Despite the scrutiny, Hatfill landed a new job teaching public safety personnel how to respond to acts of terrorism. The $150,000-a-year position, at Louisiana State University, was funded by a grant from the Justice Department.
Arthur Eberhart, an FBI biohazards specialist who helped lead the anthrax investigation, testified that he saw a "conflict" in Hatfill being paid to teach counter-terrorism while "he was a suspect in the case." Other officials also expressed qualms.
Soon after Hatfill began drawing his paycheck, a Justice Department grants administrator ordered the university to terminate his contract.
Ashcroft and five FBI officials testified that they knew of no other instance in which the government had forced an investigative target out of a nongovernmental job.
Still lacking any proof that he had committed a crime, the government put more pressure on Hatfill: Bloodhounds were brought in to seek any scent of anthrax in Hatfill's apartment and places he frequented.
On Aug. 12, 2002, Newsweek magazine reported that the dogs "immediately became agitated." An unnamed law enforcement source was quoted, saying the bloodhounds "went crazy."
But FBI tests found no traces of anthrax, and investigators concluded that the dogs' excitement was useless as evidence. Harp and Roscoe C. Howard Jr., then the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., acknowledged in testimony that they had confirmed details about the bloodhounds to Newsweek before the article was published.
In addition to the searches, a caravan of FBI agents photographed and videotaped Hatfill seven days a week for months. An FBI employee drove over Hatfill's foot, prompting Washington, D.C., police to ticket him for "walking to create a hazard."
Media coverage of the 24-hour surveillance helped cement Hatfill's public image as a central figure in the investigation. USA Today reported on May 29, 2003: "FBI officials believe they can't risk the embarrassment of losing track of Hatfill, even for a few hours, and then being confronted with more anthrax attacks."
Away from public view, Hatfill's lawyer had approached the FBI with an alternative: In exchange for ending the bumper-lock chase scenes, Hatfill would surrender his passport, agree to be outfitted with a satellite-guided tracking device and allow an FBI agent to remain with him at all times.
"There were specific reasons that we did not accept that offer, but not because it was judged as insincere," Roth said.
