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-->}} The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) case name, occurred within the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".〔(Amerithrax or Anthrax Investigation ), U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.〕 A major focus in the early years of the investigation was a bio-weapons expert named Steven Hatfill, who was eventually exonerated. Another suspect, Bruce Edwards Ivins, became a focus of investigation around April 4, 2005. Ivins was a scientist who worked at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. On April 11, 2007, Ivins was put under periodic surveillance and an FBI document stated that "Bruce Edwards Ivins is an extremely sensitive suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks."〔(FBI .pdf file #847444 pp. 67 )〕 On July 29, 2008, Ivins died from an overdose of acetaminophen. On August 6, 2008, based on DNA evidence leading to an anthrax vial in Ivins' lab, federal prosecutors declared Ivins to be the sole culprit of the crime. Two days later, Senator Charles Grassley and Rep. Rush Holt called for hearings into the DOJ and FBI's handling of the investigation. On February 19, 2010, the FBI formally closed its investigation. A review of the scientific methods used in the investigation at the National Academy of Sciences, published in February 2011, cast doubt on the U.S. government's conclusion that Ivins was the perpetrator. The review report said that, although the type of anthrax used in the letters was correctly identified as the Ames strain of the bacterium, there was insufficient scientific evidence for the FBI's assertion that it originated from Ivins' laboratory. The FBI responded by pointing out that the review panel asserted that it would not be possible to reach a definite conclusion based on science alone, and said that a combination of factors led the FBI to conclude that Ivins had been the perpetrator. Some information about the case related to Ivins' mental problems is still under seal.〔(FBI Summary Report ) Footnote p. 8〕 Lawsuits filed by the widow of the first anthrax victim Bob Stevens were settled by the government for $2.5 million with no admission of liability. According to a statement in the settlement agreement, the settlement was reached solely for the purpose of "avoiding the expenses and risks of further litigations."〔(Government Settles Anthrax Suit for $2.5 million ) Frontline November 29, 2011〕 == Context == The attacks followed a week after the September 11 attacks which had caused the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and the crash of an airliner in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. As "a precaution" Cipro was administered to Dick Cheney and his close staff on the evening of 9/11 as the Vice President was secreted off to an undisclosed location, days before the first anthrax letters were mailed. The anthrax attacks came in two waves. The first set of anthrax letters had a Trenton, New Jersey postmark dated September 18, 2001. Five letters are believed to have been mailed at this time to: ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the ''New York Post'', all located in New York City and to the ''National Enquirer'' at American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida.〔Andrew C. Revkin and Dana Canedy, ("Anthrax Pervades Florida Site, and Experts See Likeness to That Sent to Senators" ), ''The New York Times'', December 5, 2001〕 Robert Stevens, the first person who died from the mailings, worked at a tabloid called ''Sun'', also published by AMI, died on October 5, 2001, four days after entering a Florida hospital with an undiagnosed illness that caused him to vomit and be short of breath. Only the ''New York Post'' and NBC News letters were found; the existence of the other three letters is inferred because individuals at ABC, CBS and AMI became infected with anthrax. Scientists examining the anthrax from the ''New York Post'' letter said it appeared as a coarse brown granular material looking like Purina Dog Chow. Two more anthrax letters, bearing the same Trenton postmark, were dated October 9, three weeks after the first mailing. The letters were addressed to two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. At the time, Daschle was the Senate Majority leader and Leahy was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Daschle letter was opened by an aide, Grant Leslie, on October 15, and the government mail service was shut down. The unopened Leahy letter was discovered in an impounded mailbag on November 16. The Leahy letter had been misdirected to the State Department mail annex in Sterling, Virginia, due to a misread ZIP code; a postal worker there, David Hose, contracted inhalational anthrax. More potent than the first anthrax letters, the material in the Senate letters was a highly refined dry powder consisting of about one gram of nearly pure spores. A series of conflicting news reports appeared, some claiming the powders had been "weaponized" with silica. Bioweapons experts who later viewed images of the attack anthrax saw no indication of "weaponization". Tests by Sandia National Laboratories in early 2002 confirmed that the attack powders were not weaponized.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sandia aids FBI in investigation of anthrax letters )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=J. Michael, September 25, 2009 NAS presentation, audio )〕 At least 22 people developed anthrax infections, with 11 of these the especially life-threatening inhalational variety. Five died of inhalational anthrax: Stevens; two employees of the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, D.C., Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen; and two whose source of exposure to the bacteria is still unknown, Kathy Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant resident in the borough of the Bronx who worked in New York City, and the last known victim Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old widow of a prominent judge from Oxford, Connecticut. Because it took so long to identify a culprit, the 2001 anthrax attacks have been compared to the Unabomber attacks which took place from 1978 to 1995. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2001 anthrax attacks」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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