Is a "Deep Insider" behind the Anthrax Letters?

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By Richard M. Smith of www.ComputerBytesMan.com
November 30, 2001

From the beginning, most investigators have speculated that the person who sent out the Anthrax letters is likely an insider who works in the biology field. Only an insider would have the knowledge and access to the equipment to make Anthrax and protect them self for getting infected. Such an insider might work for a biotech company, a university or government research organization, or medical lab.

Greenpeace Germany reported on Wednesday an even more intriguing possibility that the sender is a "Deep Insider" who works in the U.S. biological warfare program. Here is an excerpt from a Reuter's story on the Greenpeace report:

Group Says U.S. Expert Believed Behind Anthrax Attacks
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20011128/ts/attack_anthrax_greenpeace_dc_1.html

BERLIN (Reuters) - The anthrax attacks in the United States were probably the work of a member of a U.S. biological warfare program, the magazine of environment pressure group Greenpeace Germany reported Wednesday.

The magazine said its article was based on information from a U.S. delegation source at the U.N. biological weapons conference in Geneva that began last week. The attacks have killed five people.

"The U.S. delegation believe it is an inside job... Their members also have more information than has been made public," Kirsten Brodde, a reporter for the magazine, told Reuters.

Further evidence of a Deep Insider can be found in an article in a November 30th article in the Washington Post:

Ames Strain Of Anthrax Limited to Few Labs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36408-2001Nov29.html

The Ames strain used in the Anthrax letters apparently has had very limited distribution over the past 5 years. The primary source for the Ames strain is the US Army's biowarfare research lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland (http://www.usamriid.army.mil/). Since 1997, when the US government started requiring record keeping, this Army lab has distributed samples of the Ames strain to only 5 other labs in the United States, Canada, and the UK. All of these labs are involved with biowarfare research such as testing and perfecting an effective Anthrax vaccine. Here is a list of the labs given the Post article:

University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
http://hsc.unm.edu/research/commons.shtml

Battelle Memorial Institute
http://www.battelle.org/

Defence Research Establishment Suffield
http://www.dres.dnd.ca/Welcome/

U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground
http://www.acq.osd.mil/te/mrtfb/commercial/dpg/

Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1441000/1441902.stm

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