WASHINGTON — A bioterrorism specialist whose home has twice been searched for clues to last fall's anthrax killings lashed out at the FBI and publicly declared his innocence Sunday, saying he had "never ever worked with anthrax in my life."
In a news conference outside his lawyer's office, Steven J. Hatfill affirmed his loyalty to America, and his horror when the tainted letters killed five people and made at least 13 others ill. In strained tones, he also described the nightmare he has endured since his name surfaced in the investigation.
"I acknowledge the right of the authorities and the press to satisfy themselves as to whether I am the anthrax mailer. This does not, however, give them the right to smear me and gratuitously make a wasteland of my life in the process. I will not be railroaded," Hatfill said.
"I'm a loyal American and I love my country. I've had nothing to do in any way, shape or form with the mailing of these anthrax letters."
The FBI has never identified Hatfill as a suspect in the case, though it has called him "persons of interest." Nevertheless, agents recently have ratcheted up their interest in the 48-year-old bioweapons researcher, who worked at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Md., from 1997 to 1999.
Appearing publicly for the first time Sunday, Hatfill described how FBI searches of his home--one voluntary, one with a warrant--were turned into media circuses, complete with helicopters and television cameras, and how FBI agents "manhandled" his girlfriend when her apartment was searched.
Hatfill's attorney, Victor M. Glasberg, also alleged that the FBI leaked to ABC News information collected during one of those searches: Hatfill was writing a novel about bioterrorism.
The FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other federal law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation had no official comment Sunday in response to Hatfill's news conference.
"It's all part of an ongoing case. Nobody has been charged. Beyond that, there is nothing we can say," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said.
While Hatfill's is the only name that has been mentioned in the media, one senior federal law enforcement official said he was among about 20 scientists who are considered "persons of interest" based on their specific scientific knowledge and access to facilities where anthrax is grown or studied. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
