future and why the FBI apparently chased the wrong clues in the anthrax case for years.