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FBI Reports Chronicle Ivins Investigation  (Frederick News-Post, 2/28/2010)

The government's eight-year investigation of the 2001 anthrax mailings started with Fort Detrick scientist Bruce Ivins helping the FBI analyze contaminated letters and ended with Ivins being named the sole culprit in the attacks.

Throughout the investigation, agents interviewed more than 10,000 witnesses on six continents and examined more than 5,700 environmental samples through rapidly advancing scientific methods.

Though the FBI's case against Ivins will never be tried in a courtroom, the agency's investigation is well-documented in records released through the Freedom of Information Act.

The Frederick News-Post is among the news agencies that obtained more than 2,600 pages of investigation reports compiled by the FBI.

The documents show how the FBI narrowed its focus from more than 1,000 potential suspects to Ivins.

Immediate aftermath

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick received its first piece of evidence to analyze Oct. 14, 2001.

The letter, envelope and anthrax powder sent to NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw in New York were transferred to USAMRIID custody and stored for 10 days until they could be analyzed.

On Oct. 15, USAMRIID received the anthrax-laced letter addressed to Sen. Tom Daschle. Ivins analyzed and irradiated those materials two days later.

USAMRIID received the materials sent to the New York Post on Oct. 20, and it finally received the materials sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy on Nov. 16 or 17.

Ivins described the Daschle letter as containing the highest-quality anthrax. The Leahy anthrax was slightly less pure, and the New York Post anthrax was somewhat clumpy.

"The nature of the spore preparation suggests very highly that professional manufacturing techniques were used in the production and purification of spores, as well as in converting the spores into an extremely fine powder," Ivins wrote in his report of the Daschle anthrax.

1,000 possible suspects

The FBI began investigating immediately after the mailings, though its task was complicated because anthrax had contaminated all the physical evidence.

The Department of Justice's final report states that "investigators scrutinized more than 1,000 individuals as possible suspects, located both at home and abroad."

FBI agents interviewed researchers at USAMRIID and other institutions.

Did they have any ties to central New Jersey, from which the letters were mailed?

Had they ever bought pre-stamped envelopes from a vending machine, which appeared to be what the perpetrator had done?

What was the nature of their research, and where did they get their samples of anthrax?

How might one sneak anthrax out of the USAMRIID labs? How might one gain unauthorized access to USAMRIID labs?

Ultimately, a task force of 25 to 30 full-time investigators spent 600,000 hours interviewing witnesses and reviewing evidence.

In a 2008 news conference, prosecutors said they began to focus on USAMRIID in 2005 and on Ivins in 2007.

But records of FBI interviews, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, show that investigators were asking Ivins' co-workers questions specifically about him as early as 2004.

Agents asked one co-worker, whose name is blacked out of the report, to locate several places on a USAMRIID lab blueprint, including Ivins' lab.

Agents asked other co-workers about Ivins' involvement in lab cleanup and how well they knew him.

Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said Thursday that many questions were asked of many people during the investigation, and that Ivins was not being targeted in 2004.

Rapidly evolving science

What separated the Amerithrax investigation from traditional cases, and what is now being reviewed by a National Academy of Sciences panel, are the techniques used to trace the anthrax in the letters to a specific flask of anthrax that Ivins had developed.

The newly created Department of Homeland Security established the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick to help test samples.

"The people who were analyzing the samples were not privy to the source of the evidence" so as to not bias their results, said Jim Burans, associate laboratory director for NBACC, in an interview with The Frederick News-Post on Thursday.

Between mid-2004 and 2008, Burans' staff members spent about a quarter of their time on the anthrax case alone. They looked for traces of anthrax in swabs from cars, windows, doorknobs, jars -- "samples of things that surround us in our everyday lives," Burans said.

Researchers used traditional petri dish culture techniques, but they also used a more advanced technique called real-time PCR. The technique allows scientists to take small quantities of nucleic acid signatures and amplify them to a quantity great enough to study. Created in the 1990s, the method has become significantly more accurate and sensitive over the years.

This and other scientific methods are under review by the National Academy of Sciences, and many prominent lawmakers and scientists are upset the Department of Justice closed its case against Ivins before waiting for the panel's final report.

Burans, however, said he didn't think the case would have benefited by waiting because the scientific methods are well-tested and accepted.

Boyd agreed, adding that the review wouldn't validate the FBI's scientific conclusions but rather review "the scientific support employed in the investigation and provide recommendations to potentially improve our ability to support investigations of future terrorist attacks."--

Scientific findings

By 2007, scientists had concluded the anthrax used in the attacks originated from Ivins' flask of RMR-1029 anthrax.

While working on the case, Burans said scientists discovered a second strain of anthrax in the New York Post letter. The Bacillus subtilis strain is not dangerous to humans but could provide insight into where the letters were prepared.

Burans said his staff never found any traces of Bacillus subtilis in samples from Ivins' home or office, but he said "it's not our job to draw conclusions, positive or negative."

"I think the scientific evidence, as it has been presented, gave an opportunity to identify the flask," Burans said. "The science didn't solve the case, it provided investigative leads that were fruitful in other ways."

After scientists identified Ivins' flask as the source of the attack anthrax, the FBI used traditional investigative methods to conclude Ivins was responsible. They obtained records of researchers who had taken the RMR-1029 anthrax from Ivins, but none were found to have means or motive to carry out the attacks, the Department of Justice's final report states.

Several of Ivins' former bosses dispute this part of the investigation, saying that though his anthrax was used in the attack, Ivins did not have the knowledge or technology to turn his liquid anthrax cultures into high-quality powdered anthrax.

Closing the case

By January 2007, FBI records show Ivins was no longer speaking directly to investigators, but rather was assisting them through an attorney. Prosecutors were ready to file charges against Ivins in July 2008, and on July 29 Ivins died of an acetaminophen overdose.

Officials held a news conference Aug. 6 to announce that Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, but the case was not officially closed until Feb. 19.

Thieves Using Glue Boards To Steal Mail From Blue Collection Boxes  (KOLD, 2/25/2010)

TUCSON, AZ--A new twist on an old trick.  That's what postal officials are saying about the latest way crooks are stealing mail.

Using the same sticky, glue boards most of us use to trap household pests, they're dipping into blue collection boxes and taking outgoing mail.  The problem first surfaced in the Mammoth area last December.

To combat the theft, postal officials are installing a grabbing device in every collection box in Southern Arizona.

Says United States Postal Inspector Jim Harper, "It happened in Winkleman, Mammoth, Oracle, Oro Valley, Marana--so we're going to have to equip these boxes as well.

"It's a costly endeavor obviously, but it's well worth it because we want the mail to be protected. We want people to feel when they put in these boxes it is safe and secure and--for the most part--it is," Harper said.

25 year old Samuel Jay Clark has been arrested in connection with the crimes.  45 year old Mammoth resident Adam Lopez is still at large tonight.  If you have any information, you could be eligible for a reward up to five thousand dollars. Call 1-877-876-2455 (and select option 5) if you have any information about this or any other mail-related case.

Perseverance In A Hunt For A Tricky Mail Bomber  (NY Times, 2/25/2010)

In New York’s cold-case crime files, few have as firm a grip on the collective psyche of city law enforcement officers as the so-called zip-gun bomber.

“Here is a case that has so many turns, and it’s still unsolved,” said one law enforcement official who is familiar with it. “Some of the people involved are still here, some are deceased. It is really old case. Every time something happened on this, it opened another door.”

The official added, “One guy thinks this is the case of the century, and it goes on and on and on.”

The first violence attributed to the bomber was 28 years ago when a device like others — essentially, a crude one-shot gun inside a case mailed to the victim — killed a woman in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Four attacks attributed to the same person followed in a bunch in the mid 1990s, injuring five.

Several of the original investigators who worked on the case — local or federal — have since retired or are deceased, whittling down the number of those with first-hand knowledge of the events. Even the noir-like nickname of the suspect conjures an earlier era in crime busting.

Now, Peter Rendina, a spokesman for the United States Postal Inspection Service, says that “there have been some new developments.” But he did not say what they were. Could this elusive case be heading toward a conclusion? He would say only that the case was still “an ongoing investigation.”

The attacker had what bomb technicians refer to as a telltale signature: all of the devices were sent through the mail, and each was a simple kind of gun that fired .22-caliber bullets when the package was opened. Five separate parcels were sent, all told, the official said.

“They were in cases,” said Kevin B. Barry, who retired in 2002 as a detective in the bomb squad of the New York Police Department and is now an official with the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators. “He was using presentation cases, or coin boxes, with some kind of spring-activated firing device. They all came through the mail. They never came up with a rhyme or reason on who he was targeting.”

One murder was linked to the bomber, which came in the very first episode, in 1982. Joan Kipp, 54, was killed in her home in Bay Ridge after opening the first known package from the zip-gun bomber.

It took 11 years for the bomber to strike again, in 1993. Then, the bomber struck once in 1994, once in 1995 and once in 1996, officials said. Five people were injured in those. But no cases have been linked to the pattern since then.

“Those five incidents are the only ones that we are aware of right now,” the first official said.

Besides the city’s Police Department, investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the United States Postal Inspection Service, as well as from the United States attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York, have been involved in following leads.

“Many of them came up with the same dead ends,” the first official said. “It’s still unsolved; there is still an on open homicide, and therefore the case cannot be closed. We could be one interview away from solving this.”

Indian Border Security Director Receives Hoax Bomb in Mail  (Indian Express, 2/26/2010)

New Delhi, India--A mysterious parcel with pieces of detonator was received by the office of Director General Border Security Force in New Delhi on Friday setting alarm bells ringing in the security machinery in New Delhi.

The parcel sent through a private courier company based in Sonepat, Haryana was received in the CGO complex office here at 12.30 in the afternoon and sent the staff into a tizzy. It carried a book having a cavity in which pieces of detonators were detected. However, no explosives were found in it, official sources said.

Showing presence of mind, the staff immediately informed the Delhi Police which rushed its bomb squad to the spot along with sniffer dogs, they said.

Director General Raman Srivastava is on tour to Meghalaya border on . The police have arrested the courier boy who delivered the parcel and the address of the courier company is being verified, they said.

Mitre Corporation Workers Evacuated After Suspicious Substance Is Found  (Boston Globe, 2/25/2010)

Bedford, MA--A building was evacuated this morning in Bedford after an employee at MITRE Corp. opened a package containing a suspicious substance.

The incident, which was reported to police at 8:39 a.m., is under investigation, said Bedford Police Sergeant Jeff Wardwell. The employee received the package at home and opened it in the D Building on the federal contracting company's campus, said MITRE spokeswoman Jennifer Shearman. The employee then called the corporation's emergency phone number. Bedford police and firefighters responded to the scene.

MITRE’s emergency protocol required employees to evacuate the building, but employees have since safely returned to work, Shearman said.

The package may have contained a white powder, Wardwell said. The package was bagged and was transferred to the US Food and Drug Administration for analysis, said Detective Lieutenant Scott Jones.

Bomb Drill Puts South Carolina Hospital and Sheriffs Office On Edge  (WMBF, 2/25/2010)

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC-- It has been a tense afternoon in Georgetown County Thursday after sheriff's deputies responded to what they thought to be a legitimate bomb scare at the Waccamaw Hospital.

A spokesman with the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office says deputies were dispatched to the Waccamaw Hospital in Murrells Inlet on reports of a bomb on campus. Upon arrival, deputies learned the hospital was performing a drill, but failed to notify authorities about the event.

Lt. Neil Johnson says a formal police report will not be filed against the hospital for the false scare. He says the hospital is required to perform bomb drills a certain number of times a year.

Hospital officials have since been made aware that anytime such a drill is performed, authorities must be notified.

White Powder Discovered in Mailroom at D.C. Federal Courthouse  (Legal Times, 2/25/2010)

Washington, DC--A hazmat team arrived at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this evening after an envelope containing an unidentified white powder was discovered in the mailroom.

The powder has been contained and nobody was exposed, said Ed Sloane, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service for the District of Columbia.

Sloane would not confirm to whom the envelope was addressed. He said it was discovered at around 5:30 p.m.

As late as 7 p.m. there were several hazmat and fire department trucks lined up by the court's back entrance. Workers on the scene declined to comment.

But life inside the courthouse appeared to have gone on as usual. Security guards said the building had not been cleared. A group of law students exiting the building after a moot court competition said they had heard nothing about the unidentified powder.

"It was normal" inside, said Ben Hendricks, a first-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center.

FBI Investigating Anthrax Scare At San Diego Business  (CBS 8, 2/25/2010)

SAN DIEGO, CA-- The FBI is investigating an anthrax scare at a business in Kearny Mesa.

Firefighters and Hazmat crews were called to the Industrial Metal Supply Company on Ronson Road at noon Thursday.

An employee apparently opened a letter that had a device inside it that caused white powder to puff up into the air, setting off fears of an anthrax attack.

The building was evacuated. Two workers were taken to a hospital as a precaution.

It turns out it was just talcum powder.

"Definitely puts a dent in the day, if the person wanted nothing more than commotion they got that at a minimum," Megan Humpal said.

"That's a weapon of potential mass destruction, it certainly causes a lot of fear and the legislature has deemed that a felony and something we take very, very seriously," San Diego Police Department Lt. Dan Christman said.

The FBI will be testing the letter to find out who mailed it.

Some Doubt FBI Line That Scientist Sent Anthrax Letters  (AOL News, 2/25/2010)

Not everyone is buying the FBI's finding that government scientist Bruce Ivins was the anthrax killer.

The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspectors announced Friday that they were closing the case and released a 92-page report explaining why Ivins, who killed himself in 2008, was the culprit.

Jeffrey Adamovicz, the former chief of bacteriology for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Md., where Ivins worked, wrote the Frederick News Post expressing serious misgivings about the FBI findings that Ivins sent the deadly letters that killed five and sickened 17 others in 2001.

Three government agencies recently released a report laying out their case against Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax attacks. But a New Jersey congressman said the government's evidence against him is "barely... circumstantial."

"The evidence is still very circumstantial and unconvincing as a whole," Adamovicz wrote in an e-mail to the paper. "I'm curious as to why they closed the case while the [National Academy of Science] review is still ongoing. Is it because the review is going unfavorable for the FBI?"

The academy is reviewing the validity of the science used by investigators in the case, but does not plan to say whether Ivins did it or not.

Ivins committed suicide from an overdose of Tylenol as federal investigators were focusing on him and preparing to file an indictment in the lengthy probe known as the Amerithrax investigation. Charges were never filed.

His death came about a month after the Justice Department agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement valued at $5.85 million to scientist Steven Hatfill, who had long been the key suspect in the case. Hatfill had sued the Justice Department, which had labeled him "a person of interest." He alleged that the federal government went on a smear campaign and leaked information that was damaging to his reputation.

The government, after several years, conceded that Hatfill was not involved in the case.

Interestingly, in the earlier years of the anthrax probe, the head FBI investigator at the time felt he had enough circumstantial evidence to indict Hatfill. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington balked, reasoning that there were far too many holes in the case.

Adamovicz wasn't the only person of note to express skepticism in the wake of Friday's report.

Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J. , who is a physicist, and who presides over a congressional district where the anthrax letters were sent, issued a statement expressing doubt.

"This has been a closed-minded, closed process from the beginning," Holt said. "Arbitrarily closing the case on a Friday afternoon should not mean the end of this investigation. The evidence the FBI produced would not, I think, stand up in court. But because their prime suspect is dead and they're not going to court, they seem satisfied with barely a circumstantial case."

Holt added that "the National Academies of Science review of the FBI's scientific methods in this case won't be released until summer, but the FBI doesn't seem to care."

The FBI has said it believes strongly in its conclusion.

"The report is based on nearly 3,000 pages of documents that have been made public," Michael Kortan, the chief FBI spokesman in Washington told AOL News.

The three agencies said Friday, in announcing their findings, that, "The Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks."

The summary portrayed Ivins as a psychologically tormented man who had a long-time obsession with a sorority in New Jersey, not far from the mailbox that was used to mail the anthrax letters. It said he had devoted his entire career to the anthrax vaccine program, which seemed to be failing -- that is, until the anthrax attacks. Then it was "suddenly rejuvenated."

The report also said Ivins made unexplained and suspicious visits to the lab in Frederick, Md., late at night and on weekends around the time of the attacks. It said he had never worked those hours before or after the anthrax attacks. When confronted about the "suspicious hours," he could provide no legitimate explanation, the report said.

Authorities laid out other details in the report, including an FBI theory that Ivins had embedded a secret scientific code in the mailed letters that was a reference to two colleagues he had been obsessed with. And it said he had access off hours to a lab room that had all the "necessary tools to grow, harvest, and purify the anthrax, as well as to the equipment capable of performing the forbidden function of drying the anthrax."

Ivins denied to investigators that he was capable of producing such sophisticated and high-quality anthrax spores as those that were used in the letters. But the report said his lab notes suggested that he in fact "could, and did, create spores of the concentration and purity of the mailed spores."

Gerry Andrews, another former chief of bacteriology at the lab in Frederick, said it wouldn't have been unusual for Ivins to work odd hours because he was working on experiments with animals and he could get more done at certain times, according to the Frederick News Post.

" The FBI, I think, is trying to give folks the wrong impression of the timeline" to make their case against Ivins more convincing, Andrews said, according to the Frederick News Post.

"Bruce didn't have the skill to make spore preps of that concentration," Andrews said. "He never ever could make a spore prep like the ones found in the letters."

Cargo Door Opens On Mail Plane Mid-Flight  (Billings Gazette, 2/24/2010)

Billings, MT—A cargo door came unlatched on an airborne Alpine Air Express plane carrying mail from Billings to Kalispell at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, but it is uncertain whether any mail was lost.

“We have not ascertained that any bags were missing,” said Gene Mallette, CEO of Alpine Air, which is headquar-tered in Provo, Utah.

The Beechcraft 99 twin engine turboprop was about 40 miles north of Lewistown when the pilot noted a light on the instrument panel came on indicating the door was unlatched. Because there was about 3,000 pounds of mail cargo in between the pilot and the door, he couldn’t close it. Mallette said that because the door is located below the plane’s airstream, even when open it wouldn’t compromise the ability to fly and land the plane.

The U.S. Postal Service won’t know if there any mail was lost until customers call, said Lisa Blomquist of the Billings office. The postal inspector is investigating the incident, she said. Alpine Air launched a search along the flight path of the plane on Sunday, but snow was falling on Saturday when the door came open. If bags did fall out, they would be orange nylon. Anyone finding such a bag is urged to contact Blomquist at 657-5775 or the nearest post office.

Alpine Air is contracted by the Postal Service to fly mail from its Billings hub to nine other cities in Montana as well as to Casper and Cheyenne, Wyo., Denver and Sydney, Neb., according to its Web site.

On May 23, 2008, Billings pilot Kelly Lynch was killed when the Alpine Air plane he was flying crashed during takeoff from Logan International Airport. Lynch was flying a Beechcraft 1900C loaded with mail. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation said the cause of the crash was Lynch’s inability to maintain control of the plane as it climbed, but couldn’t say why. Lynch was an experienced pilot with 4,700 flight hours.

In August 2004, an Alpine Air plane flying mail from Billings to Great Falls crashed southeast of Great Falls into Big Baldy Mountain in the Little Belt Mountains. Pilot Larry Baier and his friend Scott Kiral, both of Kalispell, were killed.

U.S. Postal Worker In Newark Is Accused Of Stealing $500 In Gift Cards, Dvds From Mail  (Star Ledger, 2/24/2010)

NEWARK -- A 27-year veteran of the United States Postal Service was arrested Monday for pilfering $500 in gift cards and several DVDs from the mail he was tasked with storing at the city’s main post office, authorities said.

The alleged thief was also seen rifling through the mail of State Sen. Ronald Rice several times last month.

Kevin Jones, 56, of Newark, is the fifth postal service employee arrested on theft charges since the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service opened a joint investigation into employee theft at county post offices last summer, said Pete Sepulveda, Assistant Prosecutor for Professional Standards.

“Each case in itself is irremarkable, but to see how well the operation and the cooperation has worked between a federal agency and the prosecutor’s office, to have five arrests on this is quite successful,” he said.

Jones, who worked as a box clerk in Newark for 27 years, is charged with third-degree theft and third-degree receiving stolen property, said Sepulveda. He is currently being held on $10,000 bail and faces a five-year prison term if convicted.

