There doesn't seem to be anything substantive in the documents.
I could be wrong, but it looks like a lot of smoke & mirrors... "LOOK" We released documents.

There's nothing there that could conclusively close the case.

What are they hiding???

Last week he was a suspect and this week they already know he acted alone? Did I miss a trial somewhere?

Am I reading these hours right? Because the motivation gets pretty messed up if Ivins starts before Sept. 11, 2001.

Bit of weirdness: document 07-524-M-01 search warrant affidavit makes much of Ivins' evening time in Suite B3, suspected source of the specific line of anthrax. But the chart and text on page 8 shows Ivins' evening access to the room started increasing in August '01 - prior to 9/11, with access peaking in Sept. '01 at over 30 hrs.

The document text on pages 8-9 then breaks out the hours worked prior to the windows of opportunity for each anthrax mailing. Hours listed Ivins' evening B3 access for Sept 01 dates within both windows of opportunity total less than 11 hours. The accompanying chart shows more than 30 hours of Sept 01 access to B3. Additionally, the text mentions that Ivins didn't visit B3 in the evenings between 19-Sept and 25-Sept.

This gap leaves 19+ hours of evening access to B3 unaccounted for. There are two time frames remaining for those 19+ hours: Sept 1-13 and Sept. 25-27. Only 6 of these days are post Sept 11 (incl. Sept 11). Given the way the text is framed ("consecutive evening shifts"), it may be reasonable (but a stretch) to assume that Ivins was not there in the evenings prior: Sept 13th and Sept 27th.

To accomplish all 30+ hours in B3 after Sept 11th, 2001, Ivins would have had to spend 19 total hours in B3 during three evenings: Sept 11th, 12th and 26th. This would be an average of 6+ hrs access per evening, something that surely would have been noted.

Well, not that all or even most of the other lingering questions surrounding this case are close to settled yet in my mind, but one way or another, someone needs to ask: If the FBI's case is to be believed, is it really standard practice to let civilian scientists working in US military biological weapons research facilities have completely unfettered and unsupervised access to all the materials and equipment needed to produce weaponized biological weapons in quantities large enough to potentially take out an entire branch of our government? What the hell kind of security protocol is that? Our most sensitive biological weapons research labs basically operate on the honor system for security? Even on the remote chance that a cover-up or other shenanigans don't ultimately prove to be part of the complete picture here, is security within such sensitive areas really so lax?

Hard to say how strong a case is based on the search warrant materials. Lots of uncorroborated stuff gets in there. Ivins' e-mails show nothing. The anthrax identification and Ivins' more-or-less exclusive access to the source is the crux. Whether those allegations are valid, who knows? I would be interested in the defense lawyer's rebuttal, should he choose to provide one.

Whether those allegations are valid, who knows? I would be interested in the defense lawyer's rebuttal, should he choose to provide one.

Here's a wealth of good material for a defense rebuttal, if not for the convenient and conspicuous absence of a living breathing defendant, as provided by a top anthrax expert and colleague of Ivins' who still finds the DOJ's case against Ivins more than a little dubious.