Exonerated anthrax suspect: FBI harassed me

Steven Hatfill was investigated for years before being cleared; no apologies

By Mike Celizic, TODAYshow.com contributor

The man falsely accused by the FBI of sending letters laced with deadly anthrax
spores has received a big settlement from the government, but never an
apology for destroying his life.What’s more, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill told TODAY’s Matt
Lauer during his first interview since the September 2001 attacks, neither the Justice Department
nor the FBI has been held accountable for breaking the law and lying in
their pursuit of him.“I love my country,” Hatfill, 56, told Lauer. But, he added, “I learned a
couple things. The government can do to you whatever they want. They can
break the laws, federal laws,
as they see fit … You can’t turn laws on and off as you deem fit. And
the Privacy Act laws were put in place specifically to stop what
happened to me. Whether we’re at war or have been attacked, the
foundation of society is that you hold to the laws in place. I used to
be somebody that trusted the government. Now I really don't trust
anything.”
No apologies
“Did they ever apologize?” Lauer asked.“No, they don’t do that. My father asked them, very
early on in the investigation. He said, ‘When all this is over, and you
find that my son had nothing to do with this, are you going to
apologize?’ And Bob Roth says, ‘No, we don't do that,’ ” Hatfill said,
referring to the FBI’s lead investigator in the case, Bob Roth.“We’ll send Martha
Stewart to jail for making false statements. What about these senior
people? Nothing’s happening. Is the Justice Department incapable of
regulating itself? Without strong regulation, the privileges we give
them to investigate us, to conduct their normal anti-crime things, can
spiral out of control.”
Hatfill said that at his worst, while unable to get a job and living with his
girlfriend, he turned to drink, the glass of wine he took to help him
relax turning into two glasses and more.“I’ve been in a lot of stressful situations over the
years. And it ends. This didn’t end. It kept going, going, going,
getting worse, worse, worse,” he said of the investigation.The anthrax attacks began in September 2001, a
week after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Letters filled with deadly anthrax spores began arriving at media
outlets and at the offices of federal lawmakers. Five people would die
in the attacks, and at least 17 others would be infected. Among those to
whom letters were addressed was NBC’s Tom Brokaw.In 2008, the government
would finally settle with Hatfill for $5.8 million, although a Justice
Department spokesperson said the department “does not admit to any
violation of the Privacy Act and continues to deny all liability in
connection with Dr. Hatfill’s claims.”Another researcher, Bruce Edwards Ivins, was
identified as the prime suspect. Ivins committed suicide after his name
was made public.
Wake of 9/11
In 2001, the immediate assumption was that the
anthrax attacks were orchestrated by al-Qaida. Amid intense media
attention, investigators attempted to determine the source of the
letters.As someone who was working on biological
warfare-related projects for a defense contractor, Hatfill, a respected
researcher, said he expected to be among those questioned. So he wasn’t
surprised when agents came by to ask him a few questions.Eventually, they asked if
they could take a look at his apartment in Frederick, Md.“I’m cooperating. I
didn’t get a lawyer or anything,” Hatfill told Lauer. He said agents
asked to swab surfaces in the apartment and promised, “It’ll be very
discreet, quiet.”“Sure,”
he replied. “Knock yourself out.”But when Hatfill walked out of his apartment
with the agents, “there were already news cameras filming me walking to
the car.” Overhead, helicopters hovered taking aerial footage. “I was
really angry,” he said.
Hatfill cooperated fully in the early stages because he had nothing to hide. He
even took a polygraph test, even though he knew that polygraphs are not
reliable and sometimes return false positive results.
‘Person of interest’
In July 2002, Hatfill was named a “person of
interest” by Attorney General John Ashcroft.As Hatfill found himself vilified in the media,
his anger grew. He told Lauer he blamed the media for the false reports
about him, not understanding that the media was reporting false
information that came from anonymous government sources.“I didn’t know this at
the time. I just thought it was the press sensationalizing things. It
wasn’t till much, much later we learned that it was actually
intentionally done by the Justice Department,” Hatfill said.Hatfill said he survived
only because he had faithful friends who refused to abandon him, even
when ordered to by the FBI.“I was fortunate that I had a band of brothers and
they never left my side. I still work with them to this day. Patriots,
soldiers, highly decorated men. And that gives you the strength, just to
be in their company, to carry on.”He is angry that the government feels that it can
tell people to abandon their friends.“I don’t know of any law that permits the FBI to go
by your closest friends and say, ‘You’re not to associate with Dr.
Hatfill.’ What they’re trying to do is socially isolate you as part of
the stress.”
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36565308/ns/today-today_people/