Vice President Cheney chairs a National Security Council meeting because President Bush is overseas. According to journalist Bob Woodward, who later interviews many participants in the meeting, the topic of the recent anthrax attacks is discussed (see October 5-November 21, 2001). CIA Director George Tenet suggests that al-Qaeda is behind the attacks. He also adds, “I think there’s a state sponsor involved. It’s too well thought out, the powder’s too well refined. It might be Iraq, it might be Russia, it might be a renegade scientist,” perhaps from Iraq or Russia. Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis Libby also suggests the anthrax attacks were state sponsored. “We’ve got to be careful on what we say. If we say it’s al-Qaeda, a state sponsor may feel safe and then hit us thinking they will have a bye because we’ll blame it on al-Qaeda.” Tenet replies, “I’m not going to talk about a state sponsor.” Vice President Cheney comments, “It’s good that we don’t, because we’re not ready to do anything about it.” [Woodward, 2002, pp. 244] No strong evidence will emerge tying the attacks to al-Qaeda or any state sponsor. The anthrax attacks still remain completely unsolved.
October 18, 2001: CBS Drama Canceled because It Includes Plot about an Anthrax Attack in the US
An episode of the CBS drama series, The Agency, about a planned terrorist attack in the United States using anthrax was scheduled to be broadcast on this day, but is postponed in response to the actual anthrax attacks taking place in the US. [Variety, 10/16/2001; Associated Press, 10/17/2001; People, 11/6/2001] The Agency shows the CIA tackling problems of national security, taking on villains such as Arab terrorists and Colombian drug dealers. [Guardian, 9/6/2001; Guardian, 10/5/2001]
German Terrorist Plans to Attack Washington with Anthrax – The episode, titled “A Slight Case of Anthrax,” which was filmed in August, features a German man who is planning to attack Washington, DC, using anthrax sprayed from a crop duster plane. The man has acquired the same anthrax that the US government developed and sold to Iraq when it was an ally. The CIA discovers that he was behind an anthrax attack in Belgium, and Washington is his next intended target. CIA agents then scramble to stop the terrorist before he can reach the capital. [St. Petersburg Times, 10/29/2001; E! Online, 11/2/2001; People, 11/6/2001; Jenkins, 2012, pp. 68] Al-Qaeda was originally going to be responsible for the anthrax attacks in the storyline, according to Michael Frost Beckner, who wrote the episode. However, CBS said: “This al-Qaeda thing, you’ve got to get off that. No one is interested. Trust us.” The episode was consequently redrafted so that it featured “Iraqis making an anthrax attack through German terrorist proxies.” [Hollywood, Health and Society, 4/2/2002 
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Episode Canceled due to Actual Anthrax Attacks – The US is currently in the middle of a series of terrorist attacks using anthrax (see October 5-November 21, 2001). [South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/8/2001] Anthrax has been discovered in three states and the District of Columbia in the past two weeks. At least 13 people either have anthrax or were exposed to its spores, and one person has died. The episode of The Agency about anthrax attacks is therefore canceled and is replaced with another episode of the show. CBS spokesman Chris Ender explains, “We certainly don’t want to do anything to add to the country’s fears about anthrax.” [E! Online, 10/16/2001; Associated Press, 10/17/2001] “A Slight Case of Anthrax” was in fact going to be broadcast a week ago, on October 11, but had to be rescheduled because President Bush decided to hold a prime-time news conference that evening. [Variety, 10/16/2001; Associated Press, 10/17/2001]
Storyline Was Suggested by CIA Liaison – Gail Katz, one of the show’s executive producers, will later suggest why the storyline about anthrax so closely resembles real-world events, commenting: “This is a series which is dealing with reality. It has to deal with threats like this that concern us.” [E! Online, 11/2/2001] Bazzel Baz, a former CIA operative who is a technical adviser for The Agency, will say, “We know how the CIA works, so if we write a script about anthrax or about a bomb or about an assassination or about bin Laden, it’s probably going to happen.” [CNN, 10/30/2001] Tracey Rabb, the show’s publicist, will comment, “[Y]ou really can’t do a serious drama about the CIA without colliding with topical events.” [People, 11/6/2001] However, Beckner will reveal that the storyline for “A Slight Case of Anthrax” was suggested to him by Chase Brandon, the CIA’s entertainment liaison officer. Author Tricia Jenkins will note that this means it “originated from the CIA.” [Jenkins, 2012, pp. 66] The CIA has in fact cooperated extensively with the producers of The Agency, such as by reviewing the show’s scripts. [New York Times, 8/26/2001]