The 56-year-old was observed going through mail in mid-January, said Sepulveda. He was arrested Monday at Newark’s main post office branch in Federal Square without incident.

Rice, (D-Essex), said the envelopes Jones allegedly opened were letters sent to notify constituents of upcoming meetings and had no monetary value, but he was still disturbed at the prospect of someone going through postage addressed to him.

“To have someone actually opening people’s mail cannot be tolerated. I think that’s the message the postal service is sending,” Rice said tonight. “I would have to assume the person opening the mail saw a big manilla envelope and assumed it was more than just a document.”

Rice said there was no personal connection between himself and Jones, but considering he has spent years working in Newark as a legislator and a Detective for the city’s Police Department, the Senator wouldn’t rule out the possibility he may know Jones on some level.

Sepulveda said the post office and the prosecutor’s office began working together last summer, when postal investigators received several complaints of employee theft in the county. Four other employees have been arrested since July, and Jones is the third person to be charged from Newark. The other accused thieves are from Irvington and East Orange, according to Sepulveda.

“It’s disturbing how common it is, that we trust these people with our valuable and sensitive information,” Sepulveda said. “I don’t know whether to attribute it to the economoy or another outside factor.”

Rice said he would like to see tougher legislation on the state level that would enforce harsher penalties on federal employees who are caught tampering with another person’s mail.

“I think we’re going to have to take a look at the state law, because I don’t think the federal penalties that address this are tough enough,” he said. “I just think the state needs to have some tougher laws to assist these postal inspectors.”

The senator also wondered whether this was the first time Jones allegedly peered into someone else’s mailbox in his 27-year career, or simply the first time he’d been caught.

“Unfortunately, you really can’t determine how long that these things have been going on. In this case, you don’t know if its something new,” he said. “Has this been a 20-year run? You just don’t know.”

Harvard Professor Letter-Bomb Case Opened For Review  (Boston Herald, 2/25/2010)

Newton, MA--The Newton letter-bomb investigation that stagnated in the mid-1990s after investigators failed to link two explosives to a suspect will get a fresh review, the Boston U.S. Attorney’s Office announced yesterday.

The renewed interest in the case follows the arrest of Amy Bishop in the murder of three fellow faculty members at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The former Harvard research student was questioned after a professor was targeted with two pipe bombs in 1993.

“We have commenced a thorough review of the information related to this incident to confirm that all appropriate steps were taken in that matter, and to determine whether information related to this incident may be of assistance to other law-enforcement agencies,” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement yesterday.

Federal agents questioned Bishop and her husband, James Anderson Jr., and also searched their home after the package bomb was set to Harvard University professor Paul Rosenberg. No one was ever charged or arrested. Bishop was also implicated in the death of her brother Seth in 1986. The investigation of his death, ruled accidental at the time, also is being reviewed.

Rosenberg could not be reached for comment yesterday on the case review.

Neighbor William Fenstemacher said he’s glad the case is being reviewed again and hopes investigators reach some conlusions.

“The issue was never finalized,” he said.

Fenstemacher said he was home with his family when police told them to move to the back of the house and stay away from the windows. Fenstemacher said at the time it was not unusual for research universities to train faculty on how to detect and handle suspicious mail. “There was a heightened concern,” he said. “Frankly, there still is.”

The FBI investigated and ruled out the so-called Unabomber, who had terrorized academics for years, according to documents provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In fact, concerns about Ted Kaczynski’s terror campaign may have saved Rosenberg’s life, as he told investigators that he cautiously slit packaging tape, holding the 10-by-12 inch box at arm’s length, and peered inside, where he spotted wires and a metal object. He put the box down, warned his wife and called police. Inside the package, investigators found found four Sears 9-volt batteries, two pressure-release switches and two pipe bombs.

Karin Grech Postal Bomb Murder Case Is 'Still Open'  (Times of Malta, 2/25/2010)

Malta--The case of the parcel-bomb murder of young Karin Grech 32 years ago, one of the biggest investigations undertaken by the Malta police, is still open, a judge heard yesterday.

Ms Grech was 15 when she was killed by a letter bomb addressed to her father, gynaecologist Edwin Grech, three days after Christmas.

Prof. Grech's family has instituted civil proceedings against the Prime Minister seeking compensation for the incident. Prof. Grech's son, Kevin, had also been injured in the blast.

Testifying in the civil suit, Police Commissioner John Rizzo said yesterday he was an officer at the time of the incident but only came into direct contact with the case 16 years later when, in 1996, he was asked by former Police Commissioner George Grech to form part of an investigative team assigned to the case.

He lived and breathed the case for three months as the team started from scratch and examined every possible avenue of investigation. They even sent the forensic evidence to England for re-examination because technology had made huge advances since the 1970s.

Mr Rizzo described the investigation as one of the biggest ever undertaken in the history of the police force.

The mainstream assumption about the motive behind the attempt was the fact that Prof. Grech, then head of obstetrics and gynaecology, kept working despite a strike by medical doctors and could have thus been considered as a strike breaker. In fact, a number of medical students in their final-year had been interviewed. While there had been a number of suspects among the students, none had been singled out and a lot of them had nothing but praise for Prof. Grech.

Some, who had re-located permanently abroad after their studies, could not be tracked down, he said.

Mr Rizzo said other leads had been followed, including some sort of revenge by patients who might have felt aggrieved in some way by Prof. Grech.

Mr Rizzo said another lead was related to a similar bomb placed outside the residence of Paul Chetcuti Caruana in Mosta and which failed to go off.

If this case were ever closed, he would be very happy, Mr Rizzo admitted.

The case was put off to May for final submissions.

Lawyer Alex Perici Calascione appeared for Prof. Grech.

Lawyer Peter Grech appeared for the Prime Minister.

Suspicious Package Locks Down Neighborhood In Georgia  (WTOC, 2/24/2010)

GEORGETOWN, GA - A suspicious package causes police to lock down a neighborhood. It happened off Grove Point Road in Georgetown. A man received a suspicious package from his son that contained some type of powder.  He immediately called 911.

Wayne Salter lives on the street and wasn't sure what was going on.  "We got a call from a friend of ours down the road, and they said they wouldn't let them down the street," said Salter.

Police weren't taking any chances until a hazardous materials team could figure out what they were dealing with.  Salter just kept his family inside the home. "Everything going on the way it has been the last few years, a lot of thoughts run through your head, but you just hope for the best," said Salter.

In this case, hoping for the best worked out.

Gena Moore with Savannah Chatham Police confirmed the powder was not dangerous. "The substance was tested, there was an air test done in the area, every kind of test you can run pretty much on the substance. It's not hazardous."

Fire officials still don't know what the material was, just that it isn't dangerous.

Salter's admits, he's glad they didn't take any chances. "I think sometimes it's better to take a little extra precaution than to take it for granted."

Animal-Rights Activists Aim Protests At UCLA Researchers' Children, Blog Says  (LA Times, 2/23/2010)

Los Angeles, CA--Animal-rights activists plan to hand out fliers and protest at schools attended by the children of UCLA researchers.

Laist reports that these activists -- already known for protesting animal research both at UCLA and in the neighborhoods where UCLA researchers live -- will go to the schools attended by children of researchers and hand out information to children about what their peer's parents do for a living:

From protests and pipe bombs comes the latest in the escalating drama between animal activists and UCLA researchers that use animals in their experiments: protesting at the schools of researcher's children.

Activists plan on legally leafleting the school in order to educate fellow students what their classmate’s father does for a living,' warns a posting on the blog Negotiation is Over about UCLA neurobiologist Dario Ringac.

This has the science community fuming, or at least the ones willing to speak out. "Is that what we've come to? Is this really the society we want to live in? If it's not, we need to stand up and say so, in no uncertain terms," writes Janet D. Stemwedel, an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University, at Science Blogs.

"Nobody's kids should be targeted for harassment because you disagree with their parents. We need to call this behavior out, no matter who does it, no matter what cause they hope to further with it," Stemwedel continues. "Each time these tactics are the ones that are used, we die a little as a pluralistic society, no matter which side we support. Any member of the public paying attention to such shenanigans should be outraged, and should say so."

On Valentine's Day, protestors against primate vivisection rallied at Ringac's home over the "mutilation, torture and murder of non-human primates." Another posting on Negotiation is Over says Ringac has never "treated a single patient in [his life] and [his] torture of animals has NEVER helped a human patient."

The Society for Neuroscience, which monitors the issues between researchers and activists, disagrees, generally speaking, in a report (.pdf) on animal research. "The use of animal models has guided the successful development of treatments [of a stroke] including a drug which relieves clots blocking blood flow to the brain, cooling the brain, and drugs to reduce damage once a stroke has occurred."

New Jersey Motor Vehicle Dept. Hit With Anthrax Hoax Letter (BioPrep Watch, 2/23/2010)

Trenton, NJ--Ahazmat crew was called to a Trenton police building recently following the discovery of an envelope filled with an unknown white powder.

The white powder was later revealed to be harmless, though questions have arisen over the handling of the suspect package.

The white powder containing enveloped was found at the Motor Vehicle Commission's office in Trenton on Friday. Officials at that office then notified police.

The police call was originally responded to by the New Jersey State Police as the MVC is a state office. When a Trenton police sergeant arrived on the scene, police spokesman Pedro Medina told the Trentonian.com, he was informed that a state trooper had already deemed the package to pose no threat and left the scene, leaving behind the package.

According to Medina, the staffer said that the trooper had spoken of similar recent threats at other government buildings. In those cases, the powdery substance was revealed to be sugar.

Trenton police officers then secured the package, taking it as evidence to forward it to the state police crime lab for further investigation.

A renewed interest in the package began this week following an advisory issued by the state police that warned of anthrax hoaxes at government buildings, prompting the hazmat team to be called in to take another look at the package.

The package was then transported to an auxiliary building that houses evidence.

The hazmat team then determined that the package did not contain sugar but that it did not contain anthrax or any other harmful agent.

Papers Link Husband Of Professor To ’93 Threat  (NY Times, 2/23/2010)

BOSTON — The husband of the neuroscientist accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville told a witness he wanted to harm a Harvard professor who was later mailed a pipe bomb in 1993, according to newly released federal documents.

James Anderson Jr., the husband of Amy Bishop, wanted to “shoot,” “stab” or “strangle” the professor, Paul Rosenberg, according to documents released Tuesday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Dr. Bishop had worked for Dr. Rosenberg in the neurobiology lab of Children’s Hospital in Boston, but resigned because Dr. Rosenberg felt that she “could not meet the standards required for the work,” according to the documents, first reported by The Boston Globe. Dr. Bishop was “reportedly upset” and “on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” according to the documents, which cited interviews with witnesses.

Although the names in the document were blacked out by the bureau, it was released in response to a request for files about the investigation of Dr. Bishop and Mr. Anderson, and the context of the information makes their identities clear.

The couple were repeatedly questioned by investigators in connection with the attempted bombing and, documents show, were served search warrants, but were never charged. The bomb did not go off.

Dr. Bishop is accused of shooting to death three colleagues and wounding three others on Feb. 12 at a faculty meeting.

In a telephone interview from his home in Huntsville, Mr. Anderson denied that he had ever threatened Dr. Rosenberg.

“I wouldn’t know the guy if he walked into a bar,” he said of Dr. Rosenberg. “And allegedly this tip came into a tip line, and the validity of the witness was never ascertained.”

Mr. Anderson said his wife had been cut from the lab only because her project ran out of money.

The authorities investigating the mail bomb collected evidence from the homes and offices of Dr. Bishop and Mr. Anderson, including notepads, epoxy and receipts for levers and screws, but they were “unable to tie any of the items” to the device mailed to Dr. Rosenberg, the documents say. The authorities also found a receipt for a store in Huntsville that sold guns and black powder, though they could not find those items in the couple’s residence.

Dr. Bishop and Mr. Anderson were photographed and fingerprinted to check for matches on pieces of tape found on the explosive device. The couple once refused to open the door to the authorities, prompting officers to enter through a window; they also refused searches of their home and polygraph tests.

Dr. Rosenberg received a package containing two six-inch pipe bombs connected to nine-volt batteries after returning from a vacation in December 1993.

Law enforcement officials said they were reviewing the 1993 case. Representatives from the United States attorney’s office and the firearms bureau could not be reached for comment.

Powder Sent To Syracuse High School Was Detergent  (News 10, 2/23/2010)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- We now know the suspicious substance found in a letter sent to a Syracuse High School was nothing more than detergent.

The envelope was opened by the school principal last month and in it was a handwritten letter covered with a white substance. Geddes police say tests determined the powder was detergent.

As soon as the envelope was opened the school contacted police and measures were taken to ensure the safety of the principal and student body.

Geddes police say the FBI and postal service are still investigating to determine who wrote the letter. Details of what was written in the letter cannot be released, pending the investigation.

Workers Treated After Exposure to Powder Mailed to Verizon Office  (AP, 2/23/2010)

SILVER SPRING, MD- - Fire officials say a suspicious powder that was found in an envelope sent to a Verizon office caused minor irritation to two employees.

Capt. Oscar Garcia of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue says hazmat teams were called Tuesday about 3:10 p.m. at the mail sorting area of the building on Columbia Pike.

A woman who opened the envelope said a small amount of powder in it irritated her nose, and another worker also complained of irritation. They were treated at the scene.

Garcia says because of the small of amount of powder, hazmat teams were unable to determine what it was. He says it was classified as undetermined and nontoxic.

Israeli Post Office Gets Back To Work After One-Day Freeze Due To Letter Bomb  (Haaretz, 2/24/2010)

The Israel Postal Company said last night it was ready to resume normal deliveries today after services were brought to a day-long freeze when a resident of Migdal Ha'emek received a letter bomb.

The bomb, which arrived in an envelope in the northern town, was destroyed in a controlled explosion by police sappers. No one was hurt, and the police said they were investigating whether the motive was criminal or political.

The police also issued security guidelines instructing the public to check whether mail is suspiciously heavy, strangely shaped, double packed, contains electric wires, or has a message written on it such as "personal" or "urgent," especially in a foreign language. If there is any suspicion, the police's advice is to stay away from the envelope or package and call emergency number 100.

The woman, who can only be identified as S., received two envelopes from the Migdal Ha'emek post office yesterday morning. She found a suspicious item in one of them and phoned the police, who called in the sappers. Both envelopes were blown up by a remotely operated police robot.

S., a single parent, told Haaretz she had no idea why she got the bomb. "It's like a strange dream," she said. "I really want it to be over. I'm not under any threat and I have no idea who's behind this. At first I thought it was some kind of a joke, but I realized within seconds it was serious. I put the envelope on the floor and called the police."

She also said the incident made her fear for her son's life. "I hope the police find whoever did this as fast as possible," S. said.

The police, meanwhile, are imposing a gag order on the investigation, saying only that nothing is being ruled out - including the possibility that the letter bomb was part of a political or nationalist campaign. The police are not ruling out that other mail bombs may be on the way.

Other questions include whether security regulations at the postal service included the possibility of mail bombings, and if they did, whether someone at the company had been negligent.

The police will investigate how the envelopes passed through the company's sorting system before reaching S.'s home. The police may also consider adjusting regulations to the possibility of further bombing attempts.

"Whoever sent it managed to get into the system despite security checks. This is inconceivable. Whoever gets the next bomb may be a lot less vigilant than S.," a police source told Haaretz.

Sources at the postal service told Haaretz that the company didn't have a mechanism to check all packages arriving at sorting offices from Israel and abroad. "We selectively check suspicious packages, but we can't check every one," one source said.

The company, however, stressed that it was following regulations provided by the police. So-called dirty envelopes with drugs or weapons are caught in the post about once a week. According to the company, this is the first time such an envelope got past its checks since an anthrax-like powder reached an addressee during the Gulf War 19 years ago. 

UN Cafeteria Reopens after Non-toxic Substances Confirmed in "Suspicious Envelope"  (Xinhua, 2/23/2010)

New York City--The UN cafeteria reopened to normal business on Monday after it was evacuated last Thursday due to "suspicious envelope" found in the area and the initial reports said that white powder found in the envelope was tested negative.

UN staff members were seen buying coffee and food for their breakfast on Monday morning from the cafeteria, located on the first floor of the UN Secretariat Building.

"The preliminary results of the white powder are negative," Farhan Haq, the associate UN spokesman told reporters last Friday. "Confirmation testing continues" and "most likely to be determined (on) Monday." The cafeteria remained closed last Friday.

The initial UN reports mean that the white powder found in the envelope is non-toxic.

The UN Secretariat Building is located on the First Avenue, between the 42nd Street and 48th Street in Manhattan, the central New York City.

On November 11, 2009, Russia became the sixth UN mission in New York City to receive a letter containing white powder after an envelope was found at the diplomatic post on Manhattan's Upper East Side overnight.

The UN missions of Austria, France, Britain, Germany and Uzbekistan all received letters containing white powder over the past two days. More than 40 people were decontaminated as a precaution after the letters were found.

The U.S. authorities have been on alert for mail with white powder in it since 2001, when envelopes laced with anthrax were sent to media outlets and U.S. lawmakers, killing five people.

State Cops, Trenton Cops Play Hot Potato With Suspected Anthrax  (Trentonian, 2/23/2010)

TRENTON, NJ — A hazmat crew was called in to debunk an anthrax scare at a Trenton police building yesterday, and though the white powder posed no threat, questions remain over the handling of the suspect package.

The envelope containing a white powder was discovered at a the Motor Vehicle Commission office on Stockton Street on Friday, police said, and once found, officials there called the police.

Trenton police spokesman Pedro Medina said from what he could determine, the call was responded to initially by the New Jersey State Police because the MVC is a state office. Trenton also has officers providing security at the office throughout the day.

A Trenton police sergeant arriving on the scene, Medina said, was told by an MVC staff member that a state trooper had checked out the package, deemed that it posed no threat, then left the scene, while leaving the package behind.

Medina said the staffer indicated that trooper told them there had been recent similar threats made to other government buildings and in those cases the powdery substance turned out to be sugar.

A phone call to a state police spokesman went unreturned last night.

Medina said Trenton officers then secured the package and took it into evidence, with the intention of forwarding it to the state police crime lab for further investigation.

Yesterday, Trenton police showed renewed interest in the package, sparking the call for the Trenton Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials team.

Medina said his department decided to take another look at the package due to, ironically, an advisory issued by the state police, warning of this type of hoax happening at a number of government offices.

Police sources, however, said the alert was raised when the package was transported from the main police headquarters to an auxiliary building where evidence is warehoused. Capt. Paul Messina, who oversees the evidence collection, became concerned that there was a package possibly containing anthrax being logged in as evidence, according to the sources.

Messina declined to comment.

The hazmat crew found that the package didn’t contain sugar, but it didn’t contain anthrax or any other harmful agent, according to one police source.

Medina said the scene was secured and cleared quickly, as it was deemed to be of no threat, and the package was ultimately forwarded on to the state police for further examination.

Harvard Study Questions Citizens' Preparedness For Anthrax Attack  (BioPrep Watch, 2/22/2010)

A recent study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that 89 percent of Americans, in the event of a significant anthrax bioattack, would follow public health recommendations in obtaining antibiotics.

The study also revealed, however, that 39 percent of those who would receive those antibiotics would hold on to them rather than take them, putting those citizens at greater risk of serious illness.

The national poll, which is aimed at aiding planning efforts for public health responses to bioterrorism attacks, also revealed that 21 percent of Americans are "not at all familiar" with the term "inhalation anthrax" and 25 percent believed that inhaled anthrax is contagious.

The poll used both a national sample and a sample of people living in areas that have experienced an anthrax attack - Washington, DC; Trenton/Mercer County, N.J.; and New York City.

“Publicizing key information – such as where to get antibiotics and that inhalation anthrax is not contagious – would be vital to helping people protect themselves effectively in the case of a significant attack,” professor Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program and an expert in understanding the public response to emergencies that involve health threats, said. “As these results show, clear communication with the public, in the context of what could be a frightening and catastrophic event, should be a critical priority.”

Building a Better Mailbox  (NY Times, 2/21/2010)

WHEN Vanessa Troyer and Chris Farentinos first hit on the idea that would change their lives, they were thinking big — a little too big, actually.

“It was a mail receptacle/guest house,” Mr. Farentinos jokes, describing an oversize, locking mailbox nicknamed the Elephant Trunk.

His wife agrees. “It was big enough to fit a small family,” Ms. Troyer recalls of their contraption, which the couple invented in 1999 to accept delivery of large packages and to keep the parcels safe and dry, no matter how long homeowners were away.

