Amerithrax (59 page)

“It’s true that my research expertise is in biology—for example, the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus, and monkey- pox—and not bacteriology, as in the case of the anthrax

organism. It’s also true that I have never, ever worked with anthrax in my life. It’s a separate field from the research I was performing at Fort Detrick.”

He spoke of how Americans value freedom of speech and of the press, freedoms, he said, that were essential for our continued way of life. However, he added, “with this freedom comes responsibility. That responsibility has been abdicated here by some in the media and some in the gov- ernment.”

Hatfill said he, like all Americans, was appalled at the anthrax terrorist incident, and wished the authorities god- speed in catching the culprits or culprit. He explained to the press, listening eagerly now, that while he did not object to being considered a subject of interest by the authorities be- cause of his knowledge and background in the field of bi- ological warfare defense, he did object to an investigation characterized “by outrageous official statements and calcu- lated leaks to the media.” Many in the crowd agreed with that point.

Hatfill said he especially objected to character assassi- nation and reference to events from his past. He believed that those events bore absolutely no relationship to the ques- tion of who the anthrax killer is. “After eight months of one of the most intensive public and private investigations in American history,” Dr. Hatfill said firmly, “no one, no one has come up with a shred of evidence that I had anything to do with the anthrax letters.” He again pointed out that he had never worked with anthrax. Strong emotions twisted his rugged features. The corners of his mouth turned down. The press knew this was high drama.

“As a substitute, the press and now the public have been offered events from my past going back twenty or more years, as if this were critical to the matter at hand. In fact, it is not. It is a smoke screen calculated to obscure the fact that there is no evidence that I, the currently designated fall guy, have anything to do with the anthrax letters.”

Hatfill said he did not claim to have lived a perfect life, and like the assembled reporters, there were things he would probably have done or said differently than he did ten or twenty or more years ago. Because of modern information-

retrieval technology, he said, “coupled with sufficient mo- tivation, can lead to anyone’s life and work being picked apart for every error, wrinkle, failed memory, or inconsis- tency. Mine can; so can yours. Does any of this get us to the anthrax killers? If I am a subject of interest, I’m also a human being. I have a life. I have, or I had, a job. I need to earn a living. I have a family, and until recently, I had a reputation, a career, and a bright professional future.”

At one point he began to well up, covering his nose with his hand to push back his emotions. His nose visibly red- dened and his ears crimsoned.

He next acknowledged the right of the authorities and press to satisfy themselves as to whether he was the anthrax mailer, but that they have no right to smear him and “gra- tuitously make a wasteland of my life in the process. I will not be railroaded!”

As he said this, his mouth became a long straight line and he spoke the last of his remarks in measured words.

“I am a loyal American. I am extremely proud of the work I have done for the United States and for my country and her people. I expect to be treated as such by the rep- resentatives of my government and those who report its work. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.”

He stepped back into the cool shadow of the doorway. Now Hatfill’s lawyer took the microphone in the growing heat. Though Hatfill took no questions, he stood behind Vic Glasberg as the lawyer fielded some. Glasberg identified himself and said that about three weeks ago, Dr. Hatfill had come to see him about problems he was having with the press and rumors about him. Glasberg told the press that he was not a criminal lawyer, but a civil litigator, and that his client had wanted assistance on civil law.

Glasberg said that he had advised his client to step up to the plate. “The notion was that stepping forward and hand- ing out the truth,” he said, “stating what the facts were, and letting it all hang out, would be the best way to counter the misinformation, the half-information, and in some cases cor- rect information but presented in a terrible context, that was in the process of making his life a wasteland. I told him that he would have to be—not merely crazy, but stupid—to do

what I was suggesting if there was the slightest possibility that he was facing any kind of liability in relation to the anthrax matters. He said, ‘I want to do it.’”

