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CNN Saturday Morning News
FBI Releases Profile of Anthrax Terrorist
Aired November 10, 2001 - 07:24 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the anthrax investigation, anthrax has been found at four more postal facilities in New Jersey in the area there, and investigators say that they've discovered small traces of anthrax in a fourth congressional office.
Meanwhile, here's a rundown on the anthrax cases across the U.S. There have been 17 total anthrax infections. That includes four deaths from inhalation anthrax and six other cases of inhaled anthrax. There have also been seven cases of skin anthrax.
A blood test turned out to be negative for an employee of "The New Yorker" magazine suspected of having skin anthrax. But the test isn't definitive, and health officials say they may never know for sure if that employee was infected because his lesion had healed, making a biopsy impossible.
Meanwhile, the FBI has released a profile of the anthrax killer. CNN's Eileen O'Connor has that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With scientific analysis of the anthrax still ongoing, FBI behavioral analysts believe it's most likely one person sent the anthrax-laced letters to NBC, "The New York Post," and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, though they're not ruling out a group or even al Qaeda, according to FBI officials.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: They think it's a male individual with some technical expertise, a person who tends to be willing to hold a grudge for a while and to get back at individuals.
O'CONNOR: After developing a profile based on the wording of the letters, the writing, the anthrax, and the method of delivery, the FBI is appealing to the public to look for an individual who is most likely a person who has a scientific background or who is very interested in science, if employed has little contact with the public, and who may work in a lab, has taken steps to ensure his own safety, like taking antibiotics, doesn't like direct confrontation, and has a familiarity with the Trenton, New Jersey, area where the letters were mailed.
The use of dashes instead of slashes on the date, and the particular way the person wrote the letter one, analysts believe, indicate a careful, methodical person. The addresses used, they say, could be found on the Internet, the spelling-out of "Building" on the envelope addressed to the senator is also telling.
ASHCROFT: Person who picks his targets carefully, took the right care to have the right addresses and to do things rather scientifically, a person with scientific expertise and capacity.
O'CONNOR: FBI officials admit there are thousands of labs possessing anthrax and other agents, unregistered and difficult to track.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I learned that there are some 22,000 labs, public, private, individual, that handle 35 to 40 of the most deadly biological, fungi, viruses, pathogens. But the thing that came through to me, frankly, is that absent leads from the public, this may not get solved.
O'CONNOR: Adding to the problem, FBI officials admit it would have taken only about $2,500 worth of lab equipment to produce the anthrax found, even the more sophisticated, refined sample found in the letter sent to Senate majority leader Tom Daschle.
One lab at Iowa State University destroyed isolates of anthrax strains they had since 1928, after first asking the FBI, which approved the move, a decision that has come under fire from some scientists.
RONALD ATLAS, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROBIOLOGY: I think what the FBI needs to be able to do is find out specifically which strain they're dealing with. And right now, we will not know whether it was absolutely identical to the strain that was in a laboratory in Iowa, since that apparently has been destroyed.
O'CONNOR: Putting pressure on investigators is the discovery that four additional New Jersey postal facilities have tested positive for anthrax. Those facilities are being closed overnight for cleaning, which is not good enough for some.
JIM BURKE, AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION: We want to be treated equally. We want to be treated just like the Supreme Court justices. Close the place down until it's clean, thoroughly clean, and then we have no problem.
O'CONNOR (on camera): FBI officials talk about the possible similarities between the person who sent the anthrax letter and serial bombers like Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. Trouble is, it took the FBI 17 years and a tip from his brother to close that case.
Eileen O'Connor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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