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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Investigators Also Looking at Domestic Groups

Aired October 29, 2001 - 07:14   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: There is still no firm word on who may have sent those anthrax laced letters.

For the very latest on the investigative front, let's go to CNN's Eileen O'Connor, who joins us from Washington this morning.

Anything new that we've learned in the last 24 hours or so -- Eileen.

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not really, Paula. They're still looking at just about every group, not just Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Investigators have been looking at domestic groups, especially when some 90 abortion clinics also received letters purportedly containing anthrax at the very beginning of this. Now, those letters were fake. The anthrax inside was fake.

But there was a working theory that perhaps some of the letters with anthrax were linked to some or perhaps -- some of the fake letters, possibly some connected to these anti-abortion protesters.

Now, another possibility investigators have been looking at, militia groups, trying to take advantage of the post-September 11 feelings of vulnerability, trying to destabilize the U.S. government. And then, of course, there are racist groups, some white supremacist groups, and some of those actually have some experience in this.

Now as you see, you saw the wording of those letters to NBC Tom Brokaw and to Tom Daschle and of course it talked about death to America, death to Israel. In 1995, Larry Wayne Harris was a member of the white supremacist group and he was a lab worker at Ohio State University. He actually got a hold of three vials of bubonic plague from a lab that stores cultures for research purposes.

Now, he used false letterhead and he was picked up. The police found the vials in his glove compartment. He told police he was researching a book. Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and he was on probation. But while on probation he was then arrested again near Las Vegas when FBI were told by an informant that he was carrying the anthrax virus.

Now, charges were dropped three days later. The substance turned out to be an anthrax vaccine for animals. Harris said he was using it to protect himself and his dogs against anthrax. Harris wrote that book that he talked about. He warned people about the threat of biowarfare on America.

But one group at least calls his book a manual on biological terrorism. So there's investigators saying that perhaps the groups like this, racist groups are trying to incite anti-immigration feelings and that's why they're using those wordings. So all of these are a possibility.

ZAHN: All right, Eileen O'Connor, thanks so much for that update.

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