Episode Airs in November – “A Slight Case of Anthrax” will finally be broadcast on November 8. [E! Online, 11/2/2001; People, 11/6/2001] The pilot episode of The Agency, which features a storyline in which Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist group plots to blow up a department store in London, was also canceled and will be broadcast on November 1 (see September 27, 2001). [New York Times, 9/29/2001; South Florida Sun Sentinel, 10/25/2001; Hollywood, Health and Society, 4/2/2002 ]
October 19, 2001: New York Times Suggests Link between Anthrax Attacks and 9/11 Hijackers, despite Lack of Evidence
The New York Times suggests there could be a link between the recent anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001) and the 9/11 hijackers. The Times reports that investigators “say they suspect that the rash of contaminated letters is related to the Sept. 11 attacks and are investigating the possibility that al-Qaeda confederates of the hijackers are behind the incidents.… Senior government officials said investigators were focusing on the ability of the hijackers or their accomplices to obtain highly refined anthrax from a foreign or domestic supplier. While they have not ruled out the possibility that another criminal could be behind the anthrax attacks, investigators are looking intensely at evidentiary threads linking the letters to the hijackers.”
Little to No Evidence behind this Theory – FBI agents are said to have recently searched the Jersey City home of three men arrested on suspicion of links to the 9/11 attacks after learning they kept some magazines and newspaper articles about biological warfare there. These men include Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammed Azmath. Both men will later be cleared of having any al-Qaeda ties (see October 20, 2001). The hijackers did show some interest in crop dusters, which could be used in a biological attack, but a senior government official says no actual evidence has appeared linking any of the hijackers to the anthrax attacks in any way.
Domestic Loner Theory – The article notes that the FBI is also pursuing a competing theory, “that a disgruntled employee of a domestic laboratory that uses anthrax carried out the attacks.” However, no evidence has emerged yet to support this.
Iraq Not Likely – The article is dismissive of theories that Iraq or another foreign government was behind the attacks. It notes that the anthrax letters used the Ames strain of anthrax, and experts say the Iraqi government never obtained that strain. For instance, former UN weapons inspector Richard Spertzel says, “The Iraqis tried to get it but didn’t succeed.” [New York Times, 10/19/2001]
October 23, 2001: White House Press Secretary Suggests Anthrax Attacks Could Be Linked to International Terrorists
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer makes a comment about the recent anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). He says: “There is a suspicion that this is connected to international terrorists. Having said that, investigators also do not rule out that it could be something domestic, that it could be a lone person operating doing this, or it could be terrorism. The suspicion is that it is terrorism, but there is no hard evidence yet at this point to lead anybody who is investigating these matters to reach a conclusion on any of these sources.” [Voice of America, 10/23/2001] The same day, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO) echoes Fleisher’s comment and links the attacks to overseas terrorists. He says, “I don’t think there’s a way to prove that, but I think we all suspect that.” [US Department of State, 10/23/2001] In 2004, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen will say that, at the time it was widely believed that the anthrax attacks were somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks several weeks before. He will cite Fleischer and Gephardt’s comments as one reason why so many made the connection. [Washington Post, 7/22/2004]
October 27, 2001: US Government No Longer Considers Al-Qaeda Likely Suspect in Anthrax Attacks
The US government no longer thinks al-Qaeda is behind the anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). The Washington Post reports in a front-page story: “Top FBI and CIA officials believe that the anthrax attacks… are likely the work of one or more extremists in the United States who are probably not connected to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization, government officials said yesterday.” An unnamed senior official adds, “Everything seems to lean toward a domestic source… Nothing seems to fit with an overseas terrorist type operation.” The Post suggests neo-Nazi and/or right-wing hate groups could be behind it. [Washington Post, 10/27/2001] Not long after, the FBI releases a profile of the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. He is suspected of being a lone, male domestic terrorist, with a scientific background and laboratory experience who could handle hazardous materials. [St. Petersburg Times, 11/10/2001]
