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CNN Live Today

FBI Reenters Site of First Anthrax Fatality

Aired August 30, 2002 - 10:06   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to another developing story this hour that we're watching. This one comes out of Boca Raton, Florida, the starting point of last year's deadly trail of anthrax poisonings. FBI agents and scientists are reentering the AMI building, the site of first anthrax fatality last fall.
Our Mark Potter is standing by outside that building that once housed the tabloid publisher. He joins us now with the very latest from the scene.

Hello, Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. Good morning to you.

After several days of preparations and some dress rehearsals, the FBI agents and the government scientists are finally entering the AMI building to search for anthrax spores. They began suiting up a couple hours ago. We are told that they are actually going in the building right about now. They are wearing the protective suites, they are following a very strict protocol and they will have to be decontaminated when they come out.

You are looking at the scene now. That the area they were gathering. It is hard for us to see anything. Some tents have been set up. One law enforcement official that that's sort of on purpose. They want to keep everything here low key and not have the public seeing all those people in those white suits.

They will be here for 12 hours today, until 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. They are going to work in two shifts, and they will probably be here through all of next week, including the Labor Day holiday.

Now, the FBI says that it is using some technology that was just developed in the last few weeks to try to find concentrations of anthrax and then follow it, trace it, through the building, in hopes of finding perhaps the source of the anthrax, to find exactly where it entered the building. They believe it came in by way after letter, but no letter has ever been found. So they are going to be looking for that. They say, in their affidavit, their search warrant affidavit, that they have probable cause to believe that that letter may still be inside the building. They certainly don't know for sure.

In another development, the Justice Department has defined for the company, AMI, the scope of its search -- it sort of redefined it -- saying that does not intend to take out any records, business records, or any files that might affect the journalism that is done in the building, that would compromise any journalistic sources. They also say that they don't expect to go through computer files or databases. The company wanted an assurance of that, and that indeed has been given by the Justice Department.

But as to the rest of the search, we are told it is going to be very thorough. It is part of the national anthrax criminal investigation as agents still try to figure out who is responsible for the one anthrax death here and the four others in the Northeast.

Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: Mark, quickly, if can you give me an idea, do they have a plan for how long they are going to be there and is it going to be a limited number of hours per day? Is there any concern there at all about exposure?

POTTER: As to the last point, no exposure concerns for the public, we're told by health officials. The search warrant is for 14 days. I believe that clock started ticking early this week. They will be here this week and next working 12 hour days. They are not going to be working overnight. That's pretty much the schedule as we understand it now.

HARRIS: Good deal. Thanks, Mark. Mark Potter, in Boca Raton, Florida, this morning.

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