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The FBI released a photo showing the letters that were sent to NBC in New York and to Sen. Tom Daschle's office on Capitol Hill and were found to contain the anthrax bacteria. (Reuters)
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US: Anthrax letter similarities, no terror link
By James Vicini, Reuters, 10/16/01
WASHINGTON -- Top U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday they found similarities in the handwriting and postmark for two anthrax-containing letters, but have yet to uncover a direct connection between any anthrax cases and what they termed organized terrorism.
"While organized terrorism has not been ruled out, so far we have found no direct link to organized terrorism," FBI Director Robert Mueller told a news conference.
Mueller cited a similarity in the handwriting in the letters that contained anthrax that were sent to NBC News in New York and to the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on Capitol Hill.
Mueller said investigators have yet to draw a final conclusion on the handwriting analysis. He said samples of the powders from the two letters were being tested and compared.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said there was a similar post mark of origin for the two letters that were sent to Tom Brokaw of NBC News in New York.
The Justice Department later released a copy of the front side of each envelope. They both were postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey, and both were handwritten in similar printed letters and numerals. One was addressed to "Senator Daschle" and the other to "Tom Brokaw."
The Daschle letter gave a return address of "4th grade, Greenvale School, Franklin Park, N.J. 08852." The other letter had no return address on the front.
Mueller also said threats of attack had not diminished since Thursday, when the FBI warned of possible terrorist attacks in the United States and against U.S. interests abroad in the "next few days."
ATTACK THREATS UNDIMINISHED
"Since the warning of last week, the threats have not diminished. However, when we issued the warning last week it was with a specific time parameter. We are still within that time parameter," Mueller said.
The warning last week came one month to the day after four hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 5,400 people.
Besides the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI also is investigating anthrax exposures or suspected exposures in Florida, Washington, New York and elsewhere in the country, Mueller said.
Mueller said federal, state and local law enforcement officials should remain on high alert. "Quite obviously, the incidents of anthrax exposure in the last couple of days warrant such a continued state of alert," he said.
Ashcroft said the Justice Department treated the anthrax cases as acts of terror.
"Any time someone sends anthrax through the mail it is an act of terrorism and we treat it as an act of terror and terrorism," said Ashcroft, the nation's top law enforcement official.
"But while we have not ruled out linkage to the attack of September 11 or the perpetrators of that attack, we do not have conclusive evidence that would provide a basis of a conclusion that is part of that terrorism endeavor," he said.
Since Oct. 1, the FBI has received reports of more than 2,300 incidents involving anthrax or other dangerous agents, Mueller said, adding that the overwhelming majority have involved false alarms or practical jokes.
Mueller acknowledged some "missteps at the outset" in the NBC case as the FBI did not act as quickly as it should have, waiting three days to get an analysis of a specimen from a letter suspected of containing anthrax.
"In the wake of that, we have given direction to each office that regardless of what we may think the threat should be or may be, to move quickly to make certain that some authority ... analyze it," he said.
Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said about 700 people have been arrested or detained in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks. She said the majority still remained in custody.
Mueller declined to say whether any of the 700 have links to Osama bin Laden, named by the United States as the chief suspect behind the attacks, or his radical Muslim al Qaeda network.
"It is not appropriate at this point to discuss what we have come across in the investigation with regard to that which may be considered evidence," he said.
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