Back then, they were driven by the belief that as Americans ordered more and more merchandise online, particularly bulky computers, the Elephant Trunk would become a must-have item. It might have happened, too, except that while Mr. Farentinos and Ms. Troyer were still tinkering, the flat screen was born. Before the Elephant Trunk could even be tested and brought to market, its main reason for being — microwave-size computer monitors — became obsolete.

You might wonder why Ms. Troyer, 45, and Mr. Farentinos, 43, can giggle about this. Here’s the answer: From the ashes of their failed experiment arose two smaller products — the Oasis and the Oasis Jr. — that have put their company, Architectural Mailboxes, on the map.

Their smallest locking curbside model is available at Costco.com, Target.com, Lowe’s and about half of Home Depot’s 1,900 stores in the United States. To date, the couple estimates that they’ve sold more than 150,000 of their newfangled, secure letter drops, which cost $97 to $258. They expect to sell 50,000 more this year.

This mom-and-pop success story — the owners qualify because they have two daughters — seemed the perfect way for me to kick off this monthly column about summoning creativity to achieve innovation.

It is often said that there are no new ideas, but Ms. Troyer and Mr. Farentinos turned that cliché inside out. By correctly anticipating how the high-tech future would change the way we shop, they updated one of the most low-tech items around: the repository of snail mail, the trusty mailbox. Along the way, they responded to a growing concern — identity theft — that established mailbox suppliers had failed to address.

“Identity theft was at the top of consumers’ minds. And the mailbox industry was dominated by some large players that just didn’t have an answer for it,” says Rhys Jones, the Home Depot executive who first stocked the Oasis line in 2005 because it met “a need we needed met.”

What was so special about an Oasis? Well, for one thing, thieves couldn’t get their hands past its patented Hopper door — a hinged opening that functions much like those on the Postal Service’s big blue mailboxes. Also, it wasn’t ugly.

“Typically, some of the best innovations come from the small guys,” says Mr. Jones. “They’re more willing to take a risk and they see things that others don’t.” The Oasis was “safe and secure, aesthetically pleasing, do-it-yourself friendly and a great price for the value.”

Oh, and it had something else: a pitchwoman who was unwilling to hear the word no. “Vanessa,” Mr. Jones notes, “is very passionate about her product.”

Ms. Troyer, who handles marketing for the company, first buttonholed Mr. Jones at a trade show. She’d been trying to get into Home Depot for months when he walked by her booth.

“I saw the orange lanyard all the Home Depot people wore, and ran up to him,” she recalls. (This is a signature move for her: she introduced herself to her husband of 20 years in much the same way).

Mr. Jones recalls that when Home Depot first agreed to test the Oasis Jr. in 50 stores, Ms. Troyer helped pick the locations — she had kept her own records of where the product had sold best. “She knew what consumers wanted,” he says, “and where.”

Consider, too, the way she typed the name of Jeff Bezos, the founder and C.E.O. of Amazon.com, into Google and clicked through 58 pages until she found his phone number. She called and, saying that she wanted to send Mr. Bezos a birthday card, also got his address.

Mr. Farentinos created a detailed PowerPoint presentation showing how much money Amazon lost when its packages were stolen or returned because customers lacked a lockable mailbox. They sent Mr. Bezos the analysis along with an Oasis Jr., writing “A birthday gift for Jeff” on the FedEx label.

A day after the “gift” arrived, an Amazon employee called. The site sold its first Architectural Mailboxes product in January 2006, and it now carries more than 140.

“AMAZON helped legitimize us,” says Mr. Farentinos, an engineer who designs the company’s products, which now have a range of competition from other companies. Before becoming a mailbox mogul, he designed baseball bats for Easton Sports and had quality control and management roles at Mattel.

As he spoke, he stood in his company’s 23,000-square-foot warehouse in Compton, Calif., which is crammed with curbside and wall-mountable mailboxes in every imaginable color and finish.

While Necessity may indeed be the Mother of Invention, the experience of Ms. Troyer and Mr. Farentinos proves that Invention also needs an occasional assist from what we’ll call its two eccentric Aunties: Flexibility and Persistence. The couple had the flexibility to ditch the Elephant Trunk and the persistence to get the attention of the nation’s largest retailers. (Thank you, Uncle Jeff.)

“We knew we were laying new pipe — most people’s image of a mailbox is a bread-box shape,” says Ms. Troyer, noting the importance of Amazon’s endorsement to the company’s success.

As for Mr. Bezos, she acknowledges: “I still don’t know when his birthday actually is.”

NY Times Editorial—The F.B.I.’s Anthrax Case  (NY Times, 2/28/2010)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a report that is supposed to clinch the case that a lone scientist mailed anthrax-laced letters in 2001, terrorizing a country already traumatized by the 9/11 attacks. The agency cites voluminous circumstantial evidence that is largely persuasive, but its report leaves too many loose ends to be taken as a definitive verdict.

The scientist — Dr. Bruce Ivins, an Army biodefense expert — killed himself in 2008 as the investigation moved ever closer to an indictment. That means the evidence and the F.B.I.’s conclusion that he was the culprit and acted alone will never be tested in court.

At least five letters containing powdered anthrax were addressed to two United States senators and to news organizations in New York and Florida. Their deadly spores killed five people, sickened 17 others and forced the temporary closure of Congressional offices, the Supreme Court, postal facilities and private offices.

The F.B.I.’s conclusion rests in large part on pioneering laboratory techniques that matched genetic mutations in the anthrax that was mailed with identical mutations in a batch of anthrax created and maintained by Dr. Ivins. The National Academy of Sciences will complete a review of that lab work in coming months. But the techniques were devised with the aid of some of the country’s most sophisticated scientists, so they are presumably reliable.

More problematic is the investigative work that led the F.B.I. to conclude that only Dr. Ivins, among perhaps 100 scientists who had access to the same flask, could have sent the letters.

The case has always been hobbled by a lack of direct evidence tying Dr. Ivins to the letters. No witnesses who saw him prepare the powdered anthrax or mail the letters. No anthrax spores in his house or car. No incriminating fingerprints, fibers or DNA. No confession to a colleague or in a suicide note, just opaque ramblings in e-mail that the F.B.I. interprets as evidence of guilt.

The agency’s 92-page report sets forth a mass of circumstantial evidence that points to Dr. Ivins. He worked alone in the laboratory at night and on weekends just before the mailings, outside his usual pattern. He often made long drives to mail letters from distant post offices using pseudonyms.

Although he was a vaccine expert, not a weapons expert, he apparently had the skill and equipment to produce the highly purified spores used in the letters. That conclusion in particular ought to be validated by independent analysis.

The cumulative weight of the evidence seems persuasive. But the F.B.I. has a troubling history of building a circumstantial case against suspects who are later exonerated. We are inclined to agree with Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, who is calling for an independent assessment to validate the findings. Americans need to be sure that the real culprit or possible accomplices are not still at large, waiting to do damage again. And we need to head off conspiracy theories that are apt to be fostered if the only judgment available comes from an agency eager to clear its books.

Anthrax Investigation To Re-open?  (WHAG, 2/26/2010)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks could be reopened if a Maryland legislator gets his way.

U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and a lawmaker from New Jersey are behind a measure to continue the federal investigation in the case.

Their proposal was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

It would require the Director of National Intelligence to investigate potential foreign connections to the attacks.

The F.B.I. formally closed their investigation last week blaming Doctor Bruce Ivins for sending poison-laced letters to politicians and newspaper outlets almost ten years ago.

Ivins was a microbiologist at Fort Detrick and committed suicide in 2008 after coming under F.B.I scrutiny.

5 people died during the anthrax attacks and 17 others got sick.

Representative Holt: Last Word Not In On Anthrax Attack Case  (Times of Trenton, 2/26/2010)

Washington, DC--Less than a week after the FBI announced it was officially closing its investigation of the 2001 anthrax letter scare, U.S. Reps. Rush Holt and Roscoe Bartlett are pushing for an "independent examination" to determine whether there was a foreign link to the attacks.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to include an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act introduced by Holt, D-Hopewell, and Bartlett, R-Maryland, that would require the inspector general of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to embark on a review of evidence.

"Given that samples of the strain of anthrax that was used in the attacks may have been supplied to foreign laboratories, we think it prudent to have the inspector general of the intelligence community examine whether or not evidence of a potential foreign connection to the attacks was overlooked, ignored, or simply not passed along to the FBI," the congressmen wrote in a letter.

The 2001 anthrax attacks, which the FBI have pinned on government researcher Bruce Ivins, killed five and sickened 13 more, including five postal workers in Hamilton, where some of the letters were processed.

The FBI announced Feb. 19 it was concluding its investigation, in which the bureau determined Maryland scientist Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the deadly attacks.

Holt has been vocal in questioning the FBI's investigation, which he alleged in a release was "botched ... from the very beginning."

In their letter, he and Bartlett wrote, "To date, there has been no independent, comprehensive examination of the FBI's conduct in this investigation, and a number of critical questions remain unanswered. Now that the FBI has arbitrarily closed this case it is imperative that a review occur. Our amendment will help us begin that independent examination of our government's response to these attacks."

Holt introduced other bill provisions to the Intelligence Authorization Act, including one that would require interactions between CIA officers and detainees arrested in countries including Iraq and Afghanistan to be videorecorded.

Former HHS Official Backs Home Kits for Biodefense  (Global Security Newswire, 2/26/2010)

As the United States considers the best strategy for distributing medical countermeasures for use in the event of a bioterrorism incident, the government should look at providing citizens with their own "home medkits" of materials, a former Health and Human Services deputy secretary said in a report yesterday by the Washington Times.

"Medkits let individuals prepare themselves and their families for possible biological incidents -- be they naturally occurring or man-made -- and they reduce the burden on federal officials who have to distribute desperately needed medications to thousands if not millions of people in a very short time frame," said Tevi Troy, who served at the health agency and other offices in the Bush administration.

The congressionally mandated Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism in January gave the federal government a failing grade for its efforts to prepare the nation for a biological weapons attack.

"As the Obama administration looks at options for improving its recent failing grade on rapid response to biological attacks, they should make sure to consider home medkits as part of their countermeasure distribution took kit," Troy said.

Washington is believed to be weighing countermeasure delivery systems that would distribute stockpiled treatments for anthrax and other possible bioterrorism agents to residents through the the U.S. Postal Service or at special distribution centers, the Times reported.

"Unfortunately, some public health experts and federal officials don't like medkits because they fear that people can't be trusted to use the materials only when necessary," Troy said. "This short-sighted mentality will make it much harder to get crucial countermeasures distributed appropriately when needed" .

U.S. Agencies Must Step Up to Prevent Bioterrorism, Expert Says  (Global Security Newswire, 2/26/2010)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. public health and national security sectors have not yet developed an effective strategy for preventing terrorists from acquiring potentially lethal materials used to produce everyday pharmaceutical products, according to one issue expert.

Military, diplomatic and associated security agencies have driven the effort to prevent proliferation of biological weapons, Brian Finlay, a senior associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center, said in a new report. However, those organizations traditionally employ a "guards, guns and gates" strategy that is appropriate for safeguarding government-controlled nuclear materials but less likely to succeed within the rapidly expanding, private-sector biotechnology field, he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and its component agencies have been reluctant to make national security a part of their mandate, Finlay argued.

"What we're trying to do is still take national security paradigms and kind of cram it into the public health world. And it's a world, unfortunately, that folks on the national security side don't understand all that well," he told Global Security Newswire earlier this month.

Extremists could exploit this situation to cause havoc, if not a great number of deaths, Finlay said: "You could certainly create a whole lot of panic, and obviously the anthrax incident of 2001 is indicative of what even a small amount of this bad stuff can do to disrupt operations".

Bioterrorism has been considered a significant threat for years, though actual incidents in the United States have been limited in number and scope. Five people were killed in the anthrax mailings nearly a decade ago, while the toxin ricin was found in 2004 at a Senate mail room in Washington and occasionally turns up elsewhere around the country.

In warning of the looming potential for an act of WMD terrorism, a congressionally mandated commission led by former Senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent asserted last year that bioterrorism was a greater danger than an attack involving a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. government has taken a number of steps to protect the country against the widespread dispersal of a disease agent such as anthrax, smallpox or plague. Among the initiatives are the Biowatch program for detecting airborne biological agents in major cities and the Project Bioshield effort to promote production of WMD countermeasures.

New legislation sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) would boost security at U.S. biological research sites.

These measures do not go far enough to address the threat, which must be considered global, according to Finlay.

"As a result of the biotechnology revolution and the very nature of the bioweapons threat, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between legitimate pharmaceutical research and offensive bioweapons development. What is a legitimate biotech enterprise one day might easily become an offensive bioweapons research and development facility the next," he said in the new report, "Pharmaceutical Terror: Getting Health Care Reform Right."

Governments are responsible for only a small amount of leading-edge biotechnology and drug development, giving authorities little control over what happens in that field, Finlay said. This is cause for concern as the number of companies using dangerous materials increases "exponentially" and there is no protocol to prevent their diversion, his report states.

"There are companies out there ... [that] will go out and essentially kind of meet the security bar that is created by government. They do the minimal [amount] that sort of is required to comply with legal regulations," according to Finlay. "Unfortunately, we have very few companies -- at least that we can tell in our research -- that have gone the extra mile in ensuring a very rigorous control over their supply chain."

The Stimson report cites a British firm that conducted clinical trials on a product that contained lethal botulinum toxin in Iran, a nation suspected in some quarters of having a biological warfare program. Meanwhile, a recent Washington Post article indicated the possible existence of dozens of illicit facilities in Eastern Europe and beyond producing botulinum for the wrinkle-smoothing cosmetic Botox.

A number of companies use minute amounts of select agents -- materials designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as posing a significant threat to human health -- for what are intended to be beneficial products, Finlay said. There are at least eight companies around the world producing Botox-like products, and others employing the toxins ricin, conotoxin and tetrodotoxin. The number of products undergoing research and development dwarfs the count of those being produced, the researcher said.

As the number of companies using these materials grows, so does the risk that terrorists might acquire them, Finlay said.

The more than 1,200 companies, research institutions and other organizations represented by the Biotechnology Industry Organization "by and large" do not work with select agents themselves, Phyllis Arthur, the trade group's health care regulatory affairs director, told GSN today. "Most of the time they do a lot of that work with outside labs, many of which are government labs," she said.

"Biotech companies take internal security extremely seriously and do a lot to ensure that these pathogens are secured. But they are not the primary holder of the [materials] most of the time," Arthur said.

While it would be nearly impossible to extract enough of a toxin to conduct a widespread attack, terrorists could collect a sufficient amount to create a "weapon of mass disruption," according to Finlay. "Suddenly you've got four people in the [U.S. Senate] Hart office building that die of botulinum poisoning," he said.

More worrisome is that terrorists could get their hands on the technology used to produce the substances, he said.

The United States is not well prepared to respond to this threat, Finlay added.

The Food and Drug Administration, a branch of Health and Human Services, has no particular assignment for national security, and would make licensing decisions based on the safety and efficacy of a product rather than its proliferation potential, the report says. The agency could consider a license for application for a drug that was produced using foreign research that would be banned in this country, it adds.

Similarly, Homeland Security's Customs and Border Patrol might also not focus on proliferation risks posed by products entering the country, according to the report.

Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. A Homeland Security Department official said the agency would not respond directly to the report, but noted that certain pharmaceutical production facilities are required to conduct security vulnerability assessments and enact safeguards plans.

Anyone bringing biological specimens into the country could also be required to submit a permit from the U.S. Agriculture Department or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to border personnel, the official added.

There are a number of strategies for addressing the vulnerabilities addressed in the report, including upgrading the Food and Drug Administration's authority to consider national security in making regulatory decisions and improved monitoring of products to their final destinations, Finlay said.

Health care legislation passed last fall by the House of Representatives includes a clause that would prohibit the Health and Human Services Department from licensing a biological product before being assured by national security and drug enforcement agencies that it would not pose a danger to the public. The Obama administration should keep such measures in mind as it continues to press its health care effort, Finlay argued.

"I believe there needs to be a diminution of the stovepipes between national security and public health so that they work more seamlessly toward a common goal without needlessly stymieing innovation in this country and around the world," he told GSN.

Balance is needed to ensure that any security upgrades do not restrict disease research intended to benefit the public, Arthur asserted.

"Let's make sure we're paying attention to not hampering innovation, so universities and the government labs and companies work together to make these very important medical countermeasures," she said.

Gifts Stolen From Mail At Senior Complex, Carrier Under Investigation  (Buffalo News, 2/23/2010)

Buffalo, NY-- Someone has been stealing cash and lottery tickets that residents of a Hamburg senior citizens apartment complex put in the mail as gifts, and a postal carrier is under investigation in connection with the thefts.

Residents of Creek Bend Heights, a 130-unit senior citizen apartment complex on Buffalo Street, had mailed cash and lottery tickets with cards to relatives for birthdays and other occasions.

But several senior citizens discovered that someone had opened the cards and removed cash or the lottery tickets, sources familiar with the case said.

The postal carrier under investigation was briefly taken into custody last week by investigators from the U.S. Postal Service inspector general's office and then released. He is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, law enforcement officials told The Buffalo News today.

Julie Still, an employee of the company that runs the apartment complex, told The News she is aware of at least six people who recently complained to the Postal Service about the thefts.

She said investigators have said a postal carrier was opening up cards that he picked up from Creek Bend Heights, taking out cash and lottery tickets, and then re-sealing the envelopes and sending the cards to their destinations.

"I believe the conversations between family members went something like this — 'Did you win anything on the lottery tickets I sent you?' And the other person would say, 'What lottery tickets?' " Still said.

According to Still, the postal service inspector general's office was "very responsive" to the citizen complaints, setting up a sting operation last week.

Postal investigators questioned a postal carrier last week after determining that he had opened up some cards that investigators sent as part of the sting operation, sources said.

The postal carrier was released after questioning and was told that he is under investigation, law enforcement officials said. They declined to release the postal carrier's name.

Still said the carrier had served Creek Bend Heights for at least 18 months, delivering mail to the apartment complex and also picking up mail there. She said she was unaware of any complaints arising until about a month ago.

U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter declined to comment on the case late this morning.

"No arrest has been made at this time," said Timothy Jones, a Buffalo investigator from the postal inspector general's office. "It's an ongoing investigation. I can't have any other comment at this time."

FBI Report Fails To End Questions About Ivins' Guilt  (Frederick News-Post, 2/23/2010)

The FBI may have concluded Fort Detrick scientist Bruce Ivins was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks, but many others aren't convinced.

Scientists, Ivins' friends and others maintain the report is too flawed to have held up in court had Ivins been alive for a trial by jury.

Jeffrey Adamovicz, former chief of bacteriology who supervised Ivins' work at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, said he found little new information in the FBI's final report.

"The evidence is still very circumstantial and unconvincing as a whole," Adamovicz wrote in an e-mail. "I'm curious as to why they closed the case while the (National Academy of Science) review is still ongoing. Is it because the review is going unfavorable for the FBI?"

The Academy of Science began reviewing the FBI's Amerithrax investigation last summer. The Academy will not seek to prove Ivins guilty or innocent; rather, it will only evaluate the validity of the FBI's scientific methods.

A key issue for the Academy relates to how the attack anthrax was prepared and how much time it would take to produce such highly refined spores.

"There is an assumption by the FBI that the spores could have only been prepared in the week before each mailing. This is a fatal error in logic," Adamovicz wrote in an e-mail. "The only reason that I can derive why the FBI has proposed this is that it is the only period that helps provide circumstantial evidence against Bruce."

One such piece of evidence is a chart of Ivins' night hours in the lab, which spikes in September 2001. Gerry Andrews, another former chief of bacteriology at USAMRIID, said he "didn't think it was peculiar" to have a sudden increase in night hours and tried to stress to the FBI that the spike was irrelevant.

Ivins was in the middle of several projects in September 2001, some of which involved animals, so it made sense that he would forsake a conventional schedule and instead work when he could be most productive with those particular projects.

"The FBI, I think, is trying to give folks the wrong impression of the timeline" to make their case against Ivins more convincing, Andrews said.

Adamovicz agreed that focusing on Ivins' September 2001 hours was irrelevant, since the anthrax spores that were mailed out could have been made as early as 1997.