November 10, 2001: FBI Thinks Anthrax Attacks Were Caused by American Loner, Not Al-Qaeda or Iraq
Th Los Angeles Times reports, “The FBI is increasingly convinced that the person behind the recent anthrax attacks is a lone wolf within the United States who has no links to terrorist groups but is an opportunist using the Sept. 11 hijackings to vent his rage…” The FBI is said to base this conclusion on “case studies, handwriting and linguistic analysis, forensic data and other evidence.” FBI investigators say they are looking for “an adult male with at least limited scientific expertise who was able to use laboratory equipment easily obtained for as little as $2,500 to produce high-quality anthrax.” They believe he is an “anti-social loner” who “has little contact with the public and carries deep-seated resentments but does not like direct confrontation.” However, these investigators admit that psychological profiling is a rough science, especially since they have little more than a small number of words written on the anthrax-laced letters. The letters appear to have tried to frame Muslims for the attacks. For instance, each letter contains the phrase “Allah is great.” Investigators say they are not completely ruling out an overseas connection to the letters, such as an Iraqi or Russian connection, but they consider it very unlikely. Investigators have not explained why they are so confident the attacks were caused by only one person. [Los Angeles Times, 11/10/2001]
March-April 2002: Some Report Possible 9/11 Hijacker Link to Anthrax Attacks, Despite Thin Evidence
In June 2001, Ahmed Alhaznawi visited the emergency room of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was treated for a skin lesion. He was accompanied by Ziad Jarrah. In October 2001, after a series of mysterious anthrax attacks in the US became front-page news (see October 5-November 21, 2001), the treating doctor told the FBI he recognized the two hijackers and thought the wound was consistent with cutaneous anthrax exposure. However, the FBI discounted the possibility that the anthrax attacks originated with the hijackers or al-Qaeda. In March 2002, the New York Times reports that FBI spokesman John Collingwood “said the possibility of a connection between the hijackers and the anthrax attacks had been deeply explored. ‘This was fully investigated and widely vetted among multiple agencies several months ago… Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been.’” [New York Times, 3/23/2002] The FBI is criticized by the neoconservative Weekly Standard for focusing its investigation on a possible domestic perpetrator rather that Iraq or al-Qaeda: “Based on the publicly available evidence, there appears to be no convincing rationale for the FBI’s nearly exclusive concentration on American suspects. And the possibility is far from foreclosed that the anthrax bioterrorist was just who he said he was: a Muslim, impliedly from overseas.” [Weekly Standard, 4/29/2002] In March 2002 it is also reported that US forces in Afghanistan have discovered installations that could have been used by al-Qaeda to produce biological weapons. “US forces recently discovered a site near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar that appeared to be an al-Qaeda biological weapons lab under construction. At the lab, ‘there was evidence of the attempt, by bin Laden, to get his hands on weapons of mass destruction, anthrax, or a variety of others,’ Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the US Central Command, said… in an interview.” [CBS News, 3/23/2002] However, little new evidence will subsequently come out suggesting al-Qaeda was behind the October 2001 anthrax attacks.
February 1, 2004: House Report Finds No Vaccines for Bioweapons Developed since 2001
Democratic members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security release a report entitled “America at Risk.” The report finds that, since the anthrax scare of 2001-2002, not a single drug or vaccine for pathogens rated as most dangerous by the Centers for Disease Control has been developed. A concurrent Pentagon report finds that “almost every aspect of US biopreparedness and response” is unsatisfactory, and says, “The fall 2001 anthrax attacks may turn out to be the easiest of bioterrorist strikes to confront.” The Pentagon will attempt to suppress the report when it becomes apparent how unflattering it is for the current administration, but part of it is leaked to the media. The report is later released in full. [Carter, 2004, pp. 20; House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Democratic Office, 2/1/2004]
