The thing that makes Anthrax a exquisite biological weapon isn’t because it kills at a high frequency, it isn’t because it is communicable like Covid – you get that from your neighbour – it is because it has a spore; the spore form can exist for decades. The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11, Paul Keim, anthrax scientist, Netflix 2022
It has to kill in order to survive. It has to kill to complete its life cycle. ibid.
Anthrax would not be a good death. You’d spike a high fever, you’d feel terrible, then you’d crash and die. ibid.
Anthrax Here. ibid. Daily News front page
September 2006: The most expensive investigation that the FBI ever carried out. ibid. Keim
Those all trace back to a single flash … that Bruce Ivins had created for his experiments. ibid.
We more we investigated Bruce, the more things that came to light. ibid. FBI investigator
Ivins died in an apparent overdose. ibid. TV news
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
Irvins 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.
A bioweapons scientist found mortally wounded on a Manhattan sidewalk. His death remains steeped in mystery. Behind him, a covert career with deadly secrets. The knowledge he holds is explosive. Did the grim nature of his research push him over the edge, or did he die because he knew too mch? Deadly Intelligence II: Dr Frank Olson
Biochemist Dr Frank Oslon has falled ten floors from his room in the Hotel Stadler. ibid.
To stop him blowing the whistle on a top-secret US bioweapons program. ibid.
America’s germ-warfare program had been kick-started with Nazi research. ibid.
Testing is also carried out in urban areas. ibid.
‘He thought that the experimentations being done with prisoners was unethical.’ ibid. comment
‘It would require a degree of athletic ability that he simply didn’t possess’ ibid.
‘The two police officers found Lashbrook’s behaviour highly suspicious.’ ibid.
Only a superficial autopsy is performed. ibid.
Olson’s death is reported as a suicide. But two decades later, a government inquiry into CIA activities leads to the release of previously secret documents. They link the CIA and Olson to a covert program of experiments in which patients were dosed with the drug lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD. ibid.
So they begin testing it on their own troops. ibid.
The explosive allegation: Point Saint-Esprit was a secret LSD experiment undertaken by the US. ibid.
Frank Olson’s passport shows he made multiple trips to France in the early 1950s. ibid.
‘Frank Olson had no scratches on his face he would have had had he crashed through a window.’ ibid. comment
‘Frank Olson sustained a subgaleal hematoma right here above the left eye.’ ibid. expert
Members of the 1994 forensic team believe Olson’s haematoma pointed to possible foul play. ibid.
‘Frank Olson was dosed with LSD.’ ibid. comment
In 1953 Frank Olson is deeply conflicted about secret scientific experiments he’s been conducting for the Army and CIA, codenamed Project Artichoke. Ibid.
2001: A highly regarded Harvard professor goes missing in Memphis shortly after September 11th. Did his work with the world’s deadliest viruses make him a target for biological terrorists? Deadly Intelligence III: Don Wiley
A mystery unfolds on the iconic Hernando de Soto bridge that spans the Mississippi River. ibid.
Dr Don Wiley: A Harvard professor specialising in lethal infectious diseases. ibid.
‘He was a world-renowned scientist.’ ibid. Comment
Dr Wiley has been working on the most deadly influenza strain of all, a virus that 100 years ago swept across the globe … Known as the Spanish Flu, it’s the largest epidemic in history. ibid.
December 20th 2001: A body is found more than 300 miles downstream from Memphis. ibid.