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U.S. Settles for $5.8 Million With Scientist Accused In 2001 Anthrax Scare
Facing a massive lawsuit, the U.S. Justice Department is opting to give a $5.8 million settlement to Steven Hatfill, the bio-weapons expert publicly tagged as a "person of interest" in the anthrax-in-the-mail scare from October 2001.
The Department of Justice issued a statement this afternoon:
By entering into this agreement, the United States does not admit to any violation of the Privacy Act and continues to deny all liability in connection with Dr. Hatfill's claims.
Hatfill, whose lawsuit against the New York Times was dismissed last year, will receive the lump sum of about $2.825 million and the government will also purchase for him a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years, DOJ said.
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was among the first to disclose Hatfill's name in 2002.
The lawsuit charged the Department of Justice with leaking his name to reporters.
The anthrax case remains unsolved. The DOJ statement said:
"The government remains resolute in its investigation into the anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened others after lethal anthrax powder was sent through the United States mail. We commend the agents and law enforcement personnel who have devoted countless hours to the pursuit of the perpetrator of this horrible crime, and we reassure the public and the victims that this investigation remains among the Department's highest law enforcement priorities."
Late Update: This story was updated from earlier versions to reflect the total value of Hatfill's settlement package.
Comments (27)
Better not tell the Iraqi people about this decision, as the Bush Administration has done MUCH worse to them, then his slimy operatives did to Steven Hatfill.
Plus the American people couldn't afford the bill owed to the Iraqi people for the destruction of their country because some stupid people wanted a war. (We still haven't even paid the bills for the war yet, let alone compensating the Iraqi people for the damages we did to THEIR country).
June 27, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your title of this article:
'U.S. Settles for $2.825 Million With Scientist Accused In 2001 Anthrax Scare'
Excuse me, but it was not an 'Anthrax Scare' but an 'Anthrax Attack', and people died as a result.
It is truly amazing how this attack has been forgotten by both the MSM and even the anti-Bush blogs.
June 27, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every time Bush says there hasn't been a terrorist attack since 9/11 I want to punch a wall.
My ass the DOJ is even investigating it anymore.
June 27, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, and they're also "looking for" Osama bin Laden.
June 27, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Every time Ashcroft opened his mouth was a terrorist attack on America; every time Tom Ridge announced another "orange" alert was a terrorist attack on America; every time Big Dick Cheney assured us of the indisputable "fact" of just about anything was a terrorist attack on America; when Richard "Mephistopheles" Perle said that Sy Hersh was the "closest thing to an American terrorist," that was a terrorist attack on America.
The idea that they claim this is still being investigated is itself an indictment, and it assures us of the incompetence of the government to do anything.
June 28, 2008 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The idea that they claim this is still being investigated is itself an indictment, and it assures us of the incompetence of the government to do anything."
Sorry...this is a case of making the obvious abundantly clear.
June 28, 2008 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Changing the alert status was costly beyond damaging public trust. My wife, in charge of computing security at a NASA research center, told me that all sorts of expensive processes had to be instituted every time the alert changed. People were delayed (for example, every car trunk had to be opened for workers at the center). Different stuff, which I can't talk about, was rolled out, costing work time, money, and overtime.
NASA was only one of a zillion places that had to spend extra mandated cash to satisfy Homeland Security requirements for orange or red, without recompense from Washington.
June 28, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are any number of interesting things about these attacks, none of which seem to attract any attention:
The targets were all journalists and prominent Democrats (two of which were credited with holding up the PATIOT act))
The attacks were sent to tragets in New York, DC, and Florida (the hanging chad state)
The first round of attacks were postmarked 18 September, 2001, meaning that the preparation of the material must have begun before 8 September, 2001
The strain used was traceable to the US military
The preparation to place in the north easter US
...and so on. If you aren't suspicious by this point, there's something wrong with your ability to put two and two together.
--MarkusQ
June 27, 2008 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
"By entering into this agreement, the United States does not admit to any violation of the Privacy Act and continues to deny all liability in connection with Dr. Hatfill's claims."
Um, then why would they (we) pay it. Sounds like more lying scumbaggery from the Bush Admin., and we get to pick up the tab again.
June 27, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lying scumbags? Sure they are. But that's just standard language in a settlement... they are paying off in exchange for the victim agreeing that the pay off doesn't constitute an admission of guilt... and the victim agrees because he gets a sure thing (money, now) rather than a real victory in a criminal or civil court (later and maybe never.)
June 28, 2008 1:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
If they didn't violate the Privacy Act, why are they paying? They have a company of Regent Law School graduates to fight it in court. They don't charge $500.00/hr. I guess if they fought it with them they would have had to admit guilt and pay $5mil up front and $300,000.00/yr. What the hell should the Wilson's get!?
June 27, 2008 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Notice that it was Senior Democratic Leaders which were the targets of the killer or killers. No Republicans were sent any of the stuff. That is very suspicious, and perhaps that is why this guy was used as a red herring to draw attention away from such a question.
June 27, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That we don't even have a suspect 7 freaking years after the fact is an abomination, for someone who used weaponized anthrax against the American people to be walking around a free man... the Bush DOJ has been an embarrassment in every way possible.
June 27, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not that we don't have a suspect, it's that we don't have an investigation. Like 9/11 we don't investigate what is understood. I think "Up All Night" is treading the right path until he supports the integrity of DOJ.
However it went down, the anthrax was ours, and under watch. It went where it was intended and achieved the desired results.
