Anthrax suspect Bruce Ivins' emotional state is detailed
The government releases documents indicating that the scientist's mental illness flared around the time of the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings.
WASHINGTON — Bruce E. Ivins, the bioweapons scientist who apparently killed himself as the government was preparing to indict him in the 2001 anthrax attacks, had a long history of mental illness that flared just before mail contaminated with the fatal spores was received in New York, Florida, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.
Newly released government documents show that in the months before the mailings that led to the deaths of five people and made 17 ill, Ivins -- who had worked at the Army's top biodefense laboratory for 28 years -- told a friend that he had "incredible paranoid, delusional thoughts at times" and feared that he might not be able to control his behavior.
Details of Ivins' disturbed emotional state, including his possession of firearms and a makeup kit and his obsession with a sorority, were presented Wednesday as the Justice Department explained -- first to those directly affected by the anthrax attacks, then to the public at large -- the government's case against him.
The revelations have sparked questions at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill about how someone known to have such disturbed thoughts was still allowed access to the government's infectious-disease laboratories at Ft. Detrick, Md., where anthrax and other deadly plagues were studied in classified projects. Ivins' apparent suicide from an overdose of acetaminophen occurred just as prosecutors were readying murder charges against him.
In the last several days, the public learned of Ivins' recent threats toward a therapist and others he thought had wronged him. But those outbursts occurred after he was informed that he was a suspect in the case and had been barred from the top-secret labs.
The information released Wednesday showed a much longer history of emotional turbulence within a man whose outward veneer of respectability was enhanced by the government awards he had received for his research. The documents provided detailed evidence showing that Ivins' mental illness flared about the time of the 2001 anthrax mailings.
According to U.S. Atty. Jeffrey A. Taylor, "Dr. Ivins had a history of mental health problems and was facing a difficult time professionally in the summer and fall of 2001" -- in part because an anthrax vaccine he was working on was failing.
Ivins' problems before and around the time of the mailings -- including strange physical symptoms and treatment with Celexa, an antidepressant -- were detailed in e-mails and other documents released to reporters after they were unsealed by a federal judge.
- Clashing portraits emerge of anthrax suspect Aug 10, 2008
- Apparent suicide in anthrax case Aug 01, 2008
- Anthrax case prompts congressional investigation of biodefense labs Aug 09, 2008
