At a Pentagon ceremony on March 14, 2003, Ivins and two colleagues from USAMRIID were bestowed the Decoration of Exceptional Civilian Service, the highest honor given to nonmilitary employees of the Defense Department.
"Awards are nice," Ivins said in accepting the honor. "But the real satisfaction is knowing the vaccine is back on line."
The Times sought earlier this year to obtain annual financial disclosure statements filed by Ivins with his employer. USAMRIID spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden said last month that Ivins had filed financial reports exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
Ivins' apparent suicide and the Justice Department's decision to bring criminal charges against him were first reported Thursday night by The Times. On Friday, Ivins' lawyer, Paul F. Kemp, defended his client and said that Ivins had cooperated fully with the FBI.
"We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial," Kemp said, implicitly confirming that Ivins had been about to be formally charged. "The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people. . . . In Dr. Ivins' case, it led to his untimely death."
Kemp did not respond to telephone calls and e-mails for this article.
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david.willman@latimes.com
Times researcher Janet Lundblad contributed to this report.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Key dates in the investigation of the anthrax attacks
2001
September-October: Anthrax is mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida. By late November, five people are dead and 17 sickened. The victims include postal workers and others who came into contact with the anthrax.
2002
January: The Senate office building where anthrax- tainted letters were sent reopens after three months and fumigation. FBI doubles the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million.
June: The FBI is scrutinizing 20 to 30 scientists who might have had the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters, a U.S. official says.
August: Law enforcement officials and Atty. Gen. John D. Ashcroft call Steven J. Hatfill, a biowarfare expert, a "person of interest" in the investigation.
2003
June: The FBI drains a pond in Frederick, Md., in search of evidence. Frederick is the home of the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's main anthrax research centers. Nothing suspicious is found.
