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p.5 The Anthrax Files - New York Times © © Page 1 of 2 ALL INFORMATION CONTAINE m . HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED The New York Cimes _ DATE 12-15-2008 BY 60324 UC BAW/RS/LSC July 12, 2002 The Anthrax Files By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF When someone expert in bio-warfare mailed anthrax last fall, it may not have been the first time he had struck. So while the F.B.L has been unbelievably lethargic in its investigation so far, any year now it will re-examine the package that arrived on April 24, 1997, at the B'nai B'rith headquarters in Washington. The package contained a petr? dish mislabeled “anthracks.” The dish did not contain anthrax. But a Navy lab determined that it was bacillus cereus, a very close, non-toxic cousin of anthrax used by the Defense Department. Anybody able to obtain bacillus cereus knew how to spell "anthrax." An echo of that deliberate misspelling came last fall when the anthrax letters suggested taking "penacilin.” The choice of B'nai B'rith probably was meant to suggest Arab terrorists, because the building had once been the target of an assault by Muslim guomen. In the same way, F.B.I. profilers are convinced that the real anthrax attacks last year were conducted by an American scientist trying to pin the blame on Arabs. In a column on July 2 I wrote about "Mr. Z." an American bio-defense insider who intrigues investigators and whose career has been spent in the shadowy world of counterterror and intelligence. He denies any involvement in the anthrax attacks. On the date that the perpetrator chose for the B'nai B'rith attack, a terrorism seminar was under way in the Washington area and Mr. Z seemed peeved that neither he nor any other bio-defense expert had been included as a speaker. The next day, Mr. Z senta letter to the organizer saying that he was "rather concerned" at the omission and added: “As was evidenced in downtown Washington D.C. a few hours later, this topic is vital to the security of the United States. am tremendously interested in becoming more involved in this area... ." Over the next couple of years, Mr. Z used the B'nai B'rith attack to underscore the importance of his field and his own status within it. "Remember B'nai B'rith,” he noted at one point. In examples he gave of how anthrax attacks might happen, . he had a penchant for dropping Arab names. The F.B.I. must be on top of the B'nai B'rith episode, right? Well, it was told about it months ago. But B'nai B'rith says it hasn't been asked about the incident by the F.B.I. The authorities seem equally oblivious to another round of intriguing anthrax hoaxes in February 1999. As with last fall's anthrax letters, a handful of envelopes with almost identical messages were sent to a combination of media and government targets including The Washington Post, NBC's Atlanta office, a post office in Columbus, Ga. (next to Fort Benning, an Army basc), and the Old Executive Office Building in Washington (where Mr. Z had given a briefing three months earlier). Vise GF w en wae ence wenn feed Hane hte ann OANITITE 1 NINKOL AIPETEALN A OKAGORRAUR cere &enonaw,. R/A/2008