US biowarfare expert denies anthrax attacks
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
12 August 2002
The biological warfare expert at the centre of the investigation into
fatal anthrax attacks in the United States broke his silence yesterday
and denied that he was involved in any way. He said he was appalled
that he had been linked to the crime by "outrageous official comments
and leaks to the media".
Dr Steven Hatfill, a former federal scientist who worked at the US
Army Medical Research Institute at Fort Detrick, Maryland, said his
life had been made a "wasteland" by the allegations that had been made
against him.
"I am a loyal American and I love my country," Dr Hatfill said in
statement he delivered outside his lawyer's office in Alexandria,
Virginia. "I had nothing to do with the anthrax letters and it is
terribly wrong for anyone to contend or think otherwise."
Law enforcement sources have said Dr Hatfill, 48, is one of about 30
scientists being looked at as part of the inquiry into the sending
last year of anthrax-contaminated letters, which killed five people
and terrified the American population. Officially, they deny he is a
suspect but describe him as a "person of interest".
Dr Hatfill has been repeatedly linked to the mailings, and the FBI has
conducted two highly visible searches of his home apartment. Last week
it was revealed that sniffer dogs given the scent of last autumn's
letters "went crazy" when they searched the property.
It was also reported that a search of the scientist's computer turned
up the draft of a novel about a terrorist who carries out a biological
attack and then covers his tracks. Dr Hatfill said he understood that
officials would be interested in him because of his background in
biological warfare.
Fort Detrick was once the headquarters of the US biological warfare
programme and a repository for the Ames strain of anthrax that was
used in the attacks. In addition, in February 1999, while working for
the defence contractor Science Applications International Corp, he
commissioned a study into how an anthrax attack might play itself out.
It was disclosed yesterday that he was training at Porton Down,
Wiltshire, the Ministry of Defence's germ warfare research centre, a
few weeks after the deadly letters started to be distributed.
But Dr Hatfill said that, despite a 10-month inquiry, investigators
had failed to uncover any evidence that he was involved.
"[After] one of the most intensive public and private investigations
in American history, no one has come up with a shred of evidence that
I had anything to do with the anthrax letters," he said.
Many current and former scientists who may have had access to and
knowledge about anthrax have submitted to lie detector tests. Dr
Hatfill said he had passed such a test.
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