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CNN Sunday Morning

Looking Back on Anthrax Scare

Aired August 25, 2002 - 07:45   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Part II of "America Remembers" airs tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And right now, CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us from Miami to tell us more about the special.

Susan, what was it like for you, to have looked back on that time, last year, as you were following this investigation, not really knowing what you were going to find?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just as you heard, Dr. Sanjay Gupta say, "This is something that we quickly, ourselves as journalists, had to do research on." Whoever heard of an anthrax attack in the past? And so, for one thing, we were caught by surprise as well. And so we quickly had to find out exactly what it was that we were dealing with, which was difficult, because even investigators didn't appear to know exactly what they were dealing with, Carol.

COOPER: Susan, does is surprise you that the investigation has taken this long, I mean that a suspect has not been arrested, that -- according to investigators there still pursuing many different suspects.

CANDIOTTI: Well, sure, Anderson, because time and again, we keep hearing how difficult it is for investigators to try to figure out who's behind these attacks. They are going along at a very slow pace, it would seem to us, on the outside, but to hear them, and other experts tell it, it is indeed extremely difficult for them to track down, not only who did it, but the source of the anthrax.

Evidently there are so many of these samples, of this bacteria around the country, and literally around the world that is being used for research, that authorities are having a tough time trying to figure out exactly where it came from. In fact, they were still analyzing dozens, and dozens of anthrax samples that they have been accumulating from around the country, and around the world, even outside of the United States, and trying to figure out exactly the source of the anthrax. And when you think back about it, they still don't know exactly how Robert Stevens (ph), the very first victim, contracted anthrax.

A letter was never found as it was in other cases. So, really, they can't even pin that down, and to despite the fact that there's a huge reward out there, they haven't received any solid tips from any witnesses, or anyone else for that matter about who's behind these attacks. LIN: Why do you think they're haven't been more attacks since?

CANDIOTTI: Well of course, that's a really good question to ask, and no one seems to know. It depends on, who of course, may have been behind these attacks, and just exactly why they did it, their motivation behind it. Are they lying low and planning additional attacks in the future, was that the end of it. Did they run out of the anthrax that they had, these are all questions we constantly ask investigators, but they are no answers right now.

COOPER: And any significant leads on the mail box front? I mean, I know, about a week or so ago, it was identified, perhaps a mailbox in Princeton New Jersey, that might have been where a lot of these letters were mailed -- do we know any more about that?

CANDIOTTI: Not really, not at this time, or if investigators know more, they're not a, they're not even leaking it out at this time, Anderson, and so, that's one of the things that they can pin down -- where the anthrax was mailed, and then take it back a step further, or farther, and farther, then perhaps that might give them another tip about the source of the bacteria, and who is behind it.

Again, you know, they don't have anyone to point to at this time. They keep talking about persons of interest, about 20,25 people or more that they're looking at. But, there are a lot of people in the scientific community who don't buy that investigators are working as hard as they can, although the FBI insists that it is.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) as we've heard for months and months, and months now, they don't appear to have any solid leads at this time.

COOPER: Well, do you have any sense of how big the investigation is? I mean, what sort of priority does it have, how many people are working on it, as compared to other investigations that may be going on?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we're told that there are a large number specifically, they don't give you numbers, but they do say that they have a, that this is a matter of grave importance, and especially coming up on nearly a year sine the first attacks began, they want to have something to show for it, that's for sure, but as recently as a few days ago, the U.S. Attorney General said that, "They're not going to make any arrests until they're read to make arrests," and right now they clearly don't have the ammunition they need to do so.

LIN: All right, well, thank you very much Susan Candiotti, we'll be looking forward to your coverage as we come up to this anniversary.

Susan Candiotti, live in Miami.

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