Glasberg explained how his client had written out a lengthy statement covering the time from medical school to the present. Just before the warrant on Hatfill’s house had been served, Glasberg learned that he had been called by Bob Roth, one of the lead investigators on the anthrax in- vestigation. Roth wanted to see Hatfill to debrief him again. Hatfill told Roth, “That’s fine. Please call my lawyer and set it up.” Glasberg said he waited for Roth’s call and when it didn’t come, he phoned him. He wasn’t in, so Glasberg left a voicemail message suggesting that they get together be- tween August fifth and seventh. Hatfill was leaving for Lou- isiana August eighth.

Glasberg said he wasn’t called, except by Hatfill who informed him that the FBI had just served a warrant for searching his residence. Astounded, Glasberg called Roth and asked if he did not understand that Hatfill remained in a mode of total cooperation. “Oh, no, no I didn’t understand that,” he said. Glasberg got the name of the U.S. Attorney handling the case, Ken Kohl at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District, and met with him the following week.

“Both of the
media
searches,” Glasberg began, then laughed. “Excuse me... both of the FBI searches were ma- jor media events....I will also tell you that today I was advised by ABC News that they have obtained a copy of the manuscript of the novel that Steve was working on. He was working on a novel dealing with bioterrorism kinds of things—his professional concerns. Well, they won’t tell me where they got it, and I understand that you all can’t leak your sources, but so far as we’re aware, there is only one place that it could have been obtained: it was on his hard drive that was on his computer that the FBI seized pursuant to the warrant that was obtained with a subpoena... with an affidavit filed under seal, so that material seized in what is surely the most important criminal investigation internally in this country in a long while is now being leaked, and I’ll be dealing with the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Department of Justice with regard to that.”

Again it was driven home to the sweltering journalists and to the millions of Americans watching that Hatfill un- derstood that he is a “biological warfare guru and that the officials have a right to be interested in him.” Glasberg also stressed that as far as real substantive evidence there was none that he knew of. What he did know about, he said, was the continuing drumbeat of things that were part of his client’s life ten, twenty, twenty-five years ago. Glasberg re- iterated, “We don’t live perfect lives. I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t want people asking me what I was doing twenty- five years ago.” He then agreed to take some questions, but only relating to aspects of the investigation of which he had direct knowledge. Glasberg said the investigation had been plagued by the game of “telephone” in which everybody repeats what he heard from somebody else. He specifically wanted to avoid that.

“Sir,” asked a reporter, “do you have any reason to be- lieve that a team of scientists in the biodefense community might be trying to frame Mr. Hatfill? And is Mrs. Rosenberg involved in that?”

“Steve has always held his colleagues in the highest re- gard,” said Glasberg. Steve does not believe that anybody he worked with at Fort Detrick is implicated in this. It is a total puzzlement to him as to why these things are being vented the way they are. With regard to Dr. Rosenberg, I beg you: Speak to her. Ask her, why is she writing what she’s writing and why is she saying what she’s saying?”

Glasberg agreed it was appropriate for the government to have a “proper, discreet, professional, ethical, and appro- priate investigation” into the Amerithrax case. He did not think the government should unload “smoke screen stuff that sells good because they don’t have substance.” He suggested that “no comment” was better than innuendo and that the FBI shouldn’t scapegoat, shouldn’t leak.

“This man has been called a ‘Nazi swine,’” said Glas- berg. “His daughter, who is a police officer, has had her home address posted on the Internet. His life has been laid bare for the past quarter-century. When you say the word
anthrax
, his heart jumps in this throat. So, I could not rec- ommend [he take another polygraph test].” Asked if Hatfill

had access to anthrax, Glasberg replied: “The short answer is: It all depends upon what you mean by having access. It’s my understanding... and you can check this with Fort De- trick... is that the labs and the decontamination locations are separate and that he did not work in the bacteriological area. That’s the answer that I can give you.”

Glasberg said he knew nothing more of the case than a number of pieces published by Dr. Rosenberg on the Web and what he had read in the papers. He had found those entirely consistent with what he had read in the media.

A reporter queried Glasberg about Hatfill’s history. “Was there any connection between him,” he asked, “and the el- ementary school that is listed as the return address? Or is that just a rumor that got blown up in the press?”

