The 2001 anthrax attacks, just weeks after Sept. 11, further traumatized the nation. Anthrax-laced letters mailed from a New Jersey post box ultimately killed five people, crippled mail delivery for months, shut down a Senate office building and cost an estimated $25 billion.
One of the letters was addressed to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Daschle said on "Fox News Sunday" that he was not convinced Ivins was the sole culprit, but admitted that the FBI had not briefed him on their evidence.
Daschle said he had "real concerns about the quality of the investigation," especially after the government agreed last month to pay $5.8 million in an out-of-court settlement to Steven J. Hatfill, another Ft. Detrick researcher who authorities initially identified as a "person of interest."
Tom Ridge, who was President Bush's secretary of Homeland Security during the attacks, said he hadn't been briefed either. But he defended the FBI on ABC's "This Week."
"I know that they were relentless, relentless, both domestically and overseas," he said.
--
bob.drogin@latimes.com
