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American Morning
Interview with Dr. Richard Spertzel
Aired August 02, 2002 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The man being called a potential suspect in last year's anthrax attacks worked at the Fort Detrick Institute of Infectious Diseases. Steven Hatfill's apartment near the base has already been searched twice by the FBI. Investigators say he once commissioned a study on how an anthrax attack could be conducted through the mail. But is Hatfill their man?
Dr. Richard Spertzel is a former senior biologist at Fort Detrick and a biowarfare expert. He joins us from Washington this morning.
Welcome, sir -- glad to have you with us.
DR. RICHARD SPERTZEL, BIOWARARE EXPERT: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: You no doubt know that the FBI really has its sights focused on Mr. Hatfill right now. What do you think is the likelihood, and based on what you know about him, that he was responsible for these anthrax attacks or connected to them in any way?
SPERTZEL: Well, I only know Dr. Hatfill slightly, but I do know about him, that is, he's basically an Ebola virus expert. And his two years' stint at USAMRIID from '97 to '99 was to work on Ebola virus. That is a -- would have -- that work have been conducted in a biosafety level IV infectious suite at USAMRIID.
ZAHN: So what does that mean? He wouldn't have had the right kind of immunizations to get into the labs where anthrax was stored?
SPERTZEL: Where that work would have been conducted, it is my best guess, because I'm basing it on 1987 when I left USAMRIID, that the anthrax work was done in one of two locations, one of which would have been on the opposite side of the building, or the other location would have been in a separate building, separated by several -- or a couple of thousand feet.
ZAHN: And how hard would it be to get access to that area?
SPERTZEL: If the same conditions exist now as did back then, it would be extremely remote that he had the opportunity to gain access to those suites, unless he was fully immunized and had a reason to enter those infectious suites.
ZAHN: Do you understand, though, how Dr. Hatfill might have raised some red flags by commissioning a study, where he looked at a fictional terrorist plot where the terrorist actually used anthrax and sent it through the mail? That was bound to get some attention, wasn't it? SPERTZEL: I can see why that would gain attention. However, I see nothing wrong with that study being conducted at that time. After all, the 1990s was rife with the fake anthrax letters that was going on throughout the country. And it was reasonable in the organization he worked for to do basically a threat assessment.
ZAHN: Speaking of threat assessments, it has just been learned that Mr. Hatfill is among those that is on a standby list to go to Iraq as part of a U.N. weapons inspection team. A State Department official says he's not employed by the U.S. in this capacity, but he apparently is one of the very few who have applied to the team.
Now, you have had the same training that he has had to qualify yourself for that kind of work. What does that suggest to you, anything?
SPERTZEL: It actually does not. Now, I haven't had the UNMOVIC training. In fact, I was one of the trainers for the first training group, but I did have four-and-a-half years' experience with the Special Commission on Iraq and was responsible, in fact, for getting Iraq to reveal their program as we now know it today.
The training, however, that is being conducted for the UNMOVIC inspectors has nothing to do with the capability to make an agent or to dry an agent. It has more to do with the type of things to look for, the type of equipment to look for. It includes such things as sensitivity training, so that it would not qualify anyone to make a product such as the anthrax spores that was found in the Daschle...
ZAHN: Dr. Spertzel...
SPERTZEL: ... or Leahy letters.
ZAHN: Dr. Spertzel, we've just got about 10 seconds left. If you don't believe Dr. Hatfill is the FBI's man, who do you think was responsible for these anthrax mailings?
SPERTZEL: I believe it is impossible to make that product in a clandestine fashion within the U.S. Therefore, I have contended from the very beginning that you need to look at an overseas location for its production.
ZAHN: It's very interesting. We appreciate your insights this morning. Dr. Richard Spertzel, thank you very much for dropping by AMERICAN MORNING.
SPERTZEL: Thank you.
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