Norton Wants Hearings on FBI and Justice Department Anthrax Investigation Suicide (8/1/08)

Congresswoman Norton (D-DC) today called for a hearing in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which she serves, on the FBI investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks following the tragic suicide of a suspect and the recent damage lawsuit settlement with a man falsely accused by the government. Norton said, "The FBI needs to come forward to explain what happened from start to finish and why it took seven years of investigation only to have this matter come to an abrupt, untimely end. I particularly want to know whether years of focus on the wrong suspect contributed to the delays that have kept the families and Postal Service employees from reaching the closure they deserve."

Norton wants to continue the oversight Congress has taken over the original anthrax tragedy that resulted in the death of two postal service employees at the Brentwood station, now named the Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. Processing and Distribution Center. The attack caused a lengthy shut-down of the House and Senate floors and parts of the Senate because letters were directed to members of the Senate.

As late as 2006, Norton asked questions at a Postal Service hearing that revealed a lack of ventilation and air conditioning at the huge V Street postal facility in the District. The Postal Service responded by agreeing to hasten the installation of state-of-the-art equipment. Afterwards, Norton inspected the facility, met with union and management, and visited with employees.

"The continuing hearings our Congress has had on postal facilities must be resumed now with the FBI and the Justice Department," Norton said. "We have an obligation not to close the case on the public's right to know. The only way to assure no repetition of the anthrax tragedy is to discover all we can about how and why it occurred and whether there were shortcomings at the U.S. Army Bioweapons Laboratory in Fort Detrick, where the suspect Bruce E. Ivins was employed, and whether others were involved, and what is being done to avoid a reoccurrence."