"The person would need to grow new spores from vegetative cells, concentrate them, purify them and dry them -- it's not physically possible" to do in the FBI's one-week timeline, Adamovicz said.

Andrews said it would take 25 to 50 weeks to create the attack anthrax spores if a scientist started with the samples in Ivins' lab.

"Bruce didn't have the skill to make spore preps of that concentration," which were two orders of magnitude more concentrated than the anthrax in Ivins' lab, Andrews said. "He never ever could make a spore prep like the ones found in the letters."

Another factor for the academy to look into is the genetic analysis that traced the attack anthrax to Ivins' anthrax. Andrews agreed with the FBI that the attack anthrax originated from Ivins' flask. But the FBI report states as many as 377 people had access to Ivins' lab, and samples of his RMR-1029 anthrax had been sent to 15 domestic and three international labs.

The report states all other scientists with access to RMR-1029 anthrax were investigated and found to not have means or motive. Many scientists have expressed doubts about that part of the investigation.

Adamovicz said no forensic evidence -- such as fingerprints or strands of hair -- was ever found that links Ivins to the letters. The evidence in the report is less convincing, such as a section about a hidden message in the anthrax letters. Some of the As and Ts appear to be bolded; the letters spell out the genetic code for three proteins, whose names could be abbreviated to PAT or, using the proteins' single letter designators, spell FNY. Investigators said Ivins was obsessed with a coworker named Pat and had a well-known hatred of New York.

"While I admit this is an interesting theory, that is all it is," Adamovicz said.

Andrews said many of Ivins' motives, as outlined in the report, are based on false information. The final report states Ivins' project "had run its course at USAMRIID, leaving him potentially without anthrax research to do."

But Ivins was assured funding through 2005, Andrews said. The report also said that, because the anthrax research "was viewed as menial in nature and a waste of Dr. Ivins's considerable talents, there was a suggestion that he should begin work on Glanders research." Andrews said that was true, but those discussions didn't take place until late 2002, well after the anthrax attacks.

Anne Leffler volunteered with Ivins at the American Red Cross' Disaster Services for five years. After reading the FBI's report, she said she is most upset by its portrayal of his suicide as proof of his guilt.

Leffler said Ivins was loving and caring, but like many brilliant people, was also "emotionally fragile in many ways."

"You pick on them enough, you bully them enough, you scare them enough -- and let's face it, the FBI can do that -- and they feel like they have nowhere to go," she said. That was why Ivins killed himself in 2008, not because he was guilty and wanted to escape punishment.

"At this point, the government is just needing to see the case closed, and it's easier to accuse a dead man," Leffler said.

In theory, she said she'd like to see the case reopened and Ivins' name cleared. But she fears who else might get railroaded and driven to suicide in another investigation.

"Maybe it's better, other than to vindicate Bruce, to just let it go," Leffler said.

Israel Suspends Mail Service After Letter-Bomb Found  (Reuters, 2/22/2010)

JERUSALEM -- Israel suspended postal deliveries nationwide on Monday after a letter bomb was found in a post office, police and postal authorities said.

The motive behind the mailing of the explosives was not immediately clear, a police spokesman said, and a court imposed a gag order in the investigation.

The letter bomb was found in a post office in the northern town of Migdal Haemek, where a woman spotted wires and batteries in an envelope she had come to collect.

A police spokesman said police were investigating whether the incident was an act of terrorism or a local criminal event. Israelis were targeted frequently by letter-bombs blamed on or claimed by Palestinian militants in the 1970s and 1980s.

After the discovery, Israeli authorities took the rare step of stopping the mail service nationwide pending a thorough search of mail at the country's main postal distribution centres where they are sorted for delivery, postal officials said.

"We are not distributing any mail at the moment nor taking in any mail because we want to protect public safety," Avi Hochman, director of Israel Postal Services said on Army Radio.

Indiana Postal Worker Arrested For Theft  (Greene County Daily World, 2/22/2010)

Linton, IN--A United States Rural Letter Carrier, employed at the Linton Post Office, was taken into custody late Friday after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

She is suspected of thefts of U.S. Mail from numerous people on her mail route over an extended period of time.

Morna K. Blakely, 45, Lyons, was booked into the Greene County Jail by Indiana State Police Trooper Adam Davis after an investigation by the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

An affidavit states she carried the mail on R.R. 4, Linton.

The investigation began on Feb. 5 when Sheriff Terry Pierce was contacted by someone who said an unknown person had thrown trash in the ditch on County Road 900W north of State Road 67.

Pierce responded and found two full trash bags, wire, a tire, beer bottles and a boat seat in the ditch on top of a thin sheet of ice. He collected the items and found numerous pieces of mail inside the bags -- several addressed to Blakely in Lyons. But he also found mail addressed to other people including one on R.R. 4 in Linton, another on Chris Schenkel Dr., and a couple of sheets of return address labels bearing another person's name with an address on R.R. 3, Linton.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service was contacted by Det. George Dallaire and by Feb. 11, Dallaire and an inspector from the USPS Office of Inspector General were going through the trash bags.

In a probable cause affidavit written by Dallaire, he states they found more mail addressed to Blakely plus mail addressed to a business on R.R. 4 and a magazine addressed to a woman on Willow Lane.

Later the same day, they interviewed Blakely at the Sheriff's Department. After she was informed of her rights, she agreed to speak to the investigators and said some of the mail taken was not deliverable and she had taken a sample and a coupon. However, she said other pieces of mail had valid addresses and should have been delivered.

According to the affidavit, Blakely said she did not have permission to possess these items of mail but never took anything of great monetary value. She also said she was trained not to take mail belonging to other people when she started working at the post office about 14 years ago and that the current Postmaster would not tolerate this.

Blakely consented to a search of her residence and vehicle. Nothing was found in the vehicle but the search of her residence yielded a piece of mail from Proctor and Gamble containing a sample of Luvs disposable diapers addressed to a person on R.R. 4.

Officers also found a basket containing numerous magazines with other people's names and addresses on them including "Food and Family," a Halloween magazine, a "Babies R Us" magazine, and other magazines from Macy's, LTD Commodities, Company Store and Lakeside. Blakely said she had permission to have some of them but others should have been delivered.

They also found a "Cooking with Paula Deen" magazine addressed to a woman on Spruce Lane that was dated September/October 2006, a subscription valued at $19.98 for six issues. The affidavit states that magazine made it appear that Blakely has been stealing mail for several years.

Numerous names and addresses from the pieces of mail in question, most located on Linton's R.R. 4, are contained in the affidavit.

During her interview, according to the affidavit, Blakely said she did not dump the trash bags found by the sheriff but she remembered something about her son or one of his friends putting trash in their truck and later saying the tailgate flew open and the trash blew out.

The preliminary charges filed against Blakely in Greene Superior Court on Friday included two counts of theft, both class D felonies, and one count of official misconduct, also a class D felony.

Blakely was released from jail on $12,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court for an initial hearing on Friday.

Blakely's employment status is unknown. The Linton Postmaster was contacted but said she was unable to comment.

Israel Postal Service Suspended After Letter Bomb Was Found  (Digital Journal, 2/22/2010)

The Israeli postal service has been suspended after at least one letter bomb was found. All of the nation's primary post offices will be searched and investigated to make sure there aren't any more bombs.

On Monday, a suspicious envelope was found in the northern town of Migdal Haemeq by an unidentified woman who went to the post office to pick up her mail and noticed wires sticking out of her mail, according to BBC News. In the mean time, postal service will be stopped for a period of time and all of the country’s main post offices will be searched to make sure there aren’t any more bombs.

The suspension of postal service includes requesting packages at branches, mail sorting and service. However, the Israel Postal Authority later verified that the shutdown of the service only relates to parcels and not letters, reports the Yeshiva World News.

“We are not distributing any mail at the moment, nor taking in any mail because we want to protect public safety,” said Avi Hochman, the Director of Israel Postal Services.

All postal service employees are instructed and urged to thoroughly examine all items with extreme caution. Employees and citizens are also urged to alert the proper authorities if anything uncommon is noticed.

Police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said, “A woman in Migdal Haemek received two envelopes - she opened one and saw some suspicious things in it. The police arrived with bomb experts and a preliminary check confirmed this was indeed an explosive envelope.”

According to Israel National News, details of the investigation have been kept quite clandestine by court order and signs have been hung outside of post offices saying customers will not be able to receive packages or registered mail due to a “security problem.”

Israeli Police Remind Public How to Deal with Suspicious Mail  (IsraelNN.com, 2/22/2010)

The anti-terror unit of the police department reminded the public on Monday of guidelines for dealing with suspicious envelopes and packages, following the discovery of two envelopes with explosives at the Migdal Haemek branch of the post office. Mail distribution was suspended nationwide.

They said to be suspicious of envelopes or packages without a return address or an unknown address. If your name or address has errors, that could also be a problem. Also suspicious are handwritten notes in Hebrew or a foreign language that the package is personal, to be opened only by the addressee, "express", "urgent" and the like.

Watch out for an unecessarily wide or hard package. The sight of electrical wiring or a thermostat will probably arouse the suspicion of postal workers as well.

If you have suspicions, don't try to open the package. Isolate it and call the police.

Teary Appearance For NY Postal Carrier Accused In $200G Mail Theft  (Journal News, 2/22/2010)

 POUND RIDGE, NY — A postal carrier accused of stealing some $200,000 from the mail she was delivering in town made a brief, tearful appearance in court this morning where her case was adjourned.

Accused mail carrier Tensy May Smith stood before a judge with her lawyer and said nothing as her court date was moved to March 22.

As the 52-year-old Croton-on-Hudson woman was led into the courtroom, she hung her head and sniffled, quivering and crying.

The mother of three has been held on $100,000 bail in Westchester County jail on a felony grand larceny charge since her Jan. 25 arrest.

Smith is accused of stealing dozens of gift cards and credit cards from the mail which she gave away or used to make purchases, police said.

She was also accused of stealing some 600 Netflix DVDs, many of which were found in her home.

Police and the Postal Service started investigating Smith late last year when people on her route complained about missing items in their mail.

A 15-year veteran who worked in Pound Ridge for nine years, Smith could also face federal charges.

Witness' Testify In Toronto Letter Bomb Case  (Digital Journal, 2/21/2010)

The trial of Adel Arnaout, accused of sending three letter bombs to people in Toronto and Guelph, continued Feb. 18 with the testimonial of two men who said they received envelopes rigged with explosives.

Abdelmagid Radi testified that he received an envelope from an unknown lawyer on Aug. 11, 2007.

“I opened the letter and saw a smaller one inside, but when I tried to remove it there was an explosion,” Radi said.

The bomb shot a nail into Radi’s left arm, and right hand. The explosion broke a glass coffee table in front of him that shattered and cut his feet, his chest was also injured.

He moved to the washroom and failed to stop the perfuse bleeding from his wounds. Radi was taken to the hospital where he received stitches for his injuries.

Radi said that in 2003 he lived with Arnaout for five to six months while they rented from the same homeowner. They had verbal disagreements daily but the accused never threatened or physically assaulted Radi.

The Crown has charged Arnaout, 39, with 16 charges, 11 for attempted murder.

In Aug. 2007 John Becker, a repairman in Guelph received express mail with his name spelt incorrectly. He struggled to open the envelope and eventually removed an old book with batteries taped to the spine. Originally he thought the contents were a joke, but he became worried.

Becker moved the book and envelope to his porch then called police who evacuated the block and called the bomb squadron. While the police were there the bomb exploded causing damage to his porch and backyard door.

Arnaout rented a home in Guelph from Becker’s employer in 2003. The roommates of the accused complained about his behaviour and Becker moved him to another house his employer owned.

“I helped him move in early September.” Becker said, “ I was startled because he had two gas cans, one ten gallon and one five gallon that he wanted in his bedroom.”

In the summer of 2003, Becker was renovating the washroom in the house Arnaout was renting. Arnoaut gave Becker a list of weapons he wanted to purchase and asked him to price them. Becker reported the accused to police, but no charges were laid.

“He asked if I could get an M16 machine gun for him and if army surplus stores sold hand grenades,” Becker said.

The last time Becker and Arnaout spoke was in 2005 when the accused called Becker and said he had moved back to his home in Lebanon.

Arnaout was arrested in August 2007. Three letter bombs were found in his residence and the police closed the Don Valley Parkway to move the explosives to the Leslie Street Spit to detonate them in a controlled area.

Justice Todd Ducharme adjourned the trial until Feb. 23.

'Star-Ledger' Driver Arrested for Mailing Boss Suspicious Powder  (Editor and Publisher, 2/21/2010)

NEW YORK-- The Star-Ledger reported that the FBI arrested one of its drivers Friday on charges he mailed a yellow powder to the paper's Newark, N.J., headquarters.

Paul Meyer of Chester, N.Y., is alleged to have sent to powder to his supervisor after having been asked to show a log of hours worked. On Wednesday, the paper called authorities, who said the envelope contained protein powder.

The FBI charged Meyer with intending to send misleading information involving the illegal transfer of a biological agent. Detained until his Monday bail hearing, the driver faces a maximum five-year prison term.

According to the Star-Ledger, the incident is not connected to recently reported deliveries of white powder to New Jersey businesses and government agencies.

Threats Against IRS Employees on the Rise, Official Says  (Wall St. Journal, 2/21/2010)

WASHINGTON—The federal agency charged with ensuring the safety of IRS employees said it has seen an uptick in the past several years in threats against agency personnel.

In the past four years, there appears to have been a "steady, upward trend" in the number of threats against IRS employees, said an official with the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration. That assessment, offered in response to an inquiry from Dow Jones Newswires, is based on preliminary data, the official cautioned.

On Thursday, 53-year old Andrew Joseph Stack crashed his private plane into an Austin, Texas, office building that housed IRS workers, killing himself and one IRS employee and injuring 13 others.

Following the attack, Inspector General J. Russell George said his agency will consider whether changes to security policies are necessary to improve safety.

"There's no question that in the wake of this tragedy, we will be directing attention to that very issue," Mr. George said in an interview. "There are limitations, however, on what you can anticipate about what a disturbed, troubled person can do."

In recent years, TIGTA has investigated roughly 900 threats made against IRS employees annually. In 2009, that number climbed above 1,000.

There is a history of violence directed at IRS employees, and IRS facilities in Austin have been targeted in the past. In June 2008, a separate Austin IRS building received a letter including white powder and a phony anthrax threat. John Barker of Kansas was convicted of mailing the threatening letter and sentenced to one year in prison.

Charles Ray Polk was apprehended in 1995 after trying to purchase a machine gun from an undercover police officer, and sentenced to 75 years in prison for plotting to blow up an Austin IRS building.

TIGTA isn't your run-of-the mill federal inspector general. IGs are usually charged with policing waste and abuse, and helping agencies operate more successfully and efficiently.

A recording of the radio transmissions Thursday morning between Joseph Stack, the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Echelon building in Austin, Texas, and the Georgetown airport tower.

But in addition to those duties, Treasury's IG also has a staff of nearly 400 agents, some armed, who investigate crimes including bribery, unauthorized access to confidential information, and threats and assaults against IRS personnel.

Just two years ago, congress gave TIGTA the authority to send armed escorts to accompany IRS officials paying visits to taxpayers deemed "potentially dangerous."

According to Mr. George, TIGTA is unique among law-enforcement authorities because it has access to confidential taxpayer information. That helps the agency coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Investigations in investigating crimes that appear connected to tax grievances.

Mr. Stack had plenty of those. A six-page suicide note believed to be posted by Mr. Stack on the Internet details his frustrations with the tax-code and several run-ins with the IRS over the past 30 years. "Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well," the missive concludes.

Some expressed the view Friday that public expressions of outrage against the government and government employees may have fueled violent crimes by Mr. Stack and others like him.

"This incident brings to light an ongoing concern that the atmosphere in our nation debases and denigrates the work of federal employees and contributes to such actions," said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Jonathan Siegel, a law professor at George Washington University, said that the popularity of the tax-protester or tax-denier movement has been aided in the past 20 years by the growth of the Internet. "In the old days, if you wanted to get a theory out to the public at large, you had to convince some editor or producer to run a story," he said.

Mr. Siegel added that Mr. Stack doesn't fit the traditional profile of a tax denier because, while he appears to have complained about taxes and sought to evade them, he didn't claim he was under no legal obligation to pay them.

Ticking Parcel Sparks Bomb Scare at Post Office in New Delhi  (Indian Express, 2/21/2010)

New Delhi, India--A parcel that suddenly started ticking spread alarm at a post office in South Delhi on Saturday afternoon.

Opened by the Bomb Disposal Squad, the item in the parcel turned out to be a toy.

According to the police, the sender mentioned on the parcel feigned ignorance about the toy, and the person to whom it was addressed was out of town.

A police officer said the parcel was addressed to one Harish Kumar of Trilokpuri, East Delhi. The sender was one ‘Dolphin’ company.

A man had dropped the package at Lajpat Nagar-III post office at 1.55 pm. After a while, the package started ticking and a staff member informed seniors.

“Post master Ved Prakash inspected the package and called up Dolphin Company,” a senior police officer said. “Officials from the company told Prakash they had not sent it. This triggered panic in the post office and Prakash called the Police Control Room at 4.09 pm.”

Feds Deny Clearing Bishop Of Attempted Mail Bombing  (Gatehouse News Service, 2/19/2010)

Braintree, MA — Federal officials denied a claim by Amy Bishop’s husband James E. Anderson that they sent the couple a letter that cleared them of sending a mail bomb to a Children’s Hospital Boston doctor at his home in Newton in 1993.

“In my files I have a letter from the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Fireamrs Agency) saying ‘You are hereby cleared in this incident. You are no longer a subject of the investigation,’” Anderson said in a New York Times news report

Bishop, a 1983 Braintree High School graduate, has been charged with fatally shooting three professors and wounding three instructors at the University of Alabama on Feb. 12.

A law-enforcement speaking on a condition of anonymity said there was no such letter and that it was not sent to the pair who were investigated for mailing two pipe bombs to Dr. Paul Rosenberg 24 years ago.

“No letter was ever sent,” said the official who is not authorized to speak publicly on the case.

Bishop reportedly had a dispute with Rosenberg because she feared he would give her a negative job performance evalutaion.

Anderson said he received a copy of the ATF letter from his attorney who is now dead.

“I can’t find it,” Anderson said in a published report. “The original, I think, is with the attorney.”

Anderson said he would try to get the document from his attorney’s law firm.

Nobody has been charged with mailing the bomb to Rosenberg. He discovered the explosive upon returning from vacation with his wife on Dec. 19, 1993.

Police said the bomb did not explode because Rosenberg did not open the package by cutting the end flaps off.

“She (Bishop) was the suspect early on,” said the law enforcement official.

Rosenberg said he hopes that a thorough investigation would be done into the shootings at the University of Alabama, “so that no one else will be victimized by such senseless violence.

“My wife and I extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims, the survivors, the university and all those affected by the terrible tragedy in Huntsville, Alabama,” said Rosenberg in a written statement.

The shooting of the three university professors is raising questions about why Bishop was not charged with fatally shooting her 18-year-old brother Seth at their former residence on Hollis Avenue on Dec. 6, 1986.

Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier questioned how the investigation into Seth’s death was handled the day after Bishop was charged with murdering the professors.

Retired Braintree police chief John Polio, 87, said there was no coverup by local police or the State Police who determined the shooting was accidental.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said his staff is trying to determine if criminality was involved in Seth’s death which occurred when U.S. Rep. William Delahunt was district attorney.

A spokesman for Delahunt said he was in Israel on a business trip and that he would be debriefed on the case upon returning this weekend.

“There have been mistakes in the handling of this case,” Keating said on Feb. 19 adding, “if there are any elements of criminality that can be prosecuted in the future we will be doing it.”

Earlier, Keating said that it was “striking” that a Braintree police account of a standoff with Bishop hours after she allegedly shot Seth was not mentioned in a State Police investigator’s report.

A local police report filed by Officer Ronald Solimini stated Bishop hid behind a parked car in the rear of Village News and that she held a shotgun at waist level before he and Officer Timothy Murphy persauded her to drop the weapon during a tense standoff.

Bishop was taken to police headquarters for questioning but they eventually ended the interview when Bishop’s mother Judith came into the booking room and said she did not want her daughter to answer any more questions.

“At this point, her mother came into the booking room with Sgt. (Kenneth) Brady and her mother said she didn’t want her to make any further statements or be asked any more questions,” said Lt. James Sullivan in a police report. “Amy then said she wouldn’t answer any more questions. I then left the booking area,” he said.

