Science Culture

 

To quarantine the fall-out, Bruce, personally, unfortunately, had sacrificial lamb written all over him (look away Pete Daszak).

By 2008, Bruce was fucked.  He'd gone from top, respected scientist - Pentagon Award for bio-warfare defense  - to sole suspect.  

Long before that,  there were bloggers pressing for an investigation into a Fort Detrick lab-exit event, Mueller belatedly responded - began tightening the noose, but get this, on the wrong neck.

Another scientist,  Steven Hatfill.  The FBI even outed him as their sole person of interest,  thus ensuring a full-blown media circus - Hatfill watched his own house being raided on TV at a friend's place.   He did have a reputation as a cowboy Bio-defense weapons scientist - which he was - but innocent of the Anthrax attack.   Paid-out  5.8 million from the public's purse for wrongful persecution. 

Finally, Bruce Ivins, their expert advisor, did become the FBI's chief suspect.  Quietly, this time, outside the public's eye.  Ivins did keep denying it but by the end Bruce was in deep depression, under pressure from the Feds, his professional life seeping down the gutter.  Sadly took his own life in July 2008 - an overdose of Tylenol - his wife found him dead at home - lying on his bed - a note read   Let me sleep.

The FBI said it was set to execute an arrest but he'd beaten em to it. Conveniently so - disappearing a messy public show trial - Ivins had maintained his innocence  - so there'd have been a contest.   Mueller ruled he was as a loner acting alone. Case closed.

Ivin's colleague remarked: They seemed to harp on he was a loner. He was not a loner. …. He had a lot of friends ..

Indeed, 20 to 30 colleagues showed up at his 1st & 2nd death anniversaries - he was something of a hero.

lvins was a weirdo though - make no mistake - had a not-so-secret fetish - known around the office - for secret initiations of Ivy-League sororities - that included stalking - breaking & entering. But when ya enmeshed in the fenced-off-society of the well-off science community - you'll get away with that shit - you can hide it in plain sight  - it's called: eccentricity.

He also had access to the exact same anthrax strain and a money motive.  Would it've stood up in court? - id've thought line-ball call - there was a bungle in the collection of the key evidence - the danger though, is where it may have spread. 

So it's left open-ended.  Meanwhile the real crime was: pretending Bruce Ivins dropped out of the sky

          -      it wasn't like that     -

Ivins was the inevitable result of a culture.  In this instance the science community - a close-knit society - unaccountable - monied-up - playing secret power shenanigans  with security organizations.

I don’t know much about nothin - but i know that’s a recipe for corruption.