A brilliant scientist is recruited by the FBI to investigate a deadly biological attack on US soil. Then suddenly the scientist becomes the number one suspect. Could previously classified information prove his innocence? Or did the truth die with Bruce Ivins? Deadly Intelligence I: Dr Bruce Ivins, Amazon 2018
Ivins works at the Army Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Dr Irvins has been perfecting vaccines to protect America against bioweapons since 1980. ibid.
22 civilians were infected. 5 die. Ivins is recruited by the FBI for his specialised knowledge of anthrax. ibid.
He is discovered unconscious on his bathroom floor. ibid.
To this day there is still doubt that Bruce Ivins really was the culprit. ibid.
The killer is dubbed the Anthrax Mailer. ibid.
The killer anthrax is the so-caalled Ames strain, which originates in the United States. ibid.
Now all eyes turn to the scientists with access to the deadly bacteria. ibid.
Dr Hatfill is publicly announced as a person of interest. ibid.
‘We had a fingerprint, a DNA fingerprint, of the actual anthrax that was used in the attacks.’ ibid. Comment
The DNA leads not just to a single lab but a single flask. ibid.
‘Dr Ivins has been custodian of this flask since the late 1990s.’ ibid. comment
‘There were approximately 20 laboratories that received some material from that flask.’ ibid. comment
The FBI claims it was professional self-preservation to stop proposed cuts to his research. ibid.
Dr Bruce Ivins has a dark side. Unbeknownst to the public, in 2008 Dr Bruce Ivins becomes the FBI’s main suspect in the anthrax mailings seven years earlier. But many of those who work with Ivins think the FBI are focusing on the wrong man. ibid.
On July 12th 2008 federal agents raid Ivins’ home. What they find is alarming. ibid.
Ivins begins drinking heavily. In July 2008 he’s committed to a Baltimore psychiatric hospital. ibid.
Ivins takes excessive amounts of acetaminophen, a pain reliever that in extremely high doses can cause organ failure. ibid.