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| © ° ‘Ihe Anthrax Hiles - New York Times © Page 2 of 2 I found a local policeman in Columbus willing to dig out his file on that 1999 anthrax hoax. There are several similarities with last fall's mailing. For example, one page of the 1999 letter says, in big, bold capitals: "WARNING: THIS BUILDING AND EVERYTHING IN IT HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO ANTHRAX. CALL 911 NOW AND SECURE THE BUILDING. OTHERWISE THE GERM WILL SPREAD.” . Last fall's letters are also in bold capitals and use similar language patterns. In contrast to the 1997 package with fake anthrax gelatin, the 1999 letters each contained a teaspoon of fake anthrax powder (roughly the same amount as of real anthrax in 2001). That's interesting because as of 1997, U.S. bio-defense scientists were working basically only with wet anthrax, while by 1999 some had experimented with making powders. For example, Mr. Z apparently learned about powders during those two years. His 1999 résumé adds something missing from the 1997 version: "working knowledge of wet and dry BW [biological warfare] agents, large-scale production of bacterial, rickettsial and viral BW patho gens and toxins." Two outside consultants used by the F.B.I. to examine documents in the anthrax case, Don Foster and Mark Smith, both say they have not been shown the 1997 or 1999 hoax letters. The 1999 envelopes carried stamps, which may have been licked. It would be fascinating to know whose DNA thatis. Perhaps when the F.B.L. is finished defending itself from charges of lethargy, it will check. E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company | Hore | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections i XML| | Hetp | Contact Us | Work for Us ittp://query.nvtimes.com/est/fillnace. html%res=04NIF7N21 NANA AVLIEAOCHAALADMONDL O..--_.0 0 mteimana