Why does anyone think that our "Leaders" would be averse to spending as much of our money as they could? Especially when we spend it in order to hoodwink ourselves into spending more.
June 28, 2008 4:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
We buy our fear at the highest possible price. Don't play the stock market because our track record is horrible.
June 28, 2008 4:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good for Hatfill. That mouth-breathing twit John Ashcroft should have to sell his house to help pay this settlement.
June 27, 2008 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vanity Fair had to settle with Hatfill over their article; on the basis more or less that it too convincingly imputed guilt to Hatfill. I know basically only what the article represented to be the case, so my opinion is not remarkable, nevertheless I urge people to read up on Hatfill before raising their glass to him. Of particular interest is his claims of service in right-wing military forces in Africa while concurrently serving in the U.S. Army. Also, supposedly he was a designer of replicas/prototypes of the mobile weapons labs that Saddam apparently never had, that is, when Colin Powell went to the U.N., all that he had was drawings created by Hatfill with the SAIC under commission from the Pentagon.
In short, whatever legal and civil rights Hatfill may rightfully claim, he is a complex player in the events puzzling us all, sane and paranoid alike...
June 27, 2008 10:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just fancy money laundering. Seems that there was evidence pointing to Hatfill, or at least that he knew something about the attacks. A good deal of it hinges on opportunity, very few people could have committed this crime.
I have no evidence that this happened in the Hatfill case, but the inner conspiracy theorist in me thinks of a hypothetical situation: Someone sets up a scientist to do this, promising a big payoff. After the attack, this scientist can't just suddenly have millions of extra dollars, the FBI, his colleagues, or someone else would spot it and it would obviously raise questions. So you have justice leak his name, then drop the investigation later. He sues and instead of airing all the evidence in open court, it is magically settled out of court for his big payday.
This situation is highly improbable, since it would require deeprooted politicization of the DOJ and a chain of 3 separate ethically corrupt Attorney Generals. No chance.
June 28, 2008 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh Yeah, all of this settle out of court stuff is completely reasonable. It's not like they could have tortured him, thrown him in a foreign prison to rot, or used a kangaroo court to convict him. This is America.
June 28, 2008 2:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sometime after this Hatfill case started I saw him interviewed on TV. The Ashcroft Justice Dept was behind his troubles and he had just lost a job at the Univ of La thanks to Ashcroft.
During the interview, Hatfill expressed how he was originally a big supporter of Ashcroft and his eventual appointment to AG by Bush.
Hatfill built the gallows Ashcroft used to hang him.
June 28, 2008 6:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey wait-- didn't the anthrax attacks happen after 9/11? I thought they said there have been no terris attacks after 9/11!
June 28, 2008 7:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Riesz,
Brring the anthrax attack, e question to ask is;
Have there been any attempts to attack us since 9/11?
They waited more than 8 years between attacks on our mainland.
June 28, 2008 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is why I really appreciate and admire Patrick Fitzgerald. In the Libby case, there wasn't a single leak from the prosecutor's office. All information came from various witnesses, "people of interest," and their lawyers. With Fitzgerald as Attorney General, I think we'll see a dramatic reduction in leaks intimating that people are guilty of crimes when they are presumed innocent.
Leaks from the FBI ruined Richard Jewell's life after the Atlanta Olympics bombing. He acted to save people and was pre-judged to be the bomber. How twisted.
Lastly, I'm truly disgusted by our media. I listened to a report of the settlement by Brian Williams on NBC and there wasn't a single mention of the responsibility his networks and others had for ruining Steven Hatfill's life. The networks and other media talk about searching for the truth, but not in their own backyard. Hypocrites.
We need to start prosecuting prosecutors and law officials who leak in non-whistle-blowing situations.
June 28, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just read Kristof's column from 2002. The story against Hatfield looked pretty damning as Kristof relays it. Has new evidence emerged or was Kristof unfair in his characterization. Regardless, the government obviously decided against filing charges.
June 28, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
OH, HELL NO!
Hatfield ain't exactly Valerie Plame. This is the same arrogant SOB who frequently bragged about being a former Selous Scout when he worked at USAMRIID. During this same time period, Wouter Basson claimed to have inside contacts at Fort Detrick working with select agents while Project Coast was in full swing. Some coincidence, huh? Both Hatfield and Phillip Zack deserved to be considered persons of interest. Defamation, hah! Smells like a pay-off to me.
June 28, 2008 7:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Consider for a moment that Hatfill is exactly the kind of right wing nutjob he appears to be, that he's got professional first-hand experience in weaponizing anthrax, and that this settlement is essentially bonus money for a job well done.
At the end of the day, those attacks put the fear of God in to the Democratic leadership, who proceeded to give Bush both the benefit of the doubt on war, and pretty much everything else his little black heart desired.
I think it just *looks* like a suit settlement.
Res Ipsa Loquitor.
June 29, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am just wondering about the following: Senators Leahy & Daschle were strong opponents of the Patriot Act and both received anthrax letters. The NY Post and National Enquirer received anthrax letters and both publications wrote frequently about jenna bush and published drunken pictures of her. The Government initially put out all kinds of misinformation and misdirection (imagine that -- remember, this was shortly after 9/11) to obfuscate the threat. It ended up being proven that is was made in the U.S. and not some Middle Eastern country. I low point in our country and still unresolved issue.
June 30, 2008 4:57 AM | Reply | Permalink