The FBI may have closed its investigation of Dr. Bruce Ivins in February 2010, but the investigation of its conclusions and accusations against Ivins continues.

Paul Kemp, Ivins’ attorney, claimed the evidence the FBI relied on to impugn the Fort Detrick researcher at USAMRIID “their smoking gun” is nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.”

This member of Frederick Rotary Club listened to the attorney’s story on June 1, and had a sick feeling any one of us could face the same intrusion into our family and personal affairs.

We could be accused on the basis of inconclusive facts, as the National Research Committee found in a review of the FBI’s scientific evidence, and be hounded publicly and so badly that we become emotionally crushed.

Paul Kemp is one of the top lawyers in the Washington area. He received the prestigious John Adams Award by the U.S. District Court in Maryland for extraordinary work on the Criminal Justice Act panel representing indigents.

In the 25 minutes allotted by the club, he revealed information not widely known about FBI conduct in the Ivins case.

For instance, the FBI lost anthrax samples that Ivins supplied to it in 2002. Several years later, agents asked for additional samples, and Ivins used a different method, sending a purer virus. The FBI accused the scientist of intentionally misleading investigators when in fact the FBI was unclear about what it wanted.

They also could have gone to Frederick’s USAMRIID and withdrawn their own samples, if they had any doubt.

The FBI made a major effort to connect Ivins to the anthrax letters containing anthrax spores. It concluded the pre-stamped envelopes were only sold in three post offices: Cumberland, Elkton and Fairfax, Va., as told to three judges in order to get search warrants.

Then the FBI later added Frederick without indicating the source for that information.

Nor did the FBI get anthrax samples from other major contractors under contract with the government. The largest, Battelle, had a number of locations working with anthrax, and equipment that could create an aerosol. Yet the FBI did not pursue those leads, so certain were they that only Ivins had mailed the letters.

Kemp had been interviewed previously by National Public Radio and noted that the anthrax beaker of which Ivins was in charge was in an “open-access facility.” There was little security, only a key-entry pass. At the time, “dozens” of scientists had access to it and samples for it were sent to other federal laboratories.

In that interview, Paul Kemp revealed the undue stress placed upon the Ivins family.

On Nov. 1, 2007 the family was taken to a hotel in the Frederick area. They were placed in different rooms and not allowed to contact each other, except Dr. Ivins who, for a short period, talked to his wife with Paul Kemp present.

The children complained about their treatment by FBI agents. The daughter indicated agents reached her at her apartment in Hagerstown, indicating her father had killed five people and tried to kill many more.

The son claimed agents told him there was a $2.5 million reward for information leading to a conviction. They implied the son could purchase a nice car if he had that money.

Paul Kemp told us additional details about the supposed evidence the FBI had. Yet Kemp believes had Ivins gone to trial, he would not have been convicted.

The case will continue to make news. The U.S. Government Accountability Office is in charge of the congressional investigation and hopes to have a report competed in the fall.

No doubt Paul Kemp will be called. He is a treasure trove of information about Dr. Ivins.

Paul Gordon is a local historian, and was mayor of Frederick city from January 1990 to January 1994. His column appears weekly. You can reach him at prg202@comcast.net. To submit a letter to the editor in response to this column, log onto www.gazette.net, and click on the Speak Out tab.