« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Feds Continue Anthrax Probe After Ivins' Death
From the AP:
The government is still searching for evidence that Bruce Ivins was solely responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks despite declaring the case solved.Search warrants and other documents filed Thursday in federal court in Washington show the FBI wants to look through computers Ivins used at his local library before he killed himself last week.
Advertisement
Josh
Zachary
10/3/02 Vaxgen press release:
October 3, 2002 - Brisbane, Calif. -VaxGen Inc. (Nasdaq: VXGN), the current leader in AIDS vaccine development, has been awarded a contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop a new anthrax vaccine and to create a feasibility plan to manufacture an emergency stockpile of 25 million doses. NIAID is expected to award a separate contract in 2003 to manufacture the stockpile....
Under the initial phase of the NIAID contract, VaxGen will be awarded $13.6 million to advance the development of a vaccine candidate initially developed by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)...
Under an agreement with the USAMRIID, VaxGen and Battelle will continue the development and testing of the recombinant Bacillus anthracis vaccine candidate known as rPA102. This investigational vaccine, developed and tested at USAMRIID, combines the safety benefits of a vaccine made through modern recombinant technology with a record of efficacy documented in animal models. It is an alum-adjuvanted, single component, recombinant protein vaccine candidate similar in composition to VaxGen's investigational AIDS vaccines.
This contract has been funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-A1."
August 7, 2008 11:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some thing I dont understand. The media has said that he "comitted suicide as the investigation was closing in".... Now they are looking for evidence that he acted alone? Wouldn't the investigation that was "closing in" have uncovered other suspects if they were that close to catching a guy? I am baffled.
August 8, 2008 4:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Re Vaxgen:
A few months before being awarded its first anthrax vaccine contract, Vaxgen entered into a joint venture named Celltrion to build a bio-manufacturing facility in Korea with Korean investors. In lieu of cash, Vaxgen contributed mammalian cell cultures it got free from the government which gave Vaxgen a majority stake in Celltrion which eventually was worth upwards of a hundred million.
I've long been curious about one of Celltrion's "Korean" investors, J. Stephen & Co. Ventures Limited of Seoul. I can't find any info re J. Stephen and wonder if it was connected to the now-deceased Arkansas investor, Jackson Stephens and the Stephens Group (now run by the son, Warren Stephens).
If Jackson Stephens was backing Vaxgen, that might help explain why Vaxgen ended up with an exclusive $900 million HHS anthrax vaccine contract.
Just speculating. Meanwhile, I am gathering odd bits of info about the FBI's investigation of Dr. Bruce E. Ivins over the last few months.
Why did the staff at Frederick Memorial Hospital permit a suspected homicidal maniac to have unmonitored access to a phone at 4 a.m. in the morning? Did Ivins call information for Jean Duley's home number or did he have it memorized?
Later in the day, did the staff at Shepperd Pratt leave Ivins unattended so he could make another threatening call to Duley at her home at 11 a.m.?
I would have thought that Dr. Ivins, #1 suspect in a huge terrorist case, would have been watched around the clock when he was in the hospital.
Where was the FBI when Ivins yakking away on the phone to Duley's answering machine in the middle of the night?
For that matter, why didn't Ivins get the same evening meds given to every other psych patient to make them sleep through the night?
August 8, 2008 8:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mrs. P makes an excellent point--it would be helpful to really understand how the FBI conducted its surveillance of Ivins, both early and later on.
Clearly they had the ability and manpower to shadow him closely, but was that a constant thing or was it more for effect? (I mean he would be shadowed tightly one day for intimidation purposes, not so much the next.)
It's also important to understand how the FBI interacted with Ms. Duley--when they first contacted her, how that contact came about, whether and how they facilitated her observations of Ivins and under what conditions she broke therapist-patient confidentiality rules to keep them informed of what was going on. Most notably, I wonder how she stayed in her job after her last DUI. Did the FBI intervene on her behalf so that she could continue to run the group therapy sessions Ivins intended?
Another point--if the FBI encouraged Duley to get a protection order, why? They almost certainly could have protected her from Ivins if they had wanted to continue the investigation. Did they decide that Ivins had had enough, that there was no more evidence to be gained from him and it was time to start trying to get him out of his lab and safely committed? The protection order would have been the first step to arranging his effective incarceration without the FBI having to do it.
I would also be interested to know if any thought was given to the Hippocratic oath issues involved in providing information to an investigation that was clearly causing additional harm to the patient's mental state. Physicians and therapists have an obligation to prevent harm to their patients--it would seem that this oath would trump the investigation, because after all, Ivins was presumed innocent until proven guilty, right?
Finally, I'm loath to pillory Jean Duley or her boyfriend on a personal level, although questions about her activities are apt. It sounds like she was just no super-genius, rather a person with a checkered past who got into the business of trying to help other people with checkered pasts. Which is the basis for groups like AA, which can be effective but do have a vulnerability to charges that the patients are running the asylum.
I am just guessing here, but it seems to me that making more appropriate decisions about how to deal with Ivins and the FBI would have taken a person with more discernment and experience than Duley had. And I strongly doubt that she had a strong enough grasp of the big picture to even know what she didn't know.
August 8, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whoops--should be "therapy sessions Ivans attended."
August 8, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Jean Carol Duley aka Jean Wittman was attending Hood College, an expensive private school, was the FBI paying her tuition?
Mike McFadden, her so-called boyfriend, claimed Duley was broke.
According to her traffic tickets, Duley was driving a 2007 Toyota(?) when she was busted for DUI in 12/07. If I recall correctly, the '07 was an upgrade from the car listed on her previous ticket, a 2006 Toyota.
Duley's Maryland license is dated 2004. Between 1999 (see WaPo story re Duley aka Jean Wittman, biker chick) and 2004, Duley went to college and earned a degree. I'm not sure if she would have needed an advanced degree for the counseling job. How did she pay for school?
Duley's most current address in Williamsport is owned by Carol L. Lindquist does not live there.
How much does an entry-level counseling job pay in Frederick MD?
As an aside, a Michael McFadden living in Frederick appears to have lived on or near various military facilities around the country.
August 8, 2008 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Note: "Duley's license" in the previous comment refers to her counseling license from the Maryland Dept of Mental Health, available online.
August 8, 2008 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
The FBI painted a pretty sloppy picture for the second time and now they can't seem to make a frame to fit it...
August 8, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink