My Sunday comment on my web site was once again about Anthrax Truthers. A couple new Truthers have appeared in recent days, the first with a theory that connects the anthrax attacks to sensational murders from the 1940s, the second with a theory that connects the anthrax attacks to the New Hampshire State Lottery.
Then I mentioned the arguments I've been having with "Anonymous" for over ten years. He continues to dig for information to support his beliefs, but it appears that all he can find is information that is either totally irrelevant or disputes his beliefs. As a result, all he seems to be able to do is complain that the responses to his FOIA requests weren't handled fast enough. I also dug into his past posts to Lew Weinstein's web site to get some idea of why he persists in trying to convince the world that only he knows the truth about who sent the anthrax letters in 2001.
But, his request for Ivins' emails might produce something of interest. There's no chance of finding anything that will support "Anonymous's" claims, of course, but the emails might help explain why Ivins was planning to build an ammonium nitrate bomb in January 2000. I had to put together a lot of very tenuous pieces to come up with an hypothesis for my book. I'd definitely like to have something more solid. Hopefully, the emails will explain something, when the FBI releases them via their vault.fbi.gov web site.
Ed
Ed, a key reason you lack credibility as a researcher is that you constantly mischaracterize what people say. On Lew's website, you will see dozens of experts and commentators who I urge to be correct in their view. They are highly qualified. They don't agree with you. Indeed, you can't name one person who agrees with your theory a First Grader wrote the letters. Not one.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to FOIA, you are not qualified to address the government's obligations under FOIA and are not familiar with the controlling precedent. You say you had put "together a lot of very tenuous pieces to come up with an hypothesis." Ha! Instead you should do proper research and obtain the relevant documents.
By the way, I did not submit that FOIA request. Please correct the numerous times you mistakenly say that. Nor did they relate to emails relating to a specific person. Please correct that also. Thanks. You need to obtain and read the relevant documents. Your rate of error is breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote: "On Lew's website, you will see dozens of experts and commentators who I urge to be correct in their view."
ReplyDeleteReally? All I see is that 99.99999% of the posts to Lew's site are from you. And NO ONE ever answers any of the questions you ask.
Urging people to be "correct in their view" seems to mean that you want them to agree with you.
I've filed FOIA requests and received positive responses. It isn't necessary to research controlling precedents, unless you just want to argue with people about why the FOIA responses are taking so long. That's your area, not mine.
You don't even know what my "hypothesis" about the ammonium nitrate bomb is, so you are not qualified to say it isn't a solid hypothesis.
Ed
Anonymous wrote, "By the way, I did not submit that FOIA request."
ReplyDeleteIt's been fixed.
Ed
The plain language "urge to be correct" means that I advocate that the many qualified experts who do not think the FBI's Ivins Theory is established be the evidence are correct. I quote them and upload their statements or the related documents.
ReplyDeleteReading and understanding things in context is at the heart of how your butcher every thing you come across.
Ed Lake raises the issue of ammonium nitrate bomb.
ReplyDeleteOn July 18, 2000, the story being told by those guilty of professional malpractice, Ivins told a mental health counselor that he had recently planned to poison his former assistant, Mara Linscott. In addition to having cyanide, the counselor claimed, he said that he had once obtained ammonium nitrate, to make a bomb.
He saw himself, Ivins said, as an "avenging angel of death."
The phrase is from a 2009 book the counselor wrote. In it, she explains she was psychotic and controlled by an alien who gave her instructions each night. She says that the alien had implanted a microchip in her butt. She says she feared astral entities who were "avenging angels of death." Each night, after 2001, she would fly to Afghanistan and WTC 1993l to do psychic reconstruction of the souls. She also conducts seances, does remote viewing, exorcisms etc. She thought murderous astral entities were attached to her clients and she would need to undergo emergency exorcisms. Given that she says she was psychotic (she was only a part-time, newly licensed counselor; she says she was protected from the diagnosis by her husband in military personnel), she would not be allowed to testify. Yet she is Ed's witness! He hasn't even read the book she wrote about her experience in 2000 and 2001! She quit the practice and moved out of the state shortly thereafter. Ha! Ed, go for it. Tell us more about your tenuous bits of evidence supporting your reliance on the first counselor's statements! p.s. Dude, if you are going to rely on her, you need to read her book.
Anonymous wrote: "Ed Lake raises the issue of ammonium nitrate bomb."
ReplyDeleteThe issue of the ammonium nitrate bomb was raised in January 2000, in sessions with Dr. David Irwin. That was months before Ivins ever attended any sessions at Comprehensive Counseling Associates (CCA) or met any of their mental health care professionals. Ivins didn't start going to CCA until May of 2000. So, trying to associate statements about the bomb with Ivins' counselor at CCA just shows how you try to distort all the facts to fit your beliefs.
Ed
Anonymous wrote: "The plain language "urge to be correct" means that I advocate that the many qualified experts who do not think the FBI's Ivins Theory is established be the evidence are correct."
ReplyDeleteThat's what I said. You believe "experts" who agree with your beliefs, even if those "experts" have no actual knowledge of the facts. And you accept their beliefs over the facts because you view beliefs and opinions as more important than facts.
I try to separate the "experts" with opinions from the experts with facts, since it's the experts with facts who actually know what they're talking about.
You rely on "experts" with opinions who don't know what they're talking about.
I rely on experts with facts who know what they're talking about.
I keep telling you that, and you've confirmed it once again.
Ed
Ha!
ReplyDeleteand in a recent comment you say that Mara's 9/17 email was not cursory.
Ha! Why do you characterize something you haven't bothered to obtain or read?
David Willman wrote in a May 29, 2011 article "A Troubled Mind" in the Los Angeles Times, that
ReplyDelete"On July 18, 2000, Ivins told a mental health counselor that he had recently planned to poison his former assistant, Mara Linscott. In addition to having cyanide, he said that he had once obtained ammonium nitrate, to make a bomb.
He saw himself, Ivins said, as an "avenging angel of death."
That actually is her phrase to describe the astral entities that for a quarter century she believed existed and were tormenting her -- trying to kill her. You need to read her book, Ed.
There is a reason quadruple hearsay is not allowed in court, Ed. That's because it is not reliable.
As the key witness in his first point supporting an Ivins Theory, Ed relies on the counselor, Judith McLean, who says who explained in a 2009 book that she was psychotic in 2000 and thought she was being pursued by astral entities trying to kill her. She says she received her instructions from an alien each night -- the alien had implanted a chip in her butt. She says she was protected from a medical diagnosis of psychosis by her husband who was in military personnel. She had only recently started her part-time gig. Ed does not read her book and yet relies on her in his point #1.2 -- without disclosing that she says she had long had a break from reality and hallucinated about "avenging angels of death." This is the sort of FACT witness Ed Lake relies upon. HE is the True Believer relying on aliens and their minions for his views. This is the sort of research he does in vetting his claims. This outrageous smear of Dr. Ivins has been central to the Ivins Theory urged by the psychiatrists and prosecutors and journalists -- who in exercise of their professional obligations had an obligation to correct the record even if Ed, the guy who is not bound by such standards, is not.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote: "Why do you characterize something you haven't bothered to obtain or read?"
ReplyDeleteIvins response indicates that she was telling him about herself and her problems. That's not "cursory."
I haven't bothered to get the email because it isn't relevant to the Amerithrax investigation. However, it does help explain the relationship that Ivins had with Mara. I'm not particularly interested in that relationship, but the email brought it up, so I wondered about some things. No big deal.
Plus, since "non-cursory" email was from Mara TO Ivins, I'm surprised that anyone got a copy. I would have expected the FBI to keep that confidential.
Ed
I would be glad to upload a copy. Indeed. Any of these things you haven't read, let me know and I'll get them right to you. It is ridiculous that you are giving your opinions -- guessing and assuming without basis what these documents, articles and books say -- when you could just have me give you a copy and be informed.
DeleteAnonymous wrote:
ReplyDelete"David Willman wrote in a May 29, 2011 article "A Troubled Mind" in the Los Angeles Times, that
On July 18, 2000, Ivins told a mental health counselor that he had recently planned to poison his former assistant, Mara Linscott. In addition to having cyanide, he said that he had once obtained ammonium nitrate, to make a bomb."
Hmmm. Interesting. Page 50 of Willman's book gives a very different picture. It says:
"Ivins told a psychiatrist that Linscott's absence had plunged him into a state of misery. The physical symptoms he'd suffered two decades earlier, after his departure from Chapel Hill and Nancy Haigwood had returned. He had thought about ways to kill Haigwood -- and how he was having homicidal ideas about Linscott, too. He said he had access to deadly materials in the labs at USAMRIID and that he had obtained cyanide, perhaps to poison a neighbor's dog, and ammonium nitrate, to make a bomb. On November 1, 1999, Ivins, while keeping his worst thoughts to himself, suggested to Linscott and Fellows that his torment stemmed from a twisted family background. He sent this e-mail to both of them ...."
