FBI call on NAS to study anthrax case

Science : The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has provided the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with a list of 15 questions that it wants the academy to consider in its review of the scientific evidence in the FBI’s case against Bruce Ivins, the US Army microbiologist implicated in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001. Besides asking whether the genomic analysis carried out to trace the source of the anthrax was valid, the questions address aspects such as the source of silicon found in the spores and whether the attacker needed specialized equipment to grind the spores into an easily dispersible powder.But even before the academy frames the scope of the study and seeks approval from its governing board, members of Congress and bioterrorism experts are voicing concerns that a purely scientific review won’t counter skepticism that Ivins, working solo, was the perpetrator of the attacks. One expert calls the FBI’s request “a nice little jujitsu move” to deflect attention from nonscientific questions about the investigation, such as how the FBI ruled out all the other individuals who had access to RMR-1029, the flask of anthrax under Ivins’s control. Last week, those concerns prompted Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) to introduce legislation proposing a commission--similar to the one that investigated the 11 September 2001 terroriststrikes--that would review all the evidence in the case.