Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters Committee on Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's ISBN 978-0-309-18719-0 Investigation of the 2001 Bacillus Anthracis Mailings; National Research Council 250 pages 6 x 9 PAPERBACK (2011) Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the National Academies Press. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Request reprint permission for this book Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Committee on Review of the Scientifc Approaches Used During the FBI’s Investigation of the 2001 Bacillus anthracis Mailings Board on Life Sciences Division on Earth and Life Studies Committee on Science, Technology, and Law Policy and Global Affairs Division Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Contract No. A9N0902700 between the National A cademy of Sciences and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Any opinions, fndings, conclu- sions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily refect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-18719-0 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-18719-2 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2011927648 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet: www.nap.edu. Copyright 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. 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All rights reserved. Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES USED DURING THE FBI’S INVESTIGATION OF THE 2001 BACILLUS ANTHRACIS MAILINGS ALICE P. GAST (Chair), President, Lehigh University DAVID A. RELMAN (Vice Chair), Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine, and Chief, Infectious Disease Section, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, CA ARTURO CASADEVALL, Leo and Julia Forchheimer Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine NANCY D. CONNELL, Professor of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-New Jersey Medical School and Director, UMDNJ Center for BioDefense THOMAS V. INGLESBY, Chief Executive Offcer and Deputy Director of the Center for Biosecurity of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Public Health MURRAY V. JOHNSTON, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware KAREN KAFADAR, James H. Rudy Professor of Statistics and Physics, Indiana University RICHARD E. LENSKI, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University RICHARD M. LOSICK, Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, Harvard College Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor ALICE C. MIGNEREY, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park DAVID L. POPHAM, Professor of Microbiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University JED S. RAKOFF, United States District Judge, Southern District of New York ROBERT C. SHALER, Director, Forensic Science Program, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University ELIZABETH A. THOMPSON, Professor of Statistics, University of Washington KASTHURI VENKATESWARAN, Senior Research Scientist, California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory DAVID R. WALT, Robinson Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor v Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters Staff ANNE-MARIE MAZZA, Study Director FRANCES E. SHARPLES, Study Co-Director (until 1/11) ERICKA MCGOWAN, Program Offcer, Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology (until 4/10) STEVEN KENDALL, Associate Program Offcer, Committee on Science, Technology, and Law AMANDA P. CLINE, Senior Program Assistant, Board on Life Sciences (until 5/10) KATHI E. HANNA, Consultant Writer CAMERON H. FLETCHER, Editor vi Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters BOARD ON LIFE SCIENCES KEITH R. YAMAMOTO (Chair), Executive Vice Dean, School of Medicine, and Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco BONNIE L. BASSLER, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Professor of Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University VICKI L. CHANDLER, Chief Program Offcer, Science, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation SEAN EDDY, Group Leader, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus MARK D. FITZSIMMONS, Associate Director, MacArthur Fellows Program, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation DAVID R. FRANZ, Vice President and Chief Biological Scientist, Midwest Research Institute DONALD E. GANEM, Director, Global Infectious Disease Research, Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research LOUIS J. GROSS, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics and Director, Institute for Environmental Modeling, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville JO HANDELSMAN, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Yale University CATO T. LAURENCIN, Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean, University of Connecticut Health Center School of Medicine BERNARD LO, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Program in Medical Ethics, University of California, San Francisco ROBERT M. NEREM, Institute Professor and Parker H. Petit Professor Emeritus, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology CAMILLE PARMESAN, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology, Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas MURIEL E. POSTON, Dean of Faculty, Skidmore College ALISON G. POWER, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Dean, The Graduate School, Cornell University BRUCE W. STILLMAN, President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory CYNTHIA WOLBERGER, Professor, Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine MARY WOOLLEY, President and CEO, Research!America vii Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters Staff FRANCES E. SHARPLES, Director JO L. HUSBANDS, Scholar/Senior Project Director JAY B. LABOV, Senior Scientist/Program Director for Biology Education KATHERINE W. BOWMAN, Senior Program Offcer MARILEE K. SHELTON-DAVENPORT, Senior Program Offcer INDIA HOOK-BARNARD, Program Offcer ANNA FARRAR, Financial Associate CARL-GUSTAV ANDERSON, Program Associate AMANDA MAZZAWI, Senior Program Assistant AYESHA AHMED, Program Assistant viii Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND LAW DAVID KORN (Co-Chair), Vice Provost for Research, Harvard University RICHARD A. MESERVE (Co-Chair), President, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Senior Of Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP FREDERICK R. ANDERSON, JR., Partner, McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP ARTHUR I. BIENENSTOCK, Special Assistant to the President for Federal Research Policy and Director, Wallenberg Research Link, Stanford University BARBARA E. BIERER, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Senior Vice President, Research, Brigham and Women’s Hospital ELIZABETH H. BLACKBURN, Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco JOHN BURRIS, President, Burroughs Wellcome Fund ARTURO CASADEVALL, Leo and Julia Forchheimer Professor of Microbiology and Immunology; Chair, Department of Biology and Immunology; and Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine JOE S. CECIL, Project Director, Program on Scientifc and Technical Evidence, Division of Research, Federal Judicial Center ROCHELLE COOPER DREYFUSS, Pauline Newman Professor of Law and Director, Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy, New York University School of Law DREW ENDY, Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, Stanford University, and President, The BioBricks Foundation PAUL G. FALKOWSKI, Board of Governors Professor in Geological and Marine Science, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey MARCUS FELDMAN, Burnet C. and Mildred Wohlford Professor of Biological Sciences, Stanford University ALICE P. GAST, President, Lehigh University JASON GRUMET, President, Bipartisan Policy Center GARY W. HART, Wirth Chair in Environmental and Community Development Policy, University of Colorado, Denver BENJAMIN W. HEINEMAN, JR., Senior Fellow, Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government D. BROCK HORNBY, Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Maine ALAN B. MORRISON, Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest and Public Service, George Washington University Law School PRABHU PINGALI, Deputy Director of Agricultural Development, Global Development Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation HARRIET RABB, Vice President and General Counsel, Rockefeller University BARBARA JACOBS ROTHSTEIN, Director, The Federal Judicial Center ix Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.