Justice Dept Formally Ends Anthrax Investigation

The Justice Department today formally ended over eight years of investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, releasing hundreds of pages of documents and a “transcript” from 2008 which attempted to implicate Dr. Bruce Ivins in the attacks.

Officials have been trying for years to pin the attacks on Dr. Ivins, a prominent anthrax researcher, despite a paucity of evidence supporting this claim. The 2008 transcript suggested Ivins may have launched the attacks and simply forgotten about them, or possibly done them while sleepwalking and never been aware of them.

But while officials keyed in on Ivins pretty quickly, over 1,000 suspects were considered and over 10,000 witness interviews conducted in the investigation. Ivins committed suicide in 2008, shortly after the transcript was allegedly produced. Shortly after his death, officials declared that he “acted alone” in the attacks.

Before Ivins was blamed, officials told the media that another scientist, Dr. Steven Hatfill, was likely to blame. Dr. Hatfill successfully sued the Justice Department for $5.8 million for wrongfully implicating him.