Sullivan additionally stated that after he consulted with Captain Theodore Buker and Captain (first name not known) D’Amico, “it was determined that no charges would be brought against Amy Bishop at this time. With the current information, it would appear to be an accidental shooting.”

Police refrained from asking further questions of Bishop’s family for 11 days after the shooting.

Frazier said some Braintree officers were extremely upset when Seth’s death was ruled accidental in 1987.

Polio said police handled the investigation properly on Feb. 13, but a few days later h said it was odd that officers waited 11 days before interviewing Bishop family members.

A police report that had been missing since the killing was found Tuesday, Feb. 16 at the Braintree police station. It stated Bishop walked to the former Dave Dinger Ford auto body shop following the shooting and demanded a car and ignition keys while armed.

Thomas Pettigrew of Quincy and Jeff Doyle of Marshfield, who worked at the shop, told police at that time that Bishop pointed the shotgun at them before heading to where Solimini and Murphy found her.

According to Pettigrew, he never heard from police again.

Polio said he was unaware of what happened after the shooting until this week.

The retired chief stressed that his officers turned the case over to Delahunt’s office.

In a published report, Keating said retired State Trooper Brian Howe who handled the investigation for Delahunt stated he has no recollection of Braintree police telling him that Bishop pulled a gun on the two employees at Dave Dinger Ford.

John Kivlan, a former prosecutor for Delahunt, additionally said he was not told about the incident at the auto dealership.

Kivlan currently serves Delahunt as special counsel.

It is unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed in connection with the handling of Seth’s death because the statute of limitations on any crime except murder has expired.

Keating said he would find out if the district attorney’s office was deceived with respect to the investigation of Seth’s death.  

Bomb Squad Called To Post Office In Massachusetts  (MetroWest Daily News, 2/19/2010)

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham and state police are investigating a suspicious package found at the Rte. 30 post office this afternoon.

The box, with words to the effect of "Time is ticking for the post office,'' was found near the loading dock at about 4:40 p.m., police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said.

The building has been evacuated and the state police bomb squad has been called in, he said. The area has been cordoned off.

Suspicious Package Sent to Senator Kerry Triggers Hazmat Incident  (BioPrep Watch, 2/19/2010)

Boston, MA--Police were called to the Boston office of U.S. Sen. John Kerry after it received a suspicious package thought to hold either a biological or chemical threat.

The package, which was addressed to Sen. Kerry's 10th floor office, did not leave the mail room, though officials did deem the incident a Level 2 hazmat because of protesters outside and the high-profile status of the One Bowdoin Square office. The most serious hazmat response is a Level 3.

Preliminary investigations performed on the package by a police bomb squad revealed that no bomb was present inside the package but that an unknown liquid substance was inside. The Boston Herald has reported that bomb squad officers believe the substance might be cooking oil.

After investigators learned that the package did not have an explosive risk it was brought to a state lab in Jamaica Plain for further testing.

“Ultimately, they will determine what the liquid substance is,” Boston police spokesman Officer Joe Zanoli told the Boston Herald.

Kerry is currently traveling overseas, meeting with local leaders in Qatar and Pakistan. He is scheduled to return to Boston today.

Approximately 15 people work at Kerry's Boston office. They were not evacuated when the package was found.

F.B.I., Laying Out Evidence, Closes Anthrax Letters Case  (NY Times, 2/20/2010)

WASHINGTON — More than eight years after anthrax-laced letters killed five people and terrorized the country, the F.B.I. on Friday closed its investigation, adding eerie new details to its case that the 2001 attacks were carried out by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army biodefense expert who killed himself in 2008.

A 92-page report, which concludes what by many measures is the largest investigation in F.B.I. history, laid out the evidence against Dr. Ivins, including his equivocal answers when asked by a friend in a recorded conversation about whether he was the anthrax mailer.

“If I found out I was involved in some way...” Dr. Ivins said, not finishing the sentence. “I do not have any recollection of ever doing anything like that,” he said, adding, “I can tell you, I am not a killer at heart.” But in a 2008 e-mail message to a former colleague, one of many that reflected distress, Dr. Ivins wrote, “I can hurt, kill, and terrorize.” He added: “Go down low, low, low as you can go, then dig forever, and you’ll find me, my psyche.”

The report disclosed for the first time the F.B.I.’s theory that Dr. Ivins embedded in the notes mailed with the anthrax a complex coded message, based on DNA biochemistry, alluding to two female former colleagues with whom he was obsessed.

The report described how an F.B.I. surveillance agent watched in 2007 as Dr. Ivins threw out a article and a book, Douglas Hofstadter’s “Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid,” that could betray his interest in codes, coming out of his house in Frederick, Md., at 1 a.m. in long underwear to make certain the garbage truck had taken his trash.

Whether the voluminous documentation will convince skeptics about Dr. Ivins’s guilt was uncertain on Friday. Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and a physicist who has sharply criticized the bureau’s work, said the case should not have been closed.

“Arbitrarily closing the case on a Friday afternoon should not mean the end of this investigation,” Mr. Holt said, noting that the National Academy of Sciences was still studying the F.B.I.’s scientific work. He said the F.B.I. report laid out “barely a circumstantial case” that “would not, I think, stand up in court.”

Dropped into a mailbox in downtown Princeton, N.J., the anthrax letters were addressed to news organizations and two United States senators and contained notes with radical Islamist rhetoric that appeared to link them to the Sept. 11 attacks, which occurred a week before the first of the two mailings.

In the jittery wake of 9/11, they set off a nationwide panic over random discoveries of white powder that people feared might be more anthrax. The real anthrax — a few teaspoons of very fine powder — infected at least 22 people, including several postal workers, and killed 5.

Congressional offices and the Supreme Court were evacuated as a result of anthrax contamination, and the Postal Service spent hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up mail-processing centers. The federal government increased spending on biodefense, with a total of nearly $60 billion since 2001, and rejuvenated the faltering military anthrax vaccine program on which Dr. Ivins had worked for many years.

The investigation included more than 10,000 interviews on six continents, the report said, and F.B.I. investigators conducted preliminary investigations of 1,024 people and “in-depth investigations” of more than 400 people, examining those with possible financial motives, links to the drug and pesticide industries or a history of corresponding with the lawmakers targeted by the mailings.

In response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act, the bureau also posted on the Web more than 2,700 pages of interview notes and investigative documents to bolster its case.

Dr. Ivins, a microbiologist who had worked with anthrax for decades as part of the vaccine program at the Army’s biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., took a fatal overdose of Tylenol in July 2008 at the age of 62, after months of intense scrutiny by the F.B.I., which had placed a GPS device on his car, examined his trash and questioned his wife and two children.

They discovered his penchant for taking long drives at night, sometimes mailing letters and packages from distant spots under assumed names. They discovered his obsession with a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and with images of blindfolded women, hundreds of which were found on his computer, the report says.

Days after his suicide, Justice Department and F.B.I. officials said they believed that Dr. Ivins had carried out the anthrax attacks alone and they released search warrant affidavits that included some of the evidence against him.

The affidavits included e-mail messages in which he confessed to paranoia and delusion; time records showing he had worked alone in the laboratory late at night before the anthrax mailings in September and October 2001; and genetic analysis tracing the mailed anthrax powder to a flask overseen by Dr. Ivins and stored in his lab.

But some of Dr. Ivins’s colleagues at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, including several supervisors who knew him well, publicly rejected the F.B.I.’s conclusion. They said he was eccentric but incapable of such a diabolical act, and they questioned whether he could have produced the deadly powder with the equipment in his lab.

Skeptics also pointed to F.B.I. investigators’ long focus on another suspect, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, another former Army scientist whom the F.B.I. pursued in 2002 and 2003, keeping him under constant surveillance. In 2008, the government exonerated Dr. Hatfill and agreed to a settlement worth $4.6 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that his privacy rights had been violated.

Long before he became a serious suspect, Dr. Ivins, one of the government’s most experienced anthrax researchers, was a valued consultant to the F.B.I. investigators on the letters case. Only after path-breaking genetic analysis led to his lab did investigators consider that their genial scientific adviser might actually be their quarry.

As they focused on Dr. Ivins and read his e-mail messages, the report said, they began to be increasingly convinced that he was the mailer. And as he became aware that he was under scrutiny, he directed the F.B.I. repeatedly to other potential suspects. Once, in 2007, he wrote what the F.B.I. calls “an illogical 12-point memo” suggesting that the two female former colleagues with whom he was obsessed might have mailed the letters.

When one of the women, made aware of the memo, confronted Dr. Ivins about it in 2008, he wrote to her, blaming an alternate personality he called “ ‘Crazy Bruce,’ who surfaces periodically as paranoid, severely depressed and ridden with incredible anxiety.” He complained that “it seems as though I have been selected as the blood sacrifice for this whole thing.”

American Idol Star Increases Security After Hate Mail  (TMZ, 2/20/2010)

Los Angeles, CA--Fantasia Barrino is under a self-imposed lockdown -- after the "American Idol" champ received a threatening letter.

It all started last night at the Pantages Theater in L.A. -- Fantasia was reading her fan mail after a performance of "The Color Purple."

Fantasia's manager tells us Barrino became alarmed over a disturbing letter loaded with racial slurs -- including the n-word -- and a line that read, "go back where you came from and die."

We're told the person who wrote the letter claims he used to work as a security guard for Fox while Fantasia was on "A.I."

Fantasia's manager tells us the singer immediately contacted theater security -- which then contacted the LAPD.

In the meantime, we're told the theater has "beefed up" security around Fantasia -- and all over the venue -- and will be screening anything sent to Barrino's dressing room before it gets to her.

Fantasia tells TMZ, "I will not be defeated by one isolated person's hatred."

Anthrax Scare At The U.N. (BioPrep Watch, 2/19/2010)

New York--The main dining room and staff cafeteria at the United Nations in New York was closed on Thursday following the discovery of "a suspicious envelope," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

New York city authorities were called in by U.N. security staff to aid in investigating the contents of the envelope, which included a white powder according to a U.N. official.

The envelope was found on a conveyor belt to the ground floor cafeteria's dish washer. The ground floor cafeteria of the 39 story Secretariat building has recently been renovated so that a portion of it is now the Delegates Dining Room.

Everyone in the dining area was asked to leave after the envelope was discovered and authorities were called in.

The scare came at the same time as a reception was held in the U.N.'s Delegates' Dining Room to commemorate the "31st anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution" by Iran.

A mobile laboratory was brought into the U.N.'s third sub-basement by New York authorities. The envelope was then brought to the laboratory.

As a result of increased security precautions surround the evacuation of the cafeteria, the United Nations was forced to push back an appearance by Bill Clinton, the U.N. envoy to Haiti, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. according to officials.

Mail Stolen From Multiple Post Office Drop Boxes In South Carolina  (WIS, 2/19/2010)

POMARIA, SC-- If you dropped mail off at the Pomaria Post Office anytime between last Saturday and Tuesday morning, it probably won't end up where you intended.

Newberry County deputies are investigating after mail was stolen from postal receptacles in Pomaria and other Midlands towns.

"One of the customers was driving through to drop a piece in the collection box and noticed that the door was open," said Officer Debbie Howell.

And it wasn't an accident. Howell says someone stole every piece of mail out of the Pomaria mail box sometime between Saturday morning and Tuesday morning.

"The lock was not tampered with, but it was obvious from the tire tracks that they had backed right up to the box, used something to pry loose the metal bar we hook the lock into and just snapped that metal bar right off," described Howell.

During the same time frame, postal inspectors say the bandits hit two other drop boxes during the same timeframe.

"We just kind of believe that they were going to go through the mail they collected from these boxes, pulling out checks, personal account information, that kind of thing to either wipe out checking accounts, or try to possibly duplicate or counterfeit checks they got out the boxes," said Howell.

Investigators say criminals are no stranger to this type of crime.

"This definitely was done by someone who had done this type of thing before," Howell continued. "The sheriff's office and the postal inspectors alluded to that fact and probably they were not in the parking lot two, three minutes total. They knew what they were doing, they got in there, snatched that bar off, got the mail and took off."

Again, this was not the only post office. Drop boxes in Blythewood and Ridgeway were also cleaned out.

It is not clear how much mail may have been stolen, but authorities are working with postal employees to try to determine the amount.

Investigators are asking for your help, and if you have any information, please call 1-888-CRIME-SC. This crime carries federal charges and decades in federal prison.

Break In at Georgia Post Office Being Investigated  (Dalton Citizen, 2/18/2010)

Dalton, GA— An early morning break-in at the U.S. Post Office at 1119 E. Morris St. in Dalton on Feb. 7 is still under investigation, authorities said.

“The postal inspector is working jointly with our CID (Criminal Investigation Division) on the case,” said Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier. “The postal inspector is processing some of the evidence found at the scene, for example. We don’t have any new breaks in the case to report at this time.”

Officers found that a door into the building as well as a mail box outside the building appeared to have been pried open. Inside, someone had forced their way into the customer service area and gone through drawers and storage cabinets.

Postal officials said some packages and perhaps some outgoing mail appeared to be missing. Frazier advised people who were expecting bills, credit cards, checks or similar items to check with their banks, credit agencies or other institutions if they didn’t receive the items in a timely manner.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective John Helton at (706) 278-9085, extension 143.

Newspaper Driver Arrested For Alleged 'Biological Agent' Scare  (Star-Ledger, 2/19/2010)

NEWARK, NJ -- A truck driver for The Star-Ledger was arrested today by the FBI on charges he sent his supervisor an envelope of yellow powder that was intended to resemble a biological agent, authorities said.

Paul Meyer, 53, of Chester, N.Y., is accused of sending the substance to the newspaper’s headquarters in Newark after his supervisor asked him to submit a log detailing the hours he worked, authorities said. The newspaper called authorities Wednesday, and the substance turned out to be protein powder, according to the FBI.

"However harmless someone’s intentions may actually be, mailing hoax letters and devices such as those in this case cause significant damage to the community and amount to a very selfish act,” said Kevin Cruise, acting head of the FBI’s Newark office.

The incident is unrelated to the recent series of reports of white powder being sent to banks, stores and government offices in New Jersey, authorities said.

Meyer will be charged with intending to convey false or misleading information involving the illegal transfer of a biological agent or toxin, authorities said. He was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge this afternoon. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

Powder Hoax Letter Clears Traffic Violation Department in New Jersey  (Ridgewood News, 2/19/2010)

Ridgewood, NJ--Employees in Ridgewood’s Village Hall had a scare on Wednesday after a hoax cleared the Violations Department for about two hours.

The Violations Department is where individuals send parking ticket payments and other fine payments. The department received a letter Wednesday that contained a separate envelope with the words "white powder" written on it, said Ridgewood Police Captain Tom Landers.

"When the violations clerk opened up the outer envelope, there was an inner paper envelope that just said in black letters ‘white powder," Landers said.

The clerk did not open the inner envelope and she called the police immediately, at which point Ridgewood Police Sergeant Glenn Ender responded. He did not open the envelope, Landers said.

The police evacuated the Violations Bureau and called the Bergen County Hazmat Unit.

"They (officials with Bergen County Hazmat) examined the envelope, and found it to contain no powder or no substance whatsoever," Landers said. "So it was a hoax."

Landers said the envelope was turned over to the Ridgewood Detective Bureau for further investigation.

New Jersey Business Evacuated After Powder Discovered in Letter  (Pascack Valley Community Life, 2/18/2010)

Westwood, NJ--After running tests on an unknown white powder that was delivered via mail to a Westwood Avenue business, the Bergen County Hazardous Materials Emergency Team (Hazmat) has determined it to be "a non-toxic food substance," Westwood Police Chief Frank Regino said.

Borough police responded to Giradi Interiors on Monday, Feb. 15 around 1 p.m. after the business's owner opened a piece of mail containing an unknown white powder, Regino said. Westwood Police Officers Mark Foley, Charles Haffler, Sgt. Jay Hutchinson and Det./Sgt. Rod Fortunat arrived at the scene, evacuated the store and cordoned off the surrounding area, said the chief.

Shortly afterward, Bergen County Hazmat arrived in Westwood to assume control of the incident and administer tests upon the substance, said Regino. Subsequent testing revealed the powder to be non-toxic, he continued, and the area was reopened two hours later.

The evidence was turned over to the Westwood Police Detective Bureau, where it was secured. On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Postal Inspector took possession of it, said Regino.

Similar incidents have been reported across the state recently, the chief noted, but "apparently all of the other instances have turned out to be nontoxic substances, as well."

"When our department responds to something like this, we never take anything for granted. We always respond like it's a hazard and we call the professionals," Regino said.

However, "the unfortunate part is it uses up a lot of resources getting county agencies involved. In things like this, even though it may be pranks, we can't assume anything. We always have to respond like it's the real thing," the chief said.

According to Bergen County Spokesperson Sheri Hensley, neither the Department of Health Services, who operates the HAZMAT unit, nor the Bergen County Police are able to comment on the case because it has been forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Toronto Letter Bomber Sought Revenge, Court Hears  (Courts Bureau, 2/17/2010)

Toronto, ON, Canada--An aspiring actor-model exacted a campaign of revenge on targets such as his lawyer, a judge and two modelling agencies’ owners by sending letter bombs and spiked water bottles, court heard yesterday.

Adel Arnaout, 39, who is accused of targeting three victims with letter bombs and many others with toxic water bottles sent as promotional “gifts,” was arrested in August 2007 in Toronto.

Crown attorney James Dunda outlined the prosecution’s case against Arnaout to Justice Todd Ducharme in the judge-alone trial.

Arnaout’s arrest made headlines as police closed three major arteries leading into the city while they safely ferried three more bombs allegedly found in the car he was driving.

Arnaout was busted at an East York gas station near the Ontario Science Centre, accused of delivering explosive devices to three targets — two in Toronto for his then criminal lawyer Terrence Reiber and his former roommate Abdel Magid Radi — and one in Guelph to contractor John Becker.

Arnaout years ago signed up at two Toronto modelling agencies, paying $1,500 at one for promotional photos, but received minimal work in 2002-03. The angry Arnaout pestered one agency with frequent phone calls and threatening faxes.

He hinted in one fax that the Russian mob would avenge the agencies ripping him off for his money.

“You know deep in your heart, what the Russian will do to you!! You are going to meet people from the street who understand thug’s languages. You are going to meet your absolute fate,” one fax said.

Arnaout pleaded guilty to criminally harassing the agency in 2003 and received a conditional discharge by Justice Bernard Kelly.

The judge was later targeted with a case of “tampered” water bottles which arrived at his Old City Hall courthouse, court heard.

Both modelling agencies that signed Arnaout as a client received cases of bottled water, described as promotional gifts. Both cases contained murky water laced with an industrial solvent that is toxic for human consumption. Each bottle also had pinhole openings in the bottle caps.

Dunda alleged in his opening that Arnaout sent a letter-bomb device to Radi, who opened his package on Aug. 11, 2007. It exploded and Radi “was injured but not severely,” Dunda said.

Eight days later, Arnaout’s lawyer received a letter bomb, Dunda said. Reiber began opening the package until he smelled something suspicious. He then phoned police, who discovered it was an explosive device, Dunda said.

Arnaout was placed under surveillance and was arrested in a Don Mills gas station.

Arnaout pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 16 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder or intending to cause explosions likely to cause death and two counts of possession of explosives.

The trial will continue Thursday.

Harvard Mail Bomb Victim Questions Bishop Investigation  (WCVB TV News, 2/18/2010)

BOSTON -- The Children's Hospital doctor who was the victim of an attempted mail bombing in which Amy Bishop and her husband were questioned has raised questions about the thoroughness of that investigation.

Bishop, who is accused in an attack that killed three fellow biology professors at the University of Alabama, was questioned by authorities after the 1993 incident in Newton, Mass.

"I was targeted with a bomb sent through the mail to our home. We called the police who alerted federal authorities. Amy Bishop and her husband were questioned, but were never charged," said Dr. Paul Rosenberg, a Harvard professor who worked with Bishop at Children's Hospital Boston.

A spokeswoman for Rosenberg said she believes he doubts the thoroughness of that investigation.

"We hope that there is a thorough investigation into this recent crime (in Alabama), so that no one else will be victimized by such senseless violence," Rosenberg said.

The investigation in 1993 was done by the U.S. Postal Service. A spokesman for the Postal Service said he could not comment on this specific case, but said "his agency has a pretty good track record."

