Ed Lake Reports That the FBI Amerithrax Investigation May Close in Late January

"There is...ongoing criminal and civil litigation concerning the Amerithrax investigation and information derived therefrom, and an independent review of the FBI’s 'detective work' at this time could adversely affect those proceedings."---FBI Director Mueller (September 15, 2009)

Ed Lake, a retired computer expert who has been chronicling the investigation of the anthrax mailings, has been told that the FBI hopes to officially close the Amerithrax case in late January 2010.

Mr. Lake writes (12-27-09 (B):

Back in July of this year, several people told me that the FBI was notifying victims, victims' families and everyone who had cooperated with the Amerithrax investigation that the case was going to be officially closed on Friday, July 24. Like everyone else, I waited for it to happen. But, at the last moment, the Department Of Justice decided that there were still things that needed to be done, and they kept the case open. You may remember that, a couple days later, the media reported that the DOJ had been "on the verge" of closing the case before backing off.

The first part of that process appears to be happening again. The FBI is notifying people, but they can't give an exact date because the DOJ will again be making the decision about when to make the official announcement. So, people are being told the closing of the case is expected to take place "at the end of January." The FBI will try to call everyone again after the exact date is given to the FBI, which may be at 4 p.m. on the day before an 8 a.m. announcement.

...Something evidently happened in mid-November that finally brought an end to the Amerithrax investigation. After it happened, all the remaining FBI personnel investigating the case were then reportedly reassigned to other cases. The only remaining chore may have been the writing, editing and getting acceptance of the case summary...

The rumors about the happenings in mid-November are numerous but not very clear. They all relate to this statement made by FBI Director Mueller in a September 15 letter:

"There is also ongoing criminal and civil litigation concerning the Amerithrax investigation and information derived therefrom, and an independent review of the FBI’s 'detective work' at this time could adversely affect those proceedings."

One rumor from early November indicated that someone was about to be indicted on a charge of "accessory after the fact" in the Amerithrax case. Another rumor from late November indicated that the same person was actually indicted on a charge of "lying to a federal officer." There's been nothing in the media about any of this. But there are rumors explaining that, too, rumors which I'd better keep to myself.

"Accessory after the fact" is defined this way in one legal dictionary:

"An accessory after the fact is someone who knows that a crime has occurred but nonetheless helps to conceal it."

"Lying to a federal officer" might mean that, when asked, that same person lied and said he or she knew nothing, i.e., "helps to conceal" the crime. What's most interesting, of course, is that if charges were made and if an indictment was actually handed down, that means that there is evidence proving that the person indicted did indeed have critical knowledge of exactly who committed the anthrax attacks of 2001.

The truly surprising part of this is that the person supposedly indicted is not a scientist and did not work at Ft. Detrick. Yet, it's easy to understand how others might know details about the murders allegedly committed by Dr. Ivins when you recall that Dr. Ivins evidently saw no problem with emailing others to tell them about his suspicious actions before and after the attacks. He also didn't have any problem telling his psychotherapy group that he planned to murder his co-workers at Ft. Detrick in order to go down in a blaze of glory before he could be arrested for mass murder and terrorism. And, he was a diagnosed sociopath, which could mean that he didn't see anything wrong with what he did and would want to explain his actions to other people.

After analyzing all these rumors, one might deduce that, at some point in time, Dr. Ivins actually told someone that he had sent the anthrax letters. And others somehow heard or learned what Dr. Ivins said to that person. But that is just an interpretation. No rumor actually mentions any such a thing.

Yet, if it were true, spending time to clarify and document exactly what Dr. Ivins told that person would certainly be worth delaying the closing of the Amerithrax investigation. It would be as near as we're likely to get to an actual confession. And once all the details are clarified and documented, it would be all over. Investigators could be assigned to other cases, and a time could be set for the official closing of the case -- like at the end of January. [Read the full text of the 12-27-09 (B) remarks.]