“The sum total of the knowledge I have about this is the following: Dr. Hatfill lived in or near Harare, Zimbabwe, for a number of years. There is a subdivision in Harare called Greendale. He did not live there. We have attempted to determine whether there is a school there called The Greendale School. The information we have is that there is no such Greendale School. So, that is the total connection that we know. The name Greendale School was used and he lived in a city where there was a section called Greendale. I think there are several hundred, or thousands, of Green- dales in the United States.”

Glasberg answered a question about Hatfill’s full coop- eration with the FBI, and what else that entailed besides a polygraph. “Did it include writing examples that could be compared with the letters that were found?” a reporter asked. “I do not know. He took the polygraph. He was asked to

be debriefed. He was debriefed. He answered every single question. He didn’t withhold a question. He was asked if his house could be searched. It was searched without war- rant. He was asked if his car could be searched. It was searched. Could his storage facility in Florida be searched? It was searched. So, and the ongoing posture that he has had toward the government has been one of—tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

Glasberg explained how he would have handled the mat- ter if he were an investigator. His approach would have been

to ask all the nice questions first, get all the information possible through cooperation, and only then ask, “Okay, sir, now how about this.” To Glasberg’s thinking that was the method by which you got more data. “If you hit them at the start with the nasty questions,” he said, “you get resistance and they clam up. I should imagine that a more appropriate way of conducting an investigation is getting what you can without antagonizing the person you are trying to get infor- mation from. And, by the way, I should also say that, had they shown up with a warrant, it could have been kept in their pocket, just knock on the door and say, ‘Dr. Hatfill, we’re very sorry but we need to search your place again.’ I know exactly what would have happened. He would have called me up and said, ‘Vic, they want to search my place again.’ I would have said, ‘Let them in, go to the movies.’” Naturally, the civil litigator was asked if he saw any simi- larities between Dr. Hatfill’s situation and that of Wen Ho Lee and Richard Jewell. Glasberg laughed and said, “Yes... by way of escalated innuendo, accusation, and mudslinging in an entirely premature manner. Whether this man is guilty or innocent should be determined in an appropriate process and in an intelligent process, which permits the question to be answered. You don’t take some punitive suspect and drag him through the mud and hope you’ve got the right guy. It doesn’t end up being a good result, criminally, as Wen Ho Lee who was apologized to by a United States district judge

or Richard Jewell, as those cases show.”

Glasberg thought the bloodhound search was “bogus” and “untenable” because as far as he knew the process doesn’t work that way since the scents were ten months old. When asked if Dr. Hatfill had the expertise and knowledge to have carried out the anthrax attacks, Glasberg repeated that Hatfill “does not work with anthrax, has not worked with anthrax, has not cultured anthrax...I think the proper answer to that question is ‘probably not.’ But that’s going to be for him and scientists to discuss.”

A law enforcement official said afterward, “Some people have said this is our guy, but others have not. But if there was anything significant, we would have moved on to the next stage including further searches [and taking Hatfill in

for questioning and possible arrest]... To be honest, we don’t have anybody that is real good. That is why so much energy has gone into Hatfill—because we don’t have any- body else. There is a feeling of ‘where do we go now?’ A lot of other people have already been crossed off the list.” The number of “persons of interest” remained constant and while some were cleared to be replaced by others, Hat- fill remained on the list. Shapiro, Hatfill’s criminal lawyer, also told reporters he was not going to address inconsisten- cies in his client’s resume. “Our hands are full,” he said. “We have not been concerned to address matters going back twenty-five years. We are focusing on what’s happening to-

day.”

Meanwhile, MI5, the British security service, was in con- tact with Porton Down to find out about Hatfill’s move- ments. Hatfill had traveled to Britain shortly before November 12, 2001, and left sometime after November 23. A hoax anthrax letter, which investigators believe may have been posted by the anthrax terrorist in London during that period, was sent to Sen. Tom Daschle.