So, in his book he clearly says that the bomb idea was told to "a psychiatrist" and Willman indicates it happened months before Ivins started going to CCA - either in late 1999 or in January 2000.
But, in the newspaper article, he seems to imply it was told to McLean.
Maybe it was ALSO told to McLean, since Willman says "he had once obtained ammonium nitrate," which suggests it was awhile ago.
I'll ask Willman about it.
Interesting. Thanks for bringing the discrepancy to my attention.
Ed
David Willman says he's buried in work right now and probably won't have time to research the discrepancy until sometime this summer.
DeleteEd
Ha! And has David WIllman read the book in which his key witness says that the was controlled by an alien that year who gave her instructions each night -- and that she was chased each day by astral entities trying to kill her? He interviewed Judith more than once. He got the story from her.
DeleteThe journalists and psychiatrists and prosecutors relying on Judith McLean as a witness -- those who have not retracted it -- are guilty of professional malpractice in a very very serious matter. They have all been put on notice of it many months ago and they did nothing.
DeleteEd, I am not trying to make you incur expense when I urge you to read the literature or documents or books. I would be glad to send you an online copy of Laurie Garrett's book, David Relman's Science article, Judith McLean's book and any peer reviewed article of your interest. It is important that discussion of Amerithrax -- by anyone -- be as informed as possible.
ReplyDeleteJudith McLean annotated the notes of the psychiatrists. The EBAP panel did not interview the psychiatrists but relied on the notes. That file was given the counselor in July 2008 and precipitated the events in July 2008 leading to Dr. Ivins' death. The construct of "avenging angel of death" was central to Mr. McLean's psychosis. How do I know? Because she explains it all in her lucidly written book, which was available for purchase before Amerithrax was closed for $10. Her forthrightness is in marked contrast to the failure of the professionals to correct their mistake in relying so centrally on her claims.
ReplyDeleteNow, pray tell, why was she a central witness in this multi-million dollar investigation and no one spent $10 on her book where she lucidly explains that she was controlled in 2000 by an alien who gave her instructions each night?
Amerithrax is the greatest intelligence failure in the history of the United States.
Ed Lake on aliens:
ReplyDeletewww.anthraxinvestigation.com/PhilipZack.html
Jul 13, 2008 – If you tell them that proving the negative is impossible and that you also cannot prove that aliens from outer space didn't send the anthrax letters ...
Ed Lake said
January 27, 2011 at 10:14 am
I’ve already answered that question in another thread. If, in the next 5 to 10 years, aliens from outer space are proven to be the actual culprits behind the anthrax attacks, I’ll discuss the facts on my web site and try to figure out how I was misled by the facts.
The key witness relied upon by David Willman and Ed Lake discusses the alien controlled her actions upon implanting a microchip in her butt. Ed refuses to read her discussion and thus does not realize the irony of his frequent reference to aliens.
In the past, whenever I try to post her quotes about aliens and how an alien controlled her actions in 2000, Ed deletes it. David, since it was pointed out many months ago, is too busy to research it.
It takes about 3 minutes to read the passages and confirm she wrote them.
An example of the type of passage written by his key witness that Ed Lake keeps deleting is this:
ReplyDeleteDavid Willman’s key witness’ describes her first contact with an extraterrestial:
“”My experience with beings who claim to be extraterrestial dates back to 1980 when I had my first spontaneous kundalini experience. I perceived a being appearing before me who I assumed to be Jesus. When I asked the being if he was Jesus, he said, “No” and explained that he was a savior from another planetary system. At that time, i could not assimilate the information and its subsequent impact. I had to substitute the image of Jesus from my own comfort’s sake. Since then, I have experienced many kinds of extraterrestial incidents and visitations. I concluded that most phenomena occur in the astral realms, but there are times when I have observed enttities whose energy calibrates far beyond the astral realm of consciousness.”
It seems perfectly normal to me to believe that telepathy, bilocation, and a dimensional change consciousness allow us to be in contact with life from other planetary systems and other dimensions.”
These are examples of passages that Ed deletes when I post them showing that his central witness is not a reliable witness, Too much is at stake for Ed and David not to correct their mistakes.
ReplyDelete- “The year following the September 11th terrorist attacks, I did bilocation work in both New York City and Afghanistan. As I traveled in astral form at night and back into my body in the morning, I found there were occasions where I was followed by Taliban entities. I became aware that many of the terrorists who died in Afghanistan during our war with them were the entities who followed me. They had continued their terrorist activities in the astral plane … I had to be very careful about self-protection and working with other beings of light. When I left my body at night, I went through a portal of energy that I had created. The portal of energy was a spiral vortex formed as an entrance into the astral plane. This had to be closed down after my discovery of the entities. A new portal of energy was constructed through which these entities could not follow. After a month or more of doing bilocation work in Afghanistan and at the World Trade Center site, I found myself physically exhausted. My allergies worsened, and I was aware I was bringing back toxins from the World Trade Center debris and its surrounding air into my physical body. … One form of self-protection I often use is to take the white light energy and build a geode type crystal energy shield around myself that seems impenetrable.”
— “In 1996, my mother called and informed that my cousin’s fiance was missing. The wedding was a week away and the bride, John, had disappeared. At that time, the police had insubstantial information or leads to find her. My cousin was frantic. That night in meditation, I received instructions that I should go to Joan. Using remote viewing (viewing long distance events through clairvoyance), I saw Joan in a forested area near or in a state park. I saw her lifeless body in a ravine. I bilocated my astral body to this area and tried to rouse her spirit. It seemed Joan had been drugged, causing her spirit to be confused, very groggy, and unaware of what had happened to her.”
— “As a clairvoyant, I can see these entities hanging around bars and am disgusted to see them affixing to drinking people like parasites. Parasitic entities attach themselves to the aura of the drinker and vicariously experience the sensation of drinking once more. Since alcohol, tobacco, and drugs cause ethic holes in the aura, the entity easily attaches or enmeshes itself with the energy body of the human and gratifies their lust for the substance. Heavy drinkers or drug users often come into treatment with attached entities that use them for their own etheric gratification.”
— “As a healer and psychotherapist, I treated sexually abused persons who came into therapy bringing abusive entities. It is a delicate matter bringing this up to a client. Sometimes the work of releasing this sexual predator must take place after session, while I am in meditation. The client’s belief system may not be able to handle an assertion that they may have an entity attached to them.”
Here are more passages that Ed in the past deletes so you do not realize that the witness he relies upon in his first point on his webpage is not a reliable witness:
ReplyDelete— “[I]t was evident to me that an entity had attached itself at that time. Subsequently the child’s, and later adult’s, personality changed and that of the abusive spirt came forth. I exorcised this entity from my client, but found the entity then attached itself to me with a murderous intent. It took a little help from my spirit team to get this predator away from us and into a dimension where he could do no mischief.”
— “If they are negative spirits haunting or hurting others, I sometimes call in a team of spirit helpers, or “ghost busters,” to move the entities along. Spirit releasing and exorcism should not be feared, but you do need to know what you are doing or obtaining help with this task.”
— “An entity may be witnessed going around a house and living as though they are still alive. This is the type of experience I witnessed in Cape May, New Jersey. While staying at a bed and breakfast, I realized there were three old women entities living in this 1790 house. These women were quite active in their daily routine, having tea and visiting the neighbors. One woman was aware of me and told me she stayed earth bound with her sisters since they refused to move on. We discussed her responsibility to herself, and she decided to move through to another dimension. Her sisters remained in the house. The following evening, I found our room full of hundreds of spirits from the church where these women had belonged.”
— “Some individuals have a visitation, or several visitations, from extraterrestrials or ancient illuminated beings that help cleanse away cellular memories and implanted devices. Implants are specific coding devices often used by extraterrestrials to communicate with the person or obtain information from the brain of the person.”
After 911, investigative reporter David Willman’s and poster Ed Lake's key witness did bi-location work in both New York City and Afghanistan. She explains in her fascinating 2009 book that can be downloaded:
ReplyDelete“As I traveled in astral form at night and came back into my body in the morning, I found there were occasions where I was followed by Taliban entities. I became aware that many of the terrorists who died in Afghanistan during our war with them were entities who followed me. They had continued their terrorist activities in the astral plane and were encouraged and advised by spirt adopts working negatively on the astral planes.”
–
After 911, investigative reporter David Willman’s key witness found her bi-location work in both New York City and Afghanistan exhausting. It took her 3 months to recover.
“”They had continued their terrorist activities in the astral plane and were encouraged and advised by spirit adepts working negatively on the astral planes. Once I was aware of these beings, I had to be very careful about self-protection and working with other beings of light. When I left my body at night, I went through a portal of energy that I had created. The portal of energy was a spiral vortex formed as an entrance into the astral plane. This had to be closed down after my discovery of the entities. A new portal of energy was constructed through which these entities would not follow. After a month or more of doing bilocation work i Afghanistan and at the World Trade Center site, I found myself physically exhausted. My allergies worsened, and I was aware I was bring back toxins from the World Trade Center debris and its surrounding air into my physical body. It took me three months to recover my normal energy level.”
David Willman’s and poster Ed Lake key witness (see his news articles and book) protects herself from cranky Taliban spirits, toxins and the like from the astral plane by a shield:
“One form of self-protection I often use is to take the white light energy and build a geode crystal energy shield around myself that seems impenetrable. I imagine hundreds of tiny crystals are projecting from outside the aura shell forming a barricade of crystals that reflect back negativity and protect the etheric body from absorbing astral viruses, bacteria, or negativity from the astral environment.”
–
David Willman’s and and poster Ed Lake key witness writes:
“Being very sensitive has its blessings, but also gives me a somewhat permeable energy field. I pick up telepathic thoughts with clairaudience and hear and clairvoyantly view things others cannot. But this awareness also heightens my susceptibility ot being attacked by those entities that do not want me to work for the good of humankind.”
Ms. McLean explains that in her work as a medium,
“A myriad of not only Jewish but also Russian and Gypsy spirits physically killed in pograms before and during World War II came in groups asking me for assistance.”
Dr. Ivins first therapist explains in her 2009 book that she can communicate with rocks.
“Mineral Kingdom Within the Physical Dimension”
“Shortly after my awaking,… I realized I could communicate with rocks and understand the consciousness that pervades them. … My understanding was that I needed to ask permission from rocks to move them to any new location. … ”
She describes her experience with one particularly large rock in France, a standing stone like at Stonehenge in England.
“”Imagine my surprise when the “spirt” inhabitating this huge stone asked to be released. … It indicated it had served well for thousands of years and wanted to move along in consciousness. It asked for my help. I was very surprised, never having been asked to help a stone release its spirit… Upon its release, it quickly zoomed away, and I was left to help gather consciousness from other rocks and nature to fill the void left by the essence of the stone. I wanted to meditate on this unusual occurrence, but the gatekeeper came and informed us we would need to leave…”
In her 2009 book, Dr. Ivins’ first therapist describes that the next day when she returned to those stone fields in France:
ReplyDelete“The first thing I noticed was the stones were singing. My husband was unaware of the occurrence, but humored me. …… Upon entering one field, the rocks asked me to help a large group of them move their consciousness out of the stones so they could advance in evolutionary growth and experience something else. …Dreams and melodies from these stones often floated through my sleeping and waking states in the months that followed my visit.”
In her 2009 book, Dr. Ivins’ first therapist — relied upon extensively by David Willman in his new book on Amerithrax and also relied upon by the FBI investigators and prosecutors in closing the case — describes that she also communicates with bushes and sees fairies.
“Vegetable Kingdom Within the Physical Dimension”
“On several occasions I had dreams about bushes around the yard that were not doing well and petition me for help. .. soon realized that plants also react with fear when pruned or cut for flood, which can be seen in their aura. .. All of the creatures from fairy tales seemed to have a very real existence once I became in tune with the vegetable kingdom. The most outstanding visual experience of these devas came in Ireland where these beings are not consigned only to the realm of fantasy. It is common to see huge communities of tiny intelligences with etheric wings and human-type features that I recognized as fairies.”
–
Her cats also astral travel and accompany her when she is out of town. “Currently when I travel, I often experience my three cats astral traveling and visiting me at night.”
Perhaps tomorrow David Willman could do a joint interview with his key witness. Today he wrote an article in the Washington Post in which he emphasized the importance of vetting for mental stability.
David relies on the Reverend JM as the key witness at pages 62, 63, 64, 65-66, 68, 293, 312, 313, 353, and 375n.
What vetting did he do? Did he use google? (All of this is ascertainable from google within a couple of minutes.) Is he suggesting his FBI investigator contacts were not aware of this background? Lawrence Alexander developed his sorority theory using google and so surely he knows. Does he? Someone should ask. He's too busy to correct the record on a matter this important? Why?
She explains the toll that these psychic abilities brought to her health:
“During the first years following that episode [where she was talking in tongues and the bishop told her husband to get her psychiatric help], I was extremely sensitive to light, sound, and environmental factors. I became allergic to most anything that is breathed and eaten. Those were trying times of mystical depression and alternating ecstasies.”
At the massage parlor near her home, Judith McLean says the spirits were opening up the bathroom doors at inopportune times.
She says that spirits may find it hard to move on because of their addictions. For example, someone addicted to drinking might hang out at bars.
She says that spirits are very fascinating but if you get too interested in their lives and time, they might be less interested in moving on. You can pick up bacteria from a spirit. She says she wasn’t a natural medium until her 1980 talking-in-tongues experience.
She had to throw her books on being a medium into the garbage because she was attracting too many spirits.
David Willman’s witness describes that being a medium can pose health problems:
“Mediums are also often subjected to health problems. When they merge their essence with that of another, they can easily bring back negativity in a variety of forms. Some forms of negativity are mental and astral viruses, confusion, agitation and untruths.
…
“”There are many reports of long term immune system problems, nervous system impairment, and psychological illness resulting from mediumship.”
In describing her work as medium, she reports that “I have visitations from countless Jews in my meditation. At first they came one or two at a time and later in large groups. This occurred in the year when the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. was about to open. Most of these spirits indicated that they had died in the pogroms and concentration camps of World War II.”
ReplyDeleteShe says that one family that visited her (in her work as a medium) asked her to take a white rose to the museum — and she obliged.
She says that in her work as a medium, some of the spirits are cranky — particularly the Taliban.
David Willman’s key witness (see his featuring of her claims in his lead articles written for major media outlets): “As my mediumistic skills grew through researching genealogy and spirit releasing work, I realized deceased spirits are like humans. Some are wonderful and loving, and others are cranky oar “mean spirited. … While I had a few encounters with negative spirits, particularly with the Taliban after September 11th, they have been very few and far between.”
On a trip to Egypt, David Willman’s and Ed Lake's featured witness was psychically attacked in the catacombs of Alexandria:
“In the catacombs of Alexandria, I felt a dreaded sense of evil and was psychically attacked. I quickly left the catacombs with a couple of others who helped me to spiritually ward off these entities. The rest of the group remained in the catacombs. Following that excision, many of the group members became ill. I was able to clairvoyantly see attached entities, astral forms and debris, thoughtforms, and etherics poisons in their fields.”
She describes her visions and personal experience with mediumship:
“My own experience with visions is long and varied… Psychic visions and skills have at times led me into delusional realms of information, so learning discernment has been a primary goal. Its importance cannot be underestimated.”
Amerithrax represents the greatest intelligence failure in the history of the United States and that is because proponents of an Ivins Theory are not correcting their mistakes.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI think the eleven messages you've just posted (12 including the email you sent me) say more about you than about Judith McLean.
You've certainly made it clear that you cannot discuss any subject intelligently.
I'll be deleting all further comments from you that relate to Judith McLean. You've made your opinions clear.
Ed
Ed began by the conversation by saying he relies on experts who know the FACTS. HA!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I'm working on the "Notes & References" section of my book, and adding the footnote numbers to the text.
ReplyDeleteI just added footnote #8 to chapter 28. It relates to a statement by Ivins from FBI pdf file #847443, page 35 which says:
"IVINS obtained a copy of the request form he submitted for a government vehicle to travel to Covance in Denver, Pennsylvania in the fall of 2001. He had also assembled some documents with information about the Dugway spore inventory and what he was working on in the fall of 2001, which was mostly "desk work."
So, Anonymous, there's another FOIA request chore for you. Ivins said he was doing mostly "desk work" at the time you claim he was busy testing and caring for rabbits. Ivins appears to have presented the FBI with documents saying he wasn't busy at all at that time. Maybe you should obtain those documents. They may help cure you of at least one of your fantasies.
Ed
To the contrary, yesterday I uploaded uploaded Attorney Paul Kemp's presentation about his meetings with the FBI at which Dr. Ivins presented his lab work relating to the hours of their interest. Judging from your post, you are unfamiliar with what Attorney Kemp explained. I've also uploaded the actual underlying documents obtained over the course of two years under FOIA.
ReplyDeleteHa! Does Ed Lake even know how many desks there were in the B3 with the 52 rabbits?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote: "yesterday I uploaded uploaded Attorney Paul Kemp's presentation about his meetings with the FBI at which Dr. Ivins presented his lab work relating to the hours of their interest. Judging from your post, you are unfamiliar with what Attorney Kemp explained."
ReplyDeleteI've watched the Kemp presentation. I commented on it at length in the December 5, 2010 (A) comment on my web site.
Mostly it's a distortion of the facts. Some of it is just plain wrong. It's a defense lawyer's pathetic attempt to try to raise "reasonable doubt" in the mind of the jury (or in this case, the public).
Kemp states that if you delete something on your computer it actually remains there forever unless you take it somewhere to have it erased or unless you reformat your hard drive. That's nonsense. It remains there only until the space is re-used, which could be five minutes after you deleted the material.
He keeps ranting about the FBI losing or accidentally destroying the February sample that Ivins submitted. That's total nonsense. Terry Abshire held onto the February sample until it was replaced by the April sample. Then she destroyed the February sample because it was no longer needed.
Kemp keeps ranting about how Ivins wouldn't have submitted a real sample from flask RMR-1029 in February if he was guilty. That's nonsense. In February, Ivins had no idea what the FBI was looking for, and the spores he put into the letters didn't come directly from flask RMR-1029 anyway, so there was no reason for Ivins to think that spores from RMR-1029 could prove anything.
Everything that Kemp says is either a misunderstanding of the facts or a misrepresentation of the facts. It could all be shot down item by item in court.
Having watched 2 hour long videos on computer forensics this past week -- to include the one by the contractor the DOJ uses -- I believe you are mistaken. (One of the computer people speaking had been former FBI in San Francisco; he testifies as an expert frequently). He explained that it typically typically will never be overwritten because the space typically might never be needed. (I believe he said it goes to unallocated space). Might it someday be overwritten? Yes. But the FBI's expert explains is a fallacy that when deleted it is deleted -- it merely is no long visible to the usual user. That's why computer forensics is such an important tool for the FBI. It is especially important tool in looking for pornography of underage girls. The point is a trap for the unwary who think the child pornography has been deleted when it wasn't. Here, computer forensics showed that he had done nothing to destroy evidence. And no evidence implicating in any way in the anthrax mailings was in fact found.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a citation for your claim that Terry Abshire destroyed the sample? No? And putting aside who destroyed, do you have a source for when it was destroyed? No? Terry Abshire is the one who made a dried powder out of virulent Ames that was genetically matching. She was the one who told the FBI she kept the genetically matching virulent Ames in a tupperware tub in the unlocked refrigerator. She is the one who in one interview told the FBI that she didn't know how she had come to have the Ames. But I am looking for your authority for the claim that she threw out Dr. Ivins. That sample would have shown that the Ames she used to make dried powder was genetically identical to the Ames that was mailed.
Perhaps you should link Attorney Kemp's audio so that people can see your inapt use of the term "ranting" and so that they can see the video themselves of the attorney who is familiar with the facts of the November 2007 meeting with the FBI. If she threw it out, then GAO would apply a standard conflict of analysis. Its investigators are expert in how such conflict of interest rules apply.
Anonymous wrote: "He explained that it typically typically will never be overwritten because the space typically might never be needed."
ReplyDeleteI was talking from experience. I worked for 20 years in the computer business, and there were occasions when someone accidentally deleted something they didn't want to delete, and they asked my help to get it back. So, I'd run the restore program to do that - and to see IF it was still there.
All the delete program did was delete the entry in the index. And "restoring" would going through the actual files and put stuff back into the index.
If they didn't free up the space, everyone would be constantly running out of space. Just think about how much your computer downloads when you merely look at the current news. Have you ever heard of ANYONE needing to take their computer into the "shop" to have their hard drive "cleaned up"?
"Do you have a citation for your claim that Terry Abshire destroyed the sample?"
Terry Abshire was maintaining the FBIR inventory in Building 1412. Who else would have done it?
"That sample would have shown that the Ames she used to make dried powder was genetically identical to the Ames that was mailed."
So what? The sample was sent to Abshire in February 2002. The letters were mailed in September and October 2001.
"Perhaps you should link Attorney Kemp's audio so that people can see your inapt use of the term "ranting" and so that they can see the video themselves"
There are links to the videos in my December 2, 2010 comment. I don't see any need to provide new links just because you brought up the subject again.
Ed
Ed says he is talking from experience. He says he worked for 20 years in the computer business and describes using off-the-shelf software designed to restore material. I, in turn, am relying on the FBI's computer forensics expert. Ed is mistaken. Attorney Kemp is correct. Kemp is a former DOJ prosecutor and very likely regularly consults with computer forensics people in his litigation and defense work given how important the field has come to be in litigation.
DeleteI am relying on two experts, whose hour long course on the subject is online (and I watched this week).
First, Albert Barsocchini is an internationally recognized expert in e-Discovery (patent litigation), international and national privacy and protection, compliance, audit and corporate investigations. He writes and lectures frequently on these topics.
Brent Botta
Brent Botta is a Senior Computer Forensic Investigator for Guidance Software. Upon achieving a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1997, Brent was immediately hired by the Georgia Secretary of State's office as a Special Agent for a Major Fraud and Telemarketing White Collar Crime Unit as a computer forensic investigator. In 1999, Brent was employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's CART Team as a full time computer forensic examiner in which he was the forensic lead on more than 100 state and federal search warrants.
Ed Lake offers no support for the timing that the February 2002 sample was discarded.
DeleteNor does he offer any support for his claim that it was Terry Abshire who threw it out. Ed merely asks: "Who else would have done it?"
He should not be making factual assertions without a factual basis.
When talking about throwing out a sample that was genetically matching to the anthrax that killed 5 people, one should not make the assumption such as he did.
That would have proved that the Ames that she and JE made a dried powder out of 2001 was genetically identical to what was mailed. It was thrown out by an unidentified FBI scientist when it was collected for evidence in February 2002. The question not yet established by the record is who shot it out, who was consulted etc. Sometimes the documents refer to an "FBI scientist."
The person who threw it out and the consultations made need to be established by the GAO. The same applies to the destruction of the anthrax in Ames, Iowa. Dr. Keim says he was not consulted.
Then an analysis of any conflict of interest and destruction of evidences issues need to be addressed.
Anonymous wrote: "Ed says he is talking from experience. He says he worked for 20 years in the computer business and describes using off-the-shelf software designed to restore material. I, in turn, am relying on the FBI's computer forensics expert. Ed is mistaken. Attorney Kemp is correct."
DeleteBelieve what you want to believe. It just proves you don't understand computers any better than you understand science.
You're misinterpreting things to make them fit your beliefs --- as usual.
Ed
Anonymous wrote: "He should not be making factual assertions without a factual basis.
DeleteWhen talking about throwing out a sample that was genetically matching to the anthrax that killed 5 people, one should not make the assumption such as he did."
Very funny. But, you think it's okay for Paul Kemp to make one ridiculous claim or assumption after another?
In the videos, Kemp claimed that Ivins delivered one sample to Paul Keim in Arizona and another to the FBI. That's totally preposterous. Kemp claimed that the FBI either broke or threw out their sample, but Keim kept his as a good scientist should. Nonsense.
BOTH of the February 2002 slants (along with six other slants) were hand delivered by Pat Fellows to Terry Abshire - probably in building 1412. (Ivins broke chain of custody rules when he had Pat deliver them.)
Abshire logged them in, put the FOUR odd-numbered slants into safe storage in the FBIR at USAMRIID and shipped the FOUR even numbered slants to Keim in Arizona. They were the first samples for the FBI Repository and no one was ready to start testing the samples.
In April, there were other samples in FBIR, and Abshire or an assistant evidently noticed that Ivins' four slants were obviously not made the same way as the other slants in the FBIR collection. They would have looked like apples in a basket of oranges. So, they asked Ivins for replacement slants.
Good laboratory procedures would dictate that they would hold onto the original four slants until the replacements arrived. Then, when the four replacements arrived in April, the four odd numbered slants would be put into the FBIR, the four even numbered slants would be sent to Paul Keim, and the FOUR originals from February would be destroyed.
Keim had no idea what any of the samples meant. He was doing blind tests.
Years later, when someone working with the FBI noticed that there was a discrepancy in the records, and that Keim had copies of the FOUR February samples that USAMRIID no longer had in the FBIