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Capitol Hill Anthrax Matches Army's Stocks

5 Labs Can Trace Spores to Ft. Detrick

By Rick Weiss and Schmidt

Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, December 16, 2001; Page A01

Genetic fingerprinting studies indicate that the anthrax spores mailed to

Capitol Hill are identical to stocks of the deadly bacteria maintained by the

U.S. Army since 1980, according to scientists familiar with the most recent

tests.

Although many laboratories possess the Ames strain of anthrax involved in this

fall's bioterrorist attacks, only five laboratories so far have been found to

have spores with perfect genetic matches to those in the Senate letters, the

scientists said. And all those labs can trace back their samples to a single

U.S. military source: the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious

Disease (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md.

" That means the original source [of the terrorist material] had to have been

USAMRIID, " said one of the scientists.

Those matching samples are at Fort Detrick; the Dugway Proving Ground military

research facility in Utah; a British military lab called Porton Down; and

microbial depositories at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Northern Arizona

University. Northern Arizona University received its sample from LSU, which

received its sample from Porton Down. Dugway and Porton Down got their samples

directly from USAMRIID.

In another development yesterday, government health officials said they planned

to recommend that about 3,000 people who were exposed to anthrax, including

hundreds of Washington postal and Capitol Hill workers, be offered an

experimental vaccine as a precaution in case antibiotic treatment alone failed

to protect them from getting sick.

The FBI's investigation into the anthrax attacks is increasingly focusing on

whether U.S. government bioweapons research programs, including one conducted by

the CIA, may have been the source of deadly anthrax powder sent through the

mail, according to sources with knowledge of the probe. The results of the

genetic tests strengthen that possibility. The FBI is focusing on a contractor

that worked with the CIA, one source said.

But it remains unknown which lab may have lost control of the material that

apparently ended up in terrorist hands. One of the two scientists familiar with

the genetic testing, who has been advising the government on the anthrax scare,

said investigators still know little about security at Porton Down, though they

have no reason to suppose it has been inadequate. Of the domestic labs, Dugway

has attracted the most attention from the FBI, he said.

Dugway is also the only facility known in recent years to have processed anthrax

spores into the powdery form that is most easily inhaled.

Scientists have known for some time that bacteria used in the terrorist attacks

belong to the Ames strain, a variant of the anthrax bacterium, Bacillus

anthracis, that was first isolated from a cow in Iowa and has been under study

by military scientists for decades. But the Ames strain comes in various

subtypes that can be distinguished from one another by detailed tests on the

microbe's genes.

The genetic fingerprinting finding was made by a research team led by geneticist

Keim at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which has been comparing

the Ames strain bacteria found in the Senate letters to other Ames strain

samples retrieved from nature and from various university and government

laboratories.

" That's good detective work in the sense of determining the origins; this will

narrow the search for the people who had access to the strain, " said Jennie

Hunter-Cevera, a microbiologist and president of the University of land

Biotechnology Institute.

Other experts were cautious, noting that it is possible that the exact subtype

of the Ames strain could have originated elsewhere -- perhaps even isolated from

animals or soil in the wild.

" It's an important finding but it's not one of those things that says, 'Aha!' "

said Spertzel, a former director of the U.N. biological weapons team in

Iraq.

The scientists are still planning to do genetic testing on anthrax bacteria from

the Defense Research Establishment Suffield, a Canadian military research

facility, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and the Battelle Memorial

Institute in Columbus, Ohio, a government contractor doing research on anthrax

vaccines. Those are the only other facilities known to have received samples

from USAMRIID.

The researchers also plan to test samples obtained from nature, and from other

university labs known to have the Ames strain to see if any others match. But of

the few such samples that have been tested so far none has matched the spores

used by the terrorists. In addition, the researchers want to examine other

characteristics of the samples, such as proteins, carbohydrates and other

substances in the material.

" If there's also a telltale piece or trace of nutrients or chemicals that show

the process, that's even better. You start adding the pieces and go from

tentative to confirmative, " Hunter-Cevera said.

The CIA's biowarfare program, which was designed to find ways to defend against

bioterrorists, involved the use of small amounts of Ames strain, an agency

spokesman said yesterday. The CIA declined to say where its Ames strain material

came from. The spokesman said, however, that the CIA's anthrax was not milled

into the volatile power form found in the letters and that none of it is

missing.

Nevertheless, the FBI has turned its attention to learning more about the CIA's

work with anthrax, which investigators were told about by the agency within the

past few weeks, government officials said. The CIA has tried to develop defenses

against a vaccine-resistant strain of anthrax reportedly developed by the

Russians several years ago.

While the CIA has had small amounts of Ames strain anthrax in its labs to

" compare and contrast with other strains, " a spokesman said, the agency did not

" grow, create or produce the Ames strain. " The anthrax contained in the letters

under investigation " absolutely did not " come from CIA labs, the spokesman said.

He also said that the FBI is fully aware of the CIA's work with anthrax and

suggested investigators were satisfied with the information they had been

provided. Law enforcement sources, however, said the FBI remains extremely

interested in the CIA's work with anthrax, with one official calling it the best

lead they have at this point. The sources said FBI investigators do not yet know

much about the CIA program.

Both law enforcement and intelligence officials said the CIA is cooperating with

the FBI probe.

Investigators are considering a wide range of possible motives for the anthrax

attacks, including vengeance of some sort, profiteering by someone involved in

the anthrax cleanup business, or perhaps an effort by someone to cast blame on

Iraq, which has an extensive bioweapons arsenal. Whoever sent the letters could

have a strong scientific background, officials said, but they also believe the

material could have been stolen and mailed by someone without such expertise.

A law enforcement source said the FBI did not initially include the CIA on its

list of labs working with anthrax because the agency was not among 91 labs

registered with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to

transfer anthrax specimens. But as investigators interviewed workers at those

known labs, they learned of the CIA's work, and in the past few weeks posed

questions about it to the agency.

CIA scientists worked with other government agencies and outside contractors in

the defensive biowarfare program, the agency spokesman said. The agency said

most of its defensive work involves simulants, not active biological agents.

" Everything we have done is appropriate and necessary and consistent with our

treaty obligations, " he said, adding that congressional oversight committees,

along with the National Security Council staff, has been kept abreast of the CIA

lab work. " One of our missions is to learn about potential biological warfare

threats, " he said, adding that research can involve " anthrax and other

biological agents. "

Staff writer Joby Warrick contributed to this report.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company