Bishop's husband, James Anderson, told The Associated Press he and his wife were among a number of innocent people questioned by investigators who cast a wide net. He said the case "had a dozen people swept up in this, and everybody was a subject, not a suspect."

"There was never any indictment, arrest, nothing, and then everyone was cleared after five years," he said.

Anderson also said his wife had been writing a novel at the time that was reviewed by law enforcement.

"It was just a novel. A medical thriller is the best way to describe it," he said.

Rosenberg and his family left their house after the mail bomb was discovered. The explosives did not go off and no one was injured.

Inmate Behind  Anthrax Hoax Sent to Michigan Courthouse  (BioPrep Watch, 2/18/2010)

Ionia, MI--An envelope containing a suspicious white powder was opened today at the Ionia, Mich., County Courthouse, prompting the Ionia Public Safety Hazmat team to be called in.

White powder, Ionia County Sheriff Dwain Dennis told The Sentinel-Standard, flew out of a letter from an inmate at Ionia Maximum Security Prison when an employee opened the letter.

The inmate, whose name has not yet been released, was confirmed as being incarcerated at IMAX by Warden Willie Smith, Dennis said.

The Hazmat team evacuated the clerk's office, closing off the area to test the substance. Three tests were run on the powder, which was revealed to be Desitin baby powder. Desitin, Warden Smith told The Sentinel-Standard, is available to inmates at an on-site store.

“It was scary,” Janae Cooper, chief deputy clerk and the person who opened the envelope, told The Sentinel-Standard. “I’m so relieved [it was harmless].”

Charges are expected to be filed and the incident is still considered under investigation.

Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer said that this is not the first time that an unidentified powder has been sent to the courthouse.

“A few years ago, we received letters in this office with all kinds of substances,” Schafer told The Sentinel-Standard. “We always reported it, but that was before the threat of bioterrorism.”

Package Prompts Response From California Bomb Squad  (Merced Sun-Star, 2/17/2010)

Merced, CA--A suspicious package with a shipping label marked "Lebanon" prompted an investigation by the Merced Police Department's bomb unit.

The police department was called around 6 p.m. Tuesday when a Merced woman found the package at her apartment complex in the 1800 block of Merced Avenue. She described the package as having a chemical or musty smell to it.

An examination of the package showed that it came from Tadd Wholesale Co. in Lebanon, Tenn., not the nation of Lebanon, as the woman thought. It was supposed to have been shipped to a home near Stockton, but was shipped to Merced by mistake, the police department said.

Detective Daniel Dabney put on his bomb suit, and the box was X-rayed to reveal its contents -- a flux wire welder.

Police officers took the machine and called postal service to pick it up.

FBI Investigation Of 2001 Anthrax Attacks Concluded; U.S. Releases Details  (Washington Post, 2/20/2010)

The Justice Department officially ended its eight-year investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks Friday with the release of hundreds of pages of documents that starkly portray the mental unraveling of the deceased Army scientist accused of committing the worst act of bioterrorism in U.S. history.

The records offer substantial support for the FBI's contention that biologist Bruce E. Ivins single-handedly prepared and mailed deadly anthrax spores that killed five people and terrorized a nation still reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Drawing from the suspect's e-mails and recorded conversations, the FBI documents show an increasingly agitated Ivins seeking to implicate colleagues while misleading investigators about his ability to make the deadly powder used in the attacks.

In a new disclosure, Justice officials released a transcript of a secretly taped conversation in which Ivins suggests that he might have committed acts that he could no longer recall.

"I, in my right mind, wouldn't do it," Ivins is quoted as saying of the anthrax attacks in June 2008, weeks before his death. But he added, "It worries me when I wake up in the morning and I've got all my clothes and my shoes on, and my car keys are right beside there."

The transcript was among hundreds of evidentiary findings and exhibits that Justice officials say add up to an overwhelming case against Ivins, despite the lack of a confession, eye-witnesses or a single fingerprint linking the scientist to the crime.

A 96-page summary of the investigation concludes that Ivins hatched the anthrax-by-mail scheme in hopes of creating a scare that would rescue what he considered his greatest achievement, an anthrax vaccine program that he had helped create but that by 2001 was in danger of failing. Investigators reiterated their conviction that the anthrax bacteria used in the attack originated in his lab and that Ivins was one of a few scientists with both access to the spores and the skills needed to create the deadly powder sent to news media and U.S. Senate offices in September and October of 2001.

The validity of the FBI's case will never be tested in court. Ivins, a biologist at the Army's Fort Detrick biodefense lab in Frederick, committed suicide in 2008 as government lawyers were preparing to charge him. And even as Justice officials filed legal papers officially ending their investigation, prominent critics of the bureau's handling of the investigation said they were still not satisfied that the true killer had been found.

"Arbitrarily closing the case on a Friday afternoon should not mean the end of this investigation," said Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.), whose district contained the mailbox from which the anthrax letters were sent. "The evidence the FBI produced would not, I think, stand up in court."

The spore-laden letters killed five people, sickened 17 others and led to billions of dollars in government and private spending aimed at defending the country against biological attacks. It also spawned an expensive, eight-year FBI probe that spanned six continents and included multiple, highly publicized mishaps, chief among them the public naming of Ivins's colleague Stephen Hatfill as a "person of interest" in the investigation. The FBI later apologized to Hatfill.

The FBI concluded by 2007 that Ivins had created a blend of anthrax spores that was genetically identical to the material used in the 2001 attacks. The scientist was the sole custodian of the spores, which he kept in a flask in a high-security lab at Fort Detrick's premier biodefense research center.

Only two outside labs -- the Army's Dugway biodefense center in Utah and Battelle laboratory in Columbus, Ohio -- were known to have received samples from Ivins's flask. But FBI agents, using lab notes and electronic records, were able to account for every individual who could have gained access to the spores and conclusively ruled each of them out as a suspect.

Moreover, FBI and U.S. Postal Service investigators concluded that the envelopes used in the attack were purchased at a post office in Maryland or Virginia by someone who could have made the drive to the Princeton, N.J., mailbox in time to mail them from there.

Lab records from Fort Detrick revealed that Ivins uncharacteristically logged dozens of hours late at night just before the anthrax envelopes were sent and that he was inexplicably absent during long stretches when investigators think he drove to New Jersey to mail them. When asked about the unusual lab hours and absences, Ivins "was unable to provide reasonable or consistent explanations," the Justice summary stated.

The newly released documents also shed light on Ivins's apparent attempts to mislead investigators. At least twice, he told FBI agents that he lacked the equipment or skill to create the kind of highly concentrated and purified spore concoctions used in the attack. But in his e-mails and private writings, Ivins acknowledged having the capability and precisely the right kinds of technical gear, including a spore-drying machine called a lyophilizer that was assigned to him personally, with an instruction manual labeled for "Dr. Ivins."

The new documents also suggest for the first time that Ivins, who was known to have a fascination with hidden codes and ciphers, might have sent a hidden message in the handwritten labels on the anthrax envelopes sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw. The bioterrorist darkened the letters "A" and "T" in certain words in a manner that, when the A's and T's are looked at together, appears to spell out chains of nucleic acids, the building blocks of DNA. Each of the chains is in turn associated with a letter of the alphabet.

"From this analysis, two possible hidden meanings emerged: (1) 'FNY' -- a verbal assault on New York, and (2) 'PAT,' " the Justice summary said. Pat is the nickname of a former co-worker to whom Ivins was said to have an obsessive emotional attachment.

The FBI's handling of the investigation has been criticized by Ivins's colleagues and by independent analysts who pointed out multiple gaps, including a lack of hair, fiber or other physical evidence directly linking Ivins to the anthrax letters. But despite long delays and false leads, Justice officials expressed satisfaction Friday with the outcome.

The evidence "established that Dr. Ivins, alone, mailed the anthrax letters," the Justice summary stated.

Citibank in New Jersey Receives Powder Filled (Cedar Grove Times, 2/18/2010)

Cedar Grove, NJ--An envelope containing white powder – and workers’ fears about anthrax or other type of toxic poisoning – sent Cedar Grove police and hazardous materials officers racing to the Citibank on Pompton Avenue on Tuesday morning.

Cedar Grove Police Capt. Richard Vanderstreet said officers responded to the bank, located at 480 Pompton Ave., after a report that workers had received a suspicious envelope in the mail.

The envelope contained an unknown white powder, police said.

Cedar Grove officers secured the area, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the bank, and contacted officers with the Nutley Hazardous Material Unit, who reported to scene.

The HazMat unit determined the substance was non-toxic.

The bank’s assistant manager, Liz Smith, declined to comment on the incident, only confirming "the substance was non-toxic, so everything is fine."

Smith said the bank remained open after the incident, citing it was scheduled to close at its regular time of 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Vanderstreet said notifications of the incident were made to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, The New Jersey State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The captain added a multi-jurisdictional investigation was initiated.

"It’s an open, ongoing investigation," Vanderstreet said.

While police would not say specifically what their concerns were, the white powder known as anthrax has been used in biological warfare and in terrorist attacks around the world. Anthrax is deadly when inhaled, causing flu-like symptoms and respiratory disease that often leads to death.

A few days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City, envelopes containing anthrax spores were mailed to Democratic senators and media outlets in the United States. Five people died and 17 others were injured, according to various news reports.

An upstairs resident of the Citibank building, Joe Marino, identified himself to the media as the landlord. He said it was his understanding the envelope contained a condom filled with white powder.

"Somebody’s got to be sick," Marino said. "To do something like that, he’s got to be sick."

White Powder Mailed To Paterson, NJ City Hall Is Harmless, Like The Others  (Cliffview Pilot, 2/16/2010)

An agent with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said a suspicious white powder in an envelope delivered to the Paterson Public Safety Complex tested negative, as the agency deals with another in a escalating string of similar New Jersey incidents.

"It sounds familiar," he told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM. "But [we] haven't kept tabs one for one."

The service has sent all of the mailings to its lab for analysis, the agent said. The FBI also was alerted.

Paterson City HallSeveral businesses and agencies have received the envelopes the past two weeks, with at least one of them confirmed to contain a threat against Citibank. A Citibank branch in Cedar Grove got one on Tuesday.

Hazmat Scare At Michigan Courthouse: Envelope Of White Powder  (Ionia Sentinel-Standard, 2/18/2010)

IONIA, MI -The Ionia Public Safety Hazmat team was dispatched to the Ionia County Courthouse Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010,  at 3:24 p.m. after an envelope containing a suspicious white powder was opened in the clerk’s office.

According to Ionia County Sheriff Dwain Dennis, one of the employees opened a letter from an inmate at Ionia Maximum Security Prison and white powder “flew out.”

Dennis said Warden Willie Smith confirmed that individual listed on the envelope is incarcerated at IMAX. The inmate’s name is not being released at this time.

Hazmat evacuated the clerk’s office and closed off the area while testing the substance. Ionia Public Safety Director Dave Bulling said the powder was tested three times, and was found to be talcum powder.

Dennis later identified it as Desitin baby powder. According to Dennis, Smith said the powder is readily available to inmates through an on-site store.

Although the powder was found to be harmless, the incident made the women who work in the clerk’s office nervous.

“It was scary,” said Janae Cooper, chief deputy clerk. “I’m so relieved (it turned out to be nothing).”

Cooper was the one to open the envelope.

The incident is still under investigation, and Dennis anticipates charges being filed.

Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer said he has not received any requests for warrants regarding this incident, noting that those requests are usually submitted at the end of an investigation.

He also said it is not the first time unidentified substances have been mailed to the courthouse.

“A few years ago, we received letters in this office with all kinds of substances,” Schafer said. “We always reported it, but that was before the threat of bioterrorism.”

Although the clerk’s office was evacuated and sealed off, the rest of the courthouse remained open while the Hazmat team tested the powder. Several people entered the building prior to officials learning that the substance was harmless.

County Administrator Mark Howe said he was notified of the incident, but allowed all of the response to be handled by emergency personnel.

“We’re going to rely on first responders and Hazmat to handle that,” Howe said.

The situation was taken care of appropriately, according to Emergency Program Manager Rick Norman.

“The incident was handled according to the protocol of the local Hazmat response plan,” Norman said. “The doors were shut to both entrances to the office and as soon as the substance was identified, we would have taken further action if necessary. Someone called dispatch right away, and that’s the way this is supposed to work. Never take anything like that (white powder) for granted; always call 911.”

Norman added the plan is relatively new.

Bulling said he was pleased with the Hazmat team’s response.

“Hazmat went into the room and identified the substance with the Hazmat ID kit,” Bulling said. “Everything went extremely well.”

Package in Utility Payment  Drop Box Prompts Call to Police  (Statesman Journal, 2/17/2010)

Monmouth, NJ--Monmouth Police were called to City Hall early Feb. 9 after a city employee found a "suspiciously wrapped" package in the drop box.

Monmouth Police Sgt. Kim Dorn said the employee was retrieving payments from a payment drop box and found a small package.

Normally, the drop box does not contain anything but Monmouth Power & Light bill payment envelopes.

Upon seeing the package, the Monmouth Police determined it was unusual, and the Salem Police bomb squad was called.

"They examined it and found that it was safe; nothing explosive in nature," Dorn said.

The package held cash and coins, apparently wrapped up payment for an electric bill. Dorn said there was no indication on the outside of the package as to who had sent it, prompting a cautious handling. After the package was inspected, the sender's name was known.

In the fall of 2001 the Monmouth Post Office received a suspicious package with white powder leaking from it that prompted special handling. That incident turned out to be an anthrax hoax, and the post office was shut down while officers investigated the scene.

The hoax warranted a criminal investigation through the United States Postal Inspectors Office. A Dallas woman eventually pled guilty to one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, paid a fine, served two years of probation and did community service.

Dorn said she didn't expect there to be any criminal charges involved with the recent package at City Hall, but the city's patrol staff may be assigned to contact the package sender in a follow up.

"I don't think one equated with the other, it's just that during recent events in Woodburn and those kinds of incidents in general, people are on the alert status more than they used to be," Dorn said.

"I know that when we responded, we weren't going to handle it."

Mailing Mistake Forced Evacuations in California  (KFSN News, 2/16/2010)

FRESNO, CA -- A suspicious package delivered to a Merced home led to evacuations at a condominium complex. Residents who live in condos in the 18-hundred block of Merced Avenue were outside for three hours Tuesday night.

Action News had the only crew there as bomb technicians inspected a large package that arrived at a woman's home -- addressed to a stranger. Her landlord, who lives nearby, called 9-1-1, after they noticed the package had been shipped from Lebanon.

It was later determined the package came from Lebanon, Tennessee, and a mailing error sent it to Merced instead of Stockton. Still, eighteen condos had to be evacuated -- as a bomb squad x-rayed the package as a precaution.

Merced Police eventually determined the package contained welding equipment - and families were allowed back in their homes.

The package was taken for safe keeping - until it can be shipped to its rightful owner.

White Powder Scare Reported At Pitney Bowes Connecticut Office  (New Haven Register, 2/16/2010)

SHELTON, CT — The Fire and Police departments responded to PitneyBowes on Waterview Drive this morning, after an employee reported seeing a puff of white powder come out of an envelope as it was being opened.

Police Detective Sgt. Kevin Ahern said the call came at about 9:51 a.m. Testing was conducted on the envelope, and nothing dangerous was found, according to Ahern.

The envelope had been received in the mail, and had a return address indicating it was sent from a customer. The employee who received the letter had been expecting to receive mail from that person, police said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection was called to the scene, at 27 Waterview Drive, as a precaution, police said.

Doctor Targeted By '93 Mail Bomb Calls For Comprehensive Probe Of Alabama Campus Shooting  (AP, 2/18/2010)

BOSTON — A Boston doctor who worked with the Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues is calling for a thorough investigation of the shootings.

Dr. Paul Rosenberg released a statement Thursday through Children's Hospital in Boston. He worked there with accused shooter Amy Bishop when he was targeted by a mail bomb in 1993.

Bishop and her husband were questioned in the bomb case but no one was ever charged. The bomb didn't go off.

Rosenberg extended his deepest sympathies to those affected by last week's shootings at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Rosenberg said a comprehensive probe is important so that no one else will be victimized by such senseless violence.

Bishop's husband, James Anderson, says he and his wife are innocent in the 1993 case.

Man Bled Profusely After Opening Letter Bomb, Trial Told  (Courts Bureau, 2/18/2010)

Toronto, ON, Canada--Abdelmagid Radi wasn’t accustomed to receiving a lot of mail so when his landlord handed him a large envelope he was curious to look inside.

Standing in his east-end basement apartment on Aug. 11, 2007, Radi was tugging at a smaller envelope inside when the package exploded in his hands, shattering a nearby glass coffee table and leaving the electrical engineer with cuts to his arm, hand and foot.

“I couldn’t stop bleeding,” Radi, pointing to his arm, told Superior Court on Thursday. He was testifiying at the trial of Adel Arnaout, 39, who is charged with 11 counts of attempted murder in addition to explosives-related charges.

Radi pulled a nail out of his left arm before going to the hospital where he got stitches to close wounds on the arm, right hand and right foot.

Also testifying at the trial Thursday was Guelph building contractor John Becker. Days after Radi was injured, Becker opened his mailbox and discovered an envelope with his surname spelled incorrectly. He was suspicious and called police, who ordered an evacuation of the area before detonating the rigged envelope in Becker’s backyard, leaving a large black hole in the deck and shrapnel in a steel door.

The Crown alleges it was Arnaout who sent the homemade bombs to Radi, Becker and also to his former Toronto lawyer, Terrence Reiber.

He is also accused of sending water spiked with an industrial solvent to two Toronto talent agencies, a bank and a judge.

After Arnaout’s arrest that summer, police uncovered evidence of other unsolved incidents that the prosecution alleges were linked to Arnaout’s thwarted attempts to launch an acting career.

While Radi and Becker initially told police they had no idea who might be responsible for sending the letter bombs, they both later recalled acrimonious dealings with Arnaout.

In Radi’s case, Arnaout was a roommate in the basement apartment for five or six months. The two did not get along because Aranout read books aloud and swore when asked to stop, Radi told Superior Court Justice Todd Ducharme.

Becker crossed paths with Arnaout in 2003 while fixing a bathroom in an apartment Arnaout was renting in Guelph.

Becker testified he went to police after Arnaout asked him where he could get machine guns and hand grenades. When residents complained about Arnaout, he was evicted and wrongly “assumed” it was Becker who owed him rent money.

The last time Becker heard from Arnaout, he was calling to say he was at an airport in Lebanon, Becker said.

The trial resumes Tuesday.

Toronto Man Sent Poisoned Water, Letter Bombs To Perceived Enemies, Trial Hears  (National Post, 2/17/2010)

Toronto--An aspiring actor accused of sending poisoned water bottles and explosive packages to a laundry list of perceived enemies pleaded not guilty to all charges today as his trial opened in Superior Court.

Adel Arnaout faces 16 charges, including numerous counts of attempted murder, possession of explosives and intent to cause explosions that could seriously harm or kill others.

Evidence will show Mr. Arnaout targeted people and businesses against whom he held a grudge, Crown attorney James Dunda told the court.

In 2004, Mr. Arnaout allegedly sent tainted bottled water to two talent agencies, a bank and a courthouse in Toronto.

"They were murky, not terribly clear," Mr. Dunda said of the bottles, noting almost none was consumed and there were no injuries resulting.

Three years later, Mr. Arnaout allegedly sent exposive packages to a former roommate, a handyman and a lawyer who defended him in a previous criminal harrassment case.

One of the recipients noticed "a distinct smell of gasoline" and alerted police, Mr. Dunda told the court.

The case gained much public attention in August of 2007 when police had to shut down the Don Valley Parkway on a Friday afternoon to transport seized explosives.

The trial continues this afternoon.

Envelope Found In U.N. Cafeteria Prompts Evacuation  (Reuters, 2/18/2010)

UNITED NATIONS- - The U.N. cafeteria was evacuated on Thursday when a suspicious envelope was found, officials said, amid increased security precautions ahead of a session on Haiti with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

"A suspicious envelope was found in the cafeteria. In response they have closed the cafeteria and that area has been contained," said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.

"The (U.N.) Department of Safety and Security is working with the host country to investigate the matter."

A New York City police spokesman, Marc Nell, said a call had been made to the police about a suspicious white powder in the ground-floor cafeteria. U.N. officials, however, did not mention powder.

