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American Morning

Interview with Stan Bedlington

Aired August 08, 2002 - 08:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As the government moves forward with its probe into last year's deadly anthrax attacks, lawyers for a former U.S. Army scientist are complaining about how investigators are treating their client. Some new details are emerging today about Steven Hatfill, a former biochemist at Fort Detrick.

CNN learned yesterday that Hatfill's lawyers requested a meeting with someone from the U.S. attorney's office, although we do not know if that meeting has taken place. Hatfill has not been charged with anything, but at least one long time acquaintance believes the evidence against him is mounting.

Stan Bedlington, a former CIA counter-terrorism expert, joins us now from Washington.

Good to have you with us this morning, Stan. Welcome.

STAN BEDLINGTON, FORMER CIA COUNTER-TERRORISM EXPERT: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: So what do you make of these reports that a meeting is being encouraged between Mr. Hatfill's attorneys and government officials?

BEDLINGTON: Well, frankly, I was somewhat surprised that the meeting was held apparently, it if has been held, frankly I thought perhaps they were going to try and cut some sort of a deal with the public prosecutor. But this is not the case. As we understand it, the meeting was held in order to present some complaints about the way Steven Hatfill is being treated by the FBI and the Justice Department.

But I think the evidence is mounting that he does have some questions to answer.

ZAHN: And in your judgment, what is the most significant piece of evidence that would suggest that perhaps that Mr. Hatfill was behind these anthrax attacks?

BEDLINGTON: Well, I think you probably read the article in, I think it was in "Newsweek" on Monday, which talks about the FBI taking some bloodhounds to Hatfill's apartment and other places early last week. And the bloodhounds, as soon as they got into Hatfill's apartment, ran over to him and, you know, starting showing that they'd picked up a scent. They, the bloodhounds had been shown a package coming from the two envelopes addressed to Senator Lahey and Senator Daschle, which still obviously had some scent of anthrax. And they sniffed that and they went straight to Hatfill, not once but on several occasions.

So bloodhound evidence is, in fact, admissible in court. So the evidence is mounting. But I don't think it's by any means a done case yet. Much more evidence is required.

ZAHN: It's also interesting to note that the bloodhounds, according to published reports, also became agitated when they were taken to the apartment building of one of Hatfill's friends and then actually to a restaurant in Louisiana where Mr. Hatfill had eaten the day before.

Let's go on to what you make of the -- or made of the FBI searches of his apartment. Why was nothing yielded, as at least we've been told nothing was yielded, from that search?

BEDLINGTON: Well, of course, we don't know what the FBI has picked up. But there's been no leaks or any suggestion that they've found anything of, appropriate to the prosecution, that would further the prosecution. I mean Steven Hatfill, I mean I've known him for some years. He's an incredibly intelligent man, a very clever man. We cannot say for sure that he was involved in this anthrax case. Far from it.

But if he was, if he was, then I'm certain he's quite capable of covering his tracks.

ZAHN: Are you of the mind, though, that the kind of anthrax that laced the letters to Tom Daschle, among others, were not of the home grown variety but a very sophisticated type of anthrax?

BEDLINGTON: I'm told that. I'm not a scientist. I'm a political scientist, for what it's worth. So I really cannot answer that. But that is certainly the conclusion that the reports in the media have come to.

ZAHN: You have said that Steven Hatfill actually showed you plans that he had drawn up in the case of a biological attack. Can you share a little bit of that with us this morning?

BEDLINGTON: Yes, they were eminently reasonable and rational. He's very proud of two things he said that ought to be done. I should back off a little and say that he was very contemptuous of the plans that the U.S. government had in place to combat a potential biological attack and what to do afterwards. So he drew up his own, he said.

The one, the first one was a set of ambulances which would have special filters to keep out whatever toxic spores were still in the air. And the other was what he called a disaster train, a train that would be standing by in whatever location you need it. The train would have on board laboratories, clinics, first responders, doctors, nurses, etc. In other words, it could do everything to deal with a post-attack situation.

ZAHN: In closing this morning, do you think Mr. -- that the FBI has their suspect in this man?

BEDLINGTON: I honestly don't know, to tell you the truth. All I can say is the evidence seems to be mounting. If you look at the evidence on -- from the addresses on those two letters to Lahey and Daschle, which are similar to a place he studied in Zimbabwe when he was studying for his M.D., and if you look at the bloodhound search, then certainly there are, the evidence is mounting and there is a case to answer.

ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your sharing some of your insights with us this morning.

Stan Bedlington, thank you very much for your time.

BEDLINGTON: Thank you very much.

ZAHN: Appreciate it.

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