A scheduled appearance at the United Nations by Clinton, U.N. envoy to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, was pushed back from 4 p.m. to around 5 p.m., U.N. officials said, because of security precautions surrounding the cafeteria evacuation.

Last November, the U.N. missions of Austria, France, Germany and Uzbekistan received letters with an unidentified white powder, which was later found to be harmless.

U.S. authorities have been on alert for mail with white powder in it since 2001, when envelopes laced with anthrax were sent to media outlets and U.S. lawmakers, killing five people.

Alabama Shooting Suspect Was Questioned In Mail Bomb Case in 1993 (Boston Globe, 2/15/2010)

Boston, MA--A biology professor accused of killing three colleagues and wounding three more in a shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Friday was a suspect in the attempted mail bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor in 1993, a law enforcement official said yesterday.

Amy Bishop and her husband were questioned after a package containing two pipe bombs was sent to the Newton home of Dr. Paul Rosenberg, a Harvard Medical School professor and physician at Children’s Hospital Boston. At the time, Bishop was working as a postdoctoral fellow in the hospital’s human biochemistry lab.

It was the second stunning revelation in two days about Bishop’s past. On Saturday, authorities said Bishop fatally shot her brother in Braintree in 1986 and was not charged after state prosecutors concluded that it was accidental.

In an interview last night at their home in Huntsville, Ala., Bishop’s husband, James E. Anderson, acknowledged that he and his wife were questioned by authorities about the 1993 mail bomb case, but said neither of them was a suspect. Rather, they were “subjects’’ of the attempted bombing investigation, he said.

It was “just a matter of questioning, being bothered, harassed. You know, the usual techniques, that’s all,’’ Anderson said. He told The New York Times, “In my files I have a letter from the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms] saying, ‘You are hereby cleared in this incident. You are no longer a subject of the investigation.’ ’’

Rosenberg had just returned home from a Caribbean vacation with his wife on Dec. 19, 1993, when he was opening a package addressed to “Mr. Paul Rosenberg M.D.’’ that had been brought inside with the rest of the mail by their cat-sitter. When he saw wires and a cylinder inside, he and his wife fled the house and called police.

A law enforcement official said yesterday that the investigation by the US Postal Service, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Newton police had focused on Bishop.

“She was the suspect early on,’’ the official said.

The official, who had knowledge of the case, said Bishop was allegedly concerned that she was going to receive a negative evaluation from Rosenberg on her work. Investigators believed she had a motive to target Rosenberg and were concerned that she had a history of violence, given that she had killed her brother, the official said.

Investigators conducted a search of the home where Bishop and Anderson were living and questioned the couple, the official said. Anderson was questioned about whether he had purchased any of the components used to make the bombs, the official said.

But the US attorney’s office in Boston did not seek any charges against Bishop or Anderson, and no one was ever charged with mailing the bombs.

The law enforcement official said federal prosecutors concluded the evidence was circumstantial and not sufficient to warrant charges. A spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office declined to comment yesterday.

At his home yesterday afternoon, Rosenberg declined to comment and referred questions to Children’s Hospital administrators, who said information on the case was not immediately available.

Sylvia Fluckiger, a lab technician who worked with Bishop at the time, told the Globe yesterday in a telephone interview that Bishop had a dispute with Rosenberg shortly before the bombs were mailed.

After the attempted bombing, Fluckiger said that Bishop told her she had been questioned by police. Fluckiger said Bishop told her police asked her if she had taken stamps off an envelope that had been mailed to her and put them on something else.

“She said it with a smirk on her face,’’ said Fluckiger. “We knew she had a beef with Paul Rosenberg. And we really thought it was a really unbelievable coincidence that he would get those bombs.’’

Sergeant Mark Roberts, a spokesman for the Huntsville Police, said yesterday that after receiving inquiries from the Globe about Bishop being a suspect in the 1993 mail bombing case, they were looking into the case.

“Presently we are trying to confirm it through law enforcement resources,’’ he said.

Bishop, 44, a professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville since 2003, was arrested after allegedly opening fire during a faculty meeting Friday, killing three colleagues and wounding three others, reportedly after learning at the meeting that she was being denied tenure.

Her husband said to the Globe last night, “Why’d she snap? That’s my question. I’ve got to get to the bottom of that, and when I get to the bottom of that, then I’ll just call a press conference and say, ‘OK, this is what happened. Let me clear the air.’ ’’

He added that, “Everybody loves her, and everybody, including myself - we were all shocked. We don’t know what happened. They don’t know what the university did to her.’’

The New York Times reported that Anderson said he did not know his wife allegedly had a gun when she went to the meeting Friday at the university. “I had no idea,’’ he told the paper. “We don’t own one.’’

He told the Times that Bishop was fighting the school’s decision to deny her tenure.

In an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Anderson said wife “didn’t want to go the way of’’ another university scientist who lost tenure and was now driving a shuttle bus.

In that interview, he also said he spoke with Bishop yesterday morning by telephone and she said, “I know you guys are obviously in shock.’’ He said she wanted to know whether their four children were OK and whether they’d done their homework.

He said he was dating Bishop when she shot her brother to death in 1986, an incident he called “an absolute accident.’’

The Globe reported yesterday that Bishop, who was 21 at the time, shot and killed her 18-year-old brother Seth on Dec. 6, 1986, inside their Braintree home.

Braintree Police Chief Paul H. Frazier said Bishop killed her brother with a shotgun after an argument, fired two other rounds inside the house, then later pointed the gun at a passing car while fleeing.

Prosecutors declined to bring charges after Bishop’s mother, Judy Bishop, insisted the shooting was accidental.

Since the Alabama shootings, Frazier has raised questions about whether the Braintree investigation was mishandled. But John Polio, who was the town’s police chief at the time and is now retired, defended the original investigation. He said Saturday that at the time, he had asked the district attorney to review the case. Also on Saturday, the Norfolk district attorney’s office released a six-page investigational report on the shooting issued at the time, which concluded that it was an accident.

Braintree police said their own file on the case went missing shortly after the 1986 shooting. Yesterday, Braintree Mayor Joseph C. Sullivan said the town has begun an investigation to determine what happened to the report.

“The Braintree Police Department will conduct a thorough audit of all its records to identify if there were deficits in its past record-keeping process,’’ Sullivan said in a prepared statement. “The results of this review, when completed, will be shared with relevant law enforcement agencies and the public.’’

Also yesterday, a person briefed on the mail bomb case said the search of Bishop’s computer in that inquiry turned up a draft of a novel that Bishop was writing about a female scientist who had killed her brother, and who was hoping to make amends by becoming a great scientist. The person spoke to the Globe on the condition of anonymity.

A former colleague who worked with Bishop described her as sweet, neat, and very nice. “She was always smiling,’’ said Mercedes A. Paz, a retired Harvard biochemist who advised Bishop on her thesis. “Everybody loved her.’’

But some of her neighbors held a different view.

Before Bishop and Anderson moved to Alabama in 2003, they lived in a tight-knit community on Birch Lane in Ipswich with their three daughters and son.

Neighbors described Bishop as an angry person who often called police when teens were playing basketball or skateboarding in the neighborhood, and yelled and cursed at children for being too loud.

“She wouldn’t let the ice cream truck come down the street,’’ said one neighbor, who declined to give his name.

Ipswich police confirmed two calls for neighborhood disputes from Bishop, but did not release any details. Bishop also called police on March 8, 2002 to report receiving harassing phone calls, police said.

Onetime neighbors Denise and Nishan Mootafian said they stopped letting their children go over to play with Bishop and Anderson’s children, in part because Bishop “got very agitated by noise.’’

“I just feel like she was a ticking bomb who could have gone off on any of us,’’ Denise Mootafian said.

Once, neighbors organized a block party and didn’t tell Bishop because of conflicts she had with people, she said. “At that point things were so tense.’’

“We weren’t sad to see them go,’’ Nishan Mootafian said.

Biology Professor, Accused of Campus Shooting, Was Suspect In Attempted Mail Bombing  (WCVB TV News, 2/14/2010)

 BOSTON -- A biology professor accused of killing three faculty members at an Alabama university on Friday was investigated in an attempted mail bombing 16 years ago, according to The Boston Globe.

Amy Bishop was studying medicine at Harvard University in 1993 when two pipe bombs were mailed to Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Paul Rosenberg. Rosenberg was opening mail at his Newton home on the evening of Dec. 19 when he spotted wires and a cylinder inside a package and called police.

The 8-inch pipe bombs were detonated by a bomb squad early the next morning.

"Due to the amount of powder that was in there and the type of material the pipes were made out of, it would have been just like a hand grenade and ... more than likely would have killed anyone that was in the vicinity," a police official told NewsCenter 5 in a 1993 interview outside Rosenberg's home.

Watch WCVB's 1993 Report On Attempted Mail Bombing

A law enforcement official told the Globe that Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, were questioned as prime suspects in the attempted bombing, although they were never publicly identified by federal investigators.

The Globe reports that Bishop was working in the human biochemstry lab at Children's Hospital when the package was sent to Rosenberg's home. Investigators began to eye Bishop as a suspect because she was reportedly concerned that Rosenberg would grade her doctorate work harshly.

David Cameron, a spokesman for Harvard University, said yesterday that Bishop earned a doctorate from the school in 1993.

At the time, Rosenberg told NewsCenter 5 he had no idea why anyone would want to bomb his house.

Following the fatal shootings at the University of Alabama at Huntsvillle, Braintree police revealed that Bishop was responsible for the death of her 18-year-old brother in 1986, but she was never charged in the incident. Bishop, then 19, shot her brother in the chest with a shotgun at their home in Braintree, but the death was ruled an accidental shooting.

Mayor Joseph C. Sullivan said Sunday town officials, police and Norfolk County District Attorney's office are conducting a "full and thorough review" of municipal and law enforcement records to locate all materials related to the Dec. 6, 1986, death of Seth Bishop.

His Job for 17 Years - Reading The President's Mail  (Delmarva Daily Times, 2/14/2010)

PEPPERBOX, DE -- Yes, said Jerry Lutz, 93, he did have one of the most unusual jobs in America.

Day in, day out, for almost 17 years, Lutz was opening and reading the mail of the President of the United States.

Nevermind he's been retired since 1973, he is surrounded by the ghosts of administrations past.

There are framed photos, notes and holiday cards on his living room wall honoring his career as a mail room clerk for the White House.

President Dwight Eisenhower was in his second term when Lutz slipped behind his desk in the Executive Office Building that served the president across the street from the White House. He was a "reader."

"We read the president's mail and decided where it went. I wondered how many people realized the president, like a corporation president, never opens his own mail."

There were about six people handling mail and gifts, a job where every day was different. They were not political appointees, but civil service employees under the Secret Service.

"I was also involved in security, reviewing all items that came into the White House. We made sure it contained no hazardous material or substance, and then passed it on," Lutz said.

Staff had to be able to recognize dangerous substances, particularly powders, booby-trapped

explosives and envelopes or boxes that looked or felt odd.

"We had to take a bomb recognition class. Packages were screened through fluoroscopes and X-rays. The Secret Service furnished and maintained the equipment and special training for handling mail. If anything looked suspicious, we called the Secret Service."

Lutz remembers that day when the staff opened the most bizarre package.

Inside a small cardboard box was a human heart, a "gift" to the president.

"At first we didn't know what we were looking at. It was cleaned up, no blood, and wrapped in butcher store-type brown thick paper. Of course we immediately notified the Secret Service, who came and took it away. The box had a fictitious return address, and we never heard what became of the investigation," he said. "I knew there were crackpots, deranged people out there. It wasn't an everyday occurrence you got something bizarre like that. Weird things came in maybe twice a month. Of course the unusual got a lot of attention in the mail room."

Even in the 1970s, staff were alerted to possible explosives sent by "terrorists."

"One day we got a shotgun shell and it was rigged up like a mousetrap so that when it was opened, it would go off, explode the shell. We were able to determine what it was, that it was something lethal, without it exploding," he said.

"During the Eisenhower years, thousands of people sent in miniature busts of the president's head. I made a copy of one in lead, a 'fake bomb,' trying to make it so that it didn't show up when scanned by our equipment. I rigged it so the minute you pulled the string on the package, it would go off. I used a buzzer instead of an explosive, and showed it to my boss and the head of the Secret Service. He took it with him. I figured if I can do this, anyone could

make one -- it was used in the training process, that something that looked secure may not be."

There were all kinds of liquors as well, fruit, home-canned vegetables and a variety of other foods.

"The president didn't get any of it. If we had prior notice that a package was coming from a particular person, it was sent down the chain to the president. During the Eisenhower years, food gifts were turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and selected foods were tested by feeding them to monkeys. Mrs. Eisenhower insisted on having the gifts friends sent in. She was insistent," he said.

"We got a cake come in there one time, a huge, iced sheet cake on a gilded mirror that came to us on a flatbed truck. I don't recall the circumstances around why we got it, maybe it was a birthday cake, but we had to destroy it. Some wanted to send it to an orphanage, but the Secret Service asked us what we would do if someone had poisoned the cake."

During the Eisenhower term, Lutz would leave his desk at the Executive Office Building and go

downstairs to an office in the White House to inventory gifts presented to the president.

The items that came -- particularly gifts from heads of state and foreign dignitaries -- where part of a neverending treasure trove. There were gifts of gold, silver, gem-encrusted weapons, daggers, jewelry -- diamonds, rubies, pearls and sapphire -- ivories, paintings, rare books, artwork, rare guns, golf clubs, even tractors and livestock.

"Congress said the president couldn't accept anything valued at more than $100," Lutz said, yet

some big-ticket equipment and livestock found its way to the Eisenhower's Pennsylvania farm.

Gifts from across the nation and around the world came through Lutz's department where they were recorded and inventoried and then sent to the "gift unit" where there were stored. "At that time it was a huge room under the front entrance hallway or portico of the White House, once used as a kitchen.  Later Mrs. Kennedy called this the 'curator's office,' where the staff tried to locate authentic furnishings of the White House from previous administrations

and get them back. There was a desk in there, with the top protected by felt.

"This desk had a plaque on it, something to the effect that it was given to President Rutherford Hayes by Queen Victoria by the grateful people of England to the people of the United States. It was built from the timbers of the HMS Resolute that tried to rescue the crews of two ships sent by England in 1845, under Sir John Franklin, to navigate the Northwest Passage."

During the attempt, both crews perished and the Resolute was one of 10 ships taking part in a rescue attempt. The Resolute was trapped in the ice, abandoned. In 1855, it was found 1,200 miles from where it had been ice bound. It was purchased by the American government, overhauled and presented to Queen Victoria. In 1859, the queen had the aging vessel dismantled; a desk, made from the timbers, was presented to Hayes.

Many presidents since have used it, but for a while, it was a workstation for Lutz as he catalogued gifts to Eisenhower. "I used that desk to set objects on while I wrote a description of the piece," Lutz said. But it had a more illustrious career ahead of it.

"It was in the basement of the White House," Lutz said, "And Jackie Kennedy requested that it be restored to the Oval Office."

This ornate heavy wooden desk became famous again when the Kennedy's son, John, was photographed playing in the base of it.

"I was there when President Kennedy was assassinated, a horrible day. Everything in the room

froze, not a sound could be heard. The men felt disbelief. Some of the people broke down and cried. It was too horrible to contemplate. Days later, Mrs. Kennedy came through to every office and thanked us for our flowers and condolences."

Immediately following the Kennedy's death, Lutz said, the mailroom was flooded with unusual items.

"People sent everything -- religious objects, soldiers sent their medals, policemen sent their

badges and everything to be sent to the cemetery. Some strange things, even their military uniforms, why, I don't know. People grieved over it so bad -- they would send uniforms of their dead son or husband to the White House intending they go to the cemetery as a means of expressing their sorrow. It was quite sad," Lutz said.

The Kennedys had made a positive impression on Lutz and the staff.

"During the holidays, the mailroom staff was invited to the White House Christmas party. When the Kennedys were there, they wandered around the room shaking hands, unlike the Eisenhowers, who were very stern. At the Eisenhower party, you stood in a line and you gave your name to a military man, who in turn introduced you to Mrs. Eisenhower. She wished you a merry Christmas and then introduced you to the president. It was all very calm and dignified -- even the furniture was roped off so you couldn't sit down. We got a little cup of coffee and a souvenir spoon. When the Kennedys came, they lit all the fireplaces and everything was opened up in the East Ballroom for the Christmas party. The punch bowls were kept filled and there were little groups where people chatted."

Lutz recalled many differences between the presidents he served. "Eisenhower was kind of a

stern man, aloof, off to himself, seldom saw him. Nixon didn't have much to do with the staff, he was always surrounded by his own people."

Lutz became a department supervisor, and, in 1973,  he retired.

"No regrets retiring," he said. "I worked for the federal government since I was 20, at the post

office, the Naval Yard and 17 years at the White House." He had also worked in the Air Force, as a chief master sergeant, in the Pentagon. In semi-retirement, he served as chief bailiff for the Circuit Court of Prince George's County from 1975 to 1982.

He was commander of Vincent B. Costello American Legion Post No. 15, in Washington, for 18 years.

He moved to the Delmar area in 1983 and now, three days a week, he volunteers as the Centenary United Methodist Church's Good Samaritan Thrift Shop in Laurel. "I hang up clothes and when people ask what job I had, I tell them I once worked for the White House," he said.

You just never know who you'll bump into at a thrift shop.

Suspicious Package Delivered to Marathon Plant in West Virginia  (WSAZ, 2/13/2010)

KENOVA, W.VA.-- State Police Dispatchers tell WSAZ.com a suspicious package was found at the Marathon plant outside of Kenova in Wayne County at about 9:00 Saturday evening.

They say the package is not thought to be dangerous.

Police say a security guard saw someone dropping the package off at the Marathon plant and called 911.

State Police, FBI and National Guard and Kenova Hazmat teams responded to the scene. By 10:15 p.m. most of the emergency crews had left the area.

State Police say the package was tested by Hazmat crews on the scene and came back negative -- meaning it did not appear to be dangerous. The package has been taken from the scene and will undergo more testing.

A spokesperson for the FBI says in a post September 11th world, they have to take these things seriously.

State Police have not released any other details.

After Multiple Mailings New Jersey Police On Look Out For Envelopes Containing White Powdery Substance  (The Record, 2/12/2010)

Police agencies in Central and North Jersey have be alerted to look for envelopes containing white powder after envelopes containing a white powdery substance were sent to locations across North Jersey on Thursday, a Bergen County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

"Authorities are warning that any package containing suspicious white powder be treated as potentially hazardous," said spokesman Ben Feldman. "All samples tested thus far, to the best of my knowledge, have been harmless."

A bank in Paterson, a state motor vehicle office in Wayne and Hackensack City Hall all received envelopes containing white powder, authorities said. The substance in the Paterson and Wayne cases turned out to a harmless sweetener, said Bill Maer, a spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department.

It’s unclear what was in the Hackensack envelope, but it was also apparently harmless.

In the Paterson scare, an envelope was sent to a Bank of America branch on Main Street, Maer said. Another envelope was sent the state Motor Vehicle Commission office on Route 46 west in Wayne.

The sheriff’s Hazardous Materials squad used an on-site computer to analyze the substances at both locations and determined it was sweetener, which was turned over to local police and the FBI, who are continuing the investigation, Maer said.

Another envelope was sent to a state DMV regional office in Eatontown, said Mike Horan, a spokesman for the DMV commission.

“Both [DMV] offices remained open,” Horan said. “They would have closed the agencies if there was any concern for the public.”

Hackensack firefighters and the Bergen County Hazmat unit could be seen outside city hall in Hackensack Thursday afternoon.

Similar incidents occurred in July when a dozen envelopes containing white powder began arriving and police stations and businesses in Bergen and Passaic counties. Those cases also turned out to be harmless.

Powder Hoax Victim Tells Of Terrifying Ordeal  (The Bolton News, 2/12/2010)

Bolton, England--A worker at Bolton’s parking fines office has relived the terrifying moment she was at the centre of a major chemical alert.

The 45-year-year-old customer services officer opened an envelope containing white powder, an abusive note and a parking ticket.

It was later revealed that the powder was harmless corn flour and that the building had been the target of a malicious prank.

But the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed to The Bolton News it was the second time she had been the victim of a hoax and that she had been traumatized by the ordeal.

She opened the envelope at The Parking Shop in Chorley Street, Bolton, at about 1pm last Friday.

The woman, from Breightmet, said: “White powder spilled out all over my desk, hands and legs and I just thought, not again.”

The same thing happened to her in 2003 when she and two colleagues were taken away by men wearing protective suits to a decontamination tank on the car park of the Royal Bolton Hospital.

She was stripped and washed down in a humiliating ordeal, after the incident which turned out to be a hoax.

She said: “It was absolutely terrifying. You are just wondering, ‘what’s going to happen to me?’”

This time she was forced to stay in her office alone while the rest of her colleagues were evacuated.

Firefighters put a cordon around the building and the woman was told to strip off her clothes and wash in the ladies’ toilets. She was then made to wear an orange suit and plastic slippers while a sample of the powder was tested. She was later joined by another colleague who had started coughing after the envelope had been opened.

She said: “There was a horrible stench when it was opened. So they brought her back in and she had to go through the same thing as me.” The women were kept inside until about 4pm, when tests revealed the powder was not dangerous.

She added: “I’m angry. I’ve been through this twice. I started crying again when I was driving home last night. I was just thinking about what could have happened.”

A 47-year-old man was arrested in Bolton on suspicion of sending a noxious substance with intent to cause people to fear that their lives were in danger. He has been bailed until March.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “Our employees should be allowed to get on with their everyday work free from fear and intimidation.

“We are working closely with Greater Manchester Police and they will be contacted about all incidents.”

Macgyver Wannabe Charged In Post Office Bomb Hoax in Seattle  (Seattle Post Intelligencer, 2/12/2010)

Seattle, WA--A Westport man is facing federal charges on allegations that he placed a fake bomb at a post office in an effort to stop his dogs from being put down.

According to charging documents, postal employees received a ticking package addressed to "Westport Pet Murdering (expletive) Holes" the night of July 13. They notified Westport police, who in turn called in the State Patrol bomb squad.

Initially believing the device to be a real bomb, troopers determined the gold-papered box actually contained a kitchen timer connected with wire to two fireworks, according to charging documents.

Police contacted David William Walters two days later after police learned he'd received a court order mandating the destruction of two of his pet dogs, according to court documents.

Speaking with police, Walters allegedly confessed to placing the fake bomb.

"Walters said he learned how to make the device from the television show 'MacGyver,'" U.S. Postal Inspector Alan Damron told the court. "Walters said ... he wanted to get help for his dogs and himself and to stop his dogs from being put to death; he stated that he did not want to hurt anyone."

Appearing in U.S. District Court on Thursday, Walters was jailed pending a hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon. He has been charged with false information and hoax, a felony.

Former Boeing Machinist Sentenced For Sending Threat Mail and Making OtherThreats To Company  (Seattle Times, 2/12/2010)

Seattle, WA--A former Boeing machinist was sentenced Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $231,100 in restitution for threatening Boeing, Shell Oil and Chevron Oil.

Gino Turrella, 47, of Des Moines, was convicted by a jury in November of 19 criminal counts for making interstate communications with threat to injure, making threat by instrument of interstate commerce, possessing a firearm during threats of violence and identity theft.

According to the indictment and other court documents, Turrella created e-mail accounts in the names of a former Boeing supervisor and a former co-worker from another company and then sent threats to other officials.

Prosecutors say Turrella began making threats after he was disciplined by Boeing in 2004 for failing to comply with some of the manufacturer's specifications for a critical part that attaches an airplane's wings to the fuselage. Turrella was given a short suspension for his lapse at work, the second within several weeks.

Shortly after he returned, according to court documents, threatening graffiti began appearing in the men's restroom in the shop. Several months later, the supervisor responsible for the discipline received a series of inter-company envelopes each containing a single bullet.

Turrella was suspected, and he was suspended indefinitely and eventually fired in 2005. Two years later, prosecutors say, he began sending a series of threatening e-mails, some to a co-worker at his new employer who had bullied him.

In the e-mails, Turrella -- who prosecutors say owned more than 100 firearms -- threatened to "shoot every employee I see" and said he would strap himself with explosives and detonate himself "in order to cause maximum death and destruction in the workplace."

In an e-mail to Shell Oil's Anacortes refinery in 2008, the jury found, Turrella sent an e-mail saying he had planted a bomb. The e-mails were sent via the wireless network at the King County Library System, investigators found.

Prosecutors said Turrella's laptop contained evidence linking it to the bogus e-mail accounts, and that Turrella was logged on to the wireless network at the library at the time they were sent.

During his sentencing, Turrella was also ordered to forfeit his extensive collection of firearms.

Suspicious Package At New Mexico Federal Building Filled With Manure and  Pamphlets Addressed to Senator  (NM Wire Services, 2/12/2010)

Santa Fe, NM--Several law enforcement agencies, including a state police bomb squad, were called out Friday morning after a suspicious package was reported at a federal building in Santa Fe.

A state police spokesman says investigators found “political propaganda” inside the package. Lt. Eric Garcia says the package was addressed to Sen. Tom Udall’s office and, inside, police found pamphlets that were addressed to Congress in general.

“It turned out to be ramblings directed at Udall and some manure in a package, and the FBI is handling it from here," said Santa Fe Police Capt. Gerald Rivera.

The buildings were reopened at 9 a.m.

Garcia says the package included batteries, which caused the initial concern for federal security officers who X-rayed it. Santa Fe police officers responded and roped off the area.

State and city police were contacted around 5:30 a.m., Rivera said, when a security guard at the U.S. District Courthouse on Federal Place reported a “suspicious package” had been delivered Thursday by UPS addressed to Udall, who has an office in the adjoining Joseph Montoya building.

Alabama Police Investigating White Powder HazMat Incident  (Huntsville Times, 2/12/2010)

MADISON, AL - Madison police, fire and Huntsville's hazardous materials team were called to a home in the 200 block of Birchfield Road about 7:15 p.m. Friday.

Firefighters say the homeowner discovered a suspicious white powder inside a box in the home.

Information on how the box first got into the home was not immediately released.

Huntsville HAZ-MAT specialists took samples of the powder to try to determine what the substance was and whether or not it was dangerous.

The HAZ-MAT team set up a decontamination area for anyone coming out of the house, including the occupants. Madison Police are continuing the investigation.

4 People Decontaminated After Suspicious Letter Prompts Emergency Response in California  (KGET, 2/11/2010)

Bakersfield, CA--Firefighters say the suspicious substance was in an envelope.  Emergency responders say it looked a bit like sugar.

Four people, who were exposed to the white substance at Paramount Farms off Highway 33 were decontaminated, but refused medical treatment, and said they did not feel sick.

Hazmat teams did some preliminary testing at the scene.  "To find out if it's flammable, if it's caustic. So far all of those tests have proved negative," said Sean Collins, Kern County Fire Department.

The white powder will now be sent to a lab for more testing.  The U.S. Postal Service is heading up the investigation to catch the person who mailed it.

Anthrax Scare At Massachusetts Hospital  (BioPrep Watch, 2/11/2010)

Salem, MA—A letter sent to a Salem, Mass. hospital this week contained a small white powder, setting off fears of an anthrax attack within the building.

The six-page letter, sent to Salem Hospital's pediatric physicians, considered the issue of circumcising men as a means of preventing the spread of AIDS. According to officials and hospital staff, when the letter was opened, a small amount of white powder came off of it.

The employee who opened the letter got powder on their fingers and three employees in the pediatric physicians' office were evacuated.

The office that received the letter is for administrative purposes only and letter neither contacted or posed a risk to patients.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said that, after opening the letter, the administrative staff called security several hours later. Security then placed the letter in an envelope and called the Salem Fire Department.

A hazardous materials team consisting of Danvers and Salem firefighters evacuated the employees and then tested the white power, which was revealed to be harmless.

"It turned out to be nothing," Salem Deputy fire Chief Glen Beaudet told The Salem News.

According to the spokeswoman, there was no return address on the envelope though the letter was signed. The name signed has not been released.

White Powder on Letter Disrupting Florida Psychiatrist’s Office Was Doughnut Sugar  (AHN, 2/10/2010)

Fort Myers, FL-- A Florida psychiatrist's office got a scare when an envelope to the practice was delivered laced with an white powdery substance, which, after investigating, turned out to be doughnut sugar, authorities said.

Dr. Catherine Larned and her employees immediately called the Lee County Sheriff's Office to report the unidentified substance, reports stated.

A Hazmat team was deployed to the office, and the sender of the letter was contacted. The sender admitted to eating a doughnut and spilling some sugar on the letter, according to reports.

No charges were brought against the messy eater.

The Sheriff's Office commended the team on a job well done in responding to a possible bio-chemical situation, according to reports.

New York Letter Carrier Arraigned In Mail Theft  (The Journal News, 2/10/2010)

POUND RIDGE, NY — A letter carrier accused of stealing from the mail was arraigned and held on $100,000 bail Tuesday night.

Tensy May Smith, 52, was arraigned on charges of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property and first-degree scheme to defraud, both felonies.

Smith was ordered to turn over her passport and was returned to Westchester County jail after failing to make bail.

Police and investigators with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General had been investigating Smith, a 15-year letter carrier, since late last year after receiving complaints of items being stolen from her delivery route along Route 124.

She has worked in town for nine years. Police accused her of stealing about $200,000 worth of items.

Postman Sentenced for Stealing Mail Near U of Minneapolis  (Fox 9 News, 2/10/2010)

Minneapolis, MN--A former U.S. Postal Service worker has been sentenced to 8 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,350 in restitution for stealing mail from residents in the University of Minnesota area.

Timothy J. Krolick, 30, of Minneapolis was indicted on June 9, 2009 and later pled guilty to one count of mail theft. According to the plea agreement, Krolick admitted to stealing items from mail on Feb. 6, 2009 while working as a letter carrier.

Krolick was ordered to pay $1,350 in restitution to the Ronald McDonald House -- one of the victims of his theft.

Krolick was hired by the USPS in December 2004 and worked primarily in the university station delivery area of Minneapolis.

“The sentence issued today sends a clear message that stealing mail is a very serious crime and will not be tolerated," said David A. Montoya, special agent in charge of the Office of Inspector General for the Postal Service’s western area field office. "Theft by postal employees is a rarity; the overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees are honest, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals who would never consider the crime of stealing a customer’s mail."

Anonymous Package With Powder Prompts A Call To Georgia Authorities  (Athens Banner Herald, 2/10/2010)

Athens, GA--Athens-Clarke fire and rescue officials were assisted by a U.S. postal inspector Tuesday after a resident at University Garden Apartments in Athens received a suspicious package with no return address that contained a powdery substance.

1000 Cluster Mailboxes Possibly Tampered With in California Community  (KCRA, 2/9/2010)

CARMICHAEL, Calif. -- About 1,000 mailboxes in Carmichael may have been tampered with, according to a postal inspector.

Postal carriers have keys to back-access doors of the boxes, which are used to service many addresses.

The U.S. Postal Service said a master key that opens the boxes was compromised somehow and that postal inspector is investigating what went wrong.

The postal service said it's going to change out the locks on the boxes early next week.

However, residents wonder why it took several months to warn them of the problem and to try to fix it.

Neighbors said they have been complaining about the issue for several months, but just a few days ago got a letter warning them about the theft.

Neighbors in the cul-de-sac first noticed missing mail back in December.

"We had a key in our box but nothing in the box where the parcel was supposed to be," Ed Pandolfino said.

Michele Gilles' husband said he saw a young man at the mailbox with the boxes open, carrying a backpack, and he confronted him. They said the man rode off on a mountain bike.

Gilles said the postal service held the neighborhood's mail for about a week, then after a neighbor contacted her congressman, the postal service changed the lock on their cluster box.

Pandolfino isn't sure that's a safe solution. He said postal officials showed him dummy keys that had broken off in the lock on his street's box.

A suspect has not been identified in the case.

Doughnut Powder Leads To Pine Island HAZMAT Scare  (News-Press, 2/10/2010)

Ft. Meyers, FL--A word of caution.

If you're munching a powdered doughnut and preparing to mail a letter, wash your hands and dust before sending.

A quick cleaning of the fingers and envelope might have prevented a hazardous materials scare Tuesday morning at a psychiatrist's office in Matlacha.

Employees opening the mail at Dr. Catherine Larned's office on Pine Island Road found white powder inside an envelope containing a check.

They soon called 911 and sheriff's deputies, a county hazardous materials team and a nearby fire rescue truck rushed to the building.

Meanwhile, the person who mailed the envelope was contacted by the doctor's staff.

"He said he was eating a powdered doughnut when he mailed the check," said Sgt. Stephanie Eller, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

What might have been a menacing substance turned out to be nothing more than tasty confectionary sugar, Eller said.

Larned did not return calls for comment.

Eller said she couldn't fault the doctor's staff. "With everything going on in the world today, you can't be too careful," she said.

So when they saw the white powder, "obviously, this was outside the norm for them. They thought this might be something," Eller said.

The sheriff's office, she said, is obligated to respond to all reports of suspicious substances.

"It's no different than a bomb threat. Everything has to be treated like the real deal" until proven otherwise, Eller said.

Likewise for the Matlacha-Pine Island Fire and Rescue District, which dispatched a rescue truck to the doctor's office, said Capt. Richard Crotty.

A hazardous materials team was dispatched from Fort Myers according to protocol, said Kim Dickerson, operations chief for Lee County EMS.

Detroit Basketball Coach Chuck Daly Targeted In Bad Boys Era With Threat Mail  (AP, 2/8/2010)

Detroit, MI--The FBI investigated a series of threatening letters sent to Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly at the height of his team's success during the 1989-90 "Bad Boys" championship era, newly released government records show.

The 67 pages, obtained by the Associated Press as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, detail how federal agents in Detroit ordered fingerprint, handwriting and even psycholinguistic analyses as part of an effort to determine who sent the correspondences.

Daly's teams played a punishing, in-your-face brand of defense that angered opposing players and coaches, and -- based on the content of the letters examined by the FBI -- fans, too.

One letter, mailed from Cleveland and postmarked April 24, 1989, arrived about two months after Cavaliers guard Mark Price suffered a concussion following a Rick Mahorn elbow and three months after Cleveland's Brad Daugherty and Detroit's Bill Laimbeer had an on-court fistfight.

"God made me realize that YOU, not Laimbeer, Mahorn or any of the others are the one possessed by (Satan)," the author wrote in the one-page handwritten letter addressed to "Mr. Chuck Daly."

Daly, a Hall of Famer who died in May at the age of 78, gave the letter to team officials, who in turn notified NBA security in New York. The league advised the Pistons to turn it over to the FBI.

Federal agents interviewed Daly and team personnel and submitted the letter for various tests. A psycholinguistic analysis determined the author likely "has had previous psychiatric hospitalizations and/or is currently on outpatient status," but lacked "the capacity to carry out any form of planned action."

Another letter, this one typewritten and postmarked Royal Oak on Feb. 16, 1990, also was addressed to Daly and claimed the Pistons didn't "know the meaning of the word 'sportsmanship' " and would "pay dearly."

The FBI ran a fingerprint test and determined the model of typewriter used, but as with the first letter, couldn't locate a suspect.

FBI files become a public record when the subject dies.

It seems, though, that the threats against Daly weren't common knowledge in the team's locker room.

Hall of Fame Pistons guard Joe Dumars, now the team's president of basketball operations, said he "never heard of it."

Mahorn, currently a Pistons radio announcer, also had no recollection of the threats against his coach.

"I have no clue about that," he said.

West Virginia Man Pleads Guilty To Mailing Bomb To Minnesota  (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2/3/2010)

Houston, MN--A West Virginia man who used to live in Houston, Minn., pleaded guilty on Wednesday after mailing an explosive device there.

Mark Steven Anderson, 56, pleaded guilty to one federal count of mailing an injurious

article as part of an agreement. He made the plea in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in

front of Judge John Tunheim.

Anderson, of Marmet, W.Va., admitted sending a package to a Houston resident on

July 22 with the intent of causing injuries. The package had two sticks of dynamite

connected to fuses and cords that failed to go off, according to a U.S. Postal Inspection

Service affidavit.

Houston County sheriff's deputies determined that the device, which included

gunpowder, matches, cardboard tubes, a striker plate and fuses, was designed to

detonate upon opening.

Postal investigators traced the package to Charleston, W. Va., and Anderson, who was

arrested at his home on July 28.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced by Tunheim.

Box Mailed To Schwarzenegger Prompts Evacuation  (AP, 2/4/2010)

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Highway Patrol officers have given the all-clear after the state received a suspicious package addressed to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader says workers at the state's mail facility called the bomb team Thursday afternoon after receiving a postal box containing electronic parts and batteries. The facility in West Sacramento screens all mail by X-ray before delivering it to the Capitol.

Authorities evacuated the building shortly after 1 p.m. Workers were allowed back in about an hour later after the bomb detail found no explosives.

Clader says the CHP, which provides security for the governor, will conduct an investigation to try to find out who mailed the package.

Seven Social Security Workers Exposed To White Powder in NY Federal Building  (Reuters, 2/3/2010)

NEW YORK - Seven people were exposed to a suspicious white powder in a U.S federal building in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, authorities said.

The offices of the Social Security Administration on the 40th floor of the building -- which houses several agencies including the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- were evacuated.

"There was a mailing that was opened at 2:15 p.m. in the offices of the SSA (Social Security Administration)," said FBI spokesman Jim Margolin. "It contained a white powder that was contained and isolated and will be analyzed."

He said the results of the analysis would not be immediately known.

New York Fire Department spokesman Jose Costa said seven people were exposed to the white powder.

U.S. authorities have been on alert for mail with white powder in it since 2001, when envelopes laced with anthrax were sent to media outlets and U.S. lawmakers, killing five people.

In November, the U.N. missions of several countries received letters containing white powder that turned out to be flour. At least 40 people were decontaminated as a precaution. Similar scares have hit New York-based companies and institutions.

Suspicious Package Triggers Alarm and Breathing Difficulties in Victorian Premier’s Office  (AAP, 2/3/2010)

Sydney, Australia--A suspicious package sent to the Victorian premier's office sparked a full-scale emergency, although it was quickly deemed a false alarm triggered by a rattled security guard.

The 23-year-old guard had suffered an anxiety attack when an unmarked A4-sized package containing a powder sparked a "code orange" alarm in the basement mailroom of 1 Treasury Place on Wednesday.

He was treated for breathing difficulties as police and firefighters in protective suits entered the building and retrieved the unmarked package, which was wrapped in old newspapers.

Less than an hour later, police determined that the envelope contained a harmless organic substance.

Police will not reveal what the powder was to prevent "copycat" pranksters sending a similar substance, a police spokesman said.

The Treasury Place mail scanners trigger an alarm whenever organic matter is detected, which happens regularly.

Premier John Brumby had been in his car while the drama unfolded.

Mr Brumby said there was no threat to public safety but it was important that appropriate steps were put in place.

“We have had these incidents from time to time in the past (but) they are not common,” he said.

“These things are really far and few between.

"But we have got to be more conscious of these things, particularly terrorism.

"There are stronger safeguards that are put in place that probably weren’t there a decade ago.

“Generally we don’t make too many comments about these matters but I think the good news on this is there’s no public safety issue and the matter appears to be resolved.”

Emergency services were called to Treasury Place at 7.30am and Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley said paramedics treated a 23-year-old man suffering breathing difficulties.

Police said the letter remained unopened and security measures were put in place to isolate the package when it was discovered.

The building was not evacuated but the mailroom was locked down.

Alert rating Code Orange was activated after a scanner indicated that an envelope contained organic matter.

The man's collapse heightened fears over the suspicious package, as it was unclear if his behaviour was as a result of coming into contact with the package, or health related.

It is understood the mail worker, who worked for private security firm Wilson’s Security, felt dizzy and was taken outside by a colleague.

Missouri Man Suspected In Mail Dumping Case Pleads Not Guilty  (KFVS, 2/3/2010)

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO - An Oran man pleaded not guilty to charges he dumped hundreds of pieces of mail rather than deliver them.

Lance Kinder, 25, entered that plea at the federal court house in Cape Girardeau Wednesday morning.

U.S. postal inspectors arrested Kinder in connection with 600 to 1000 pieces of mail found dumped along the Diversion Channel near Allenville last November.

A local man and his son found the mail last Thanksgiving.  Federal authorities say the mail belonged to people living in Sikeston, Dexter, Kennett, New Madrid, Hayti, Caruthersville, and Jackson.

He's due back in court for a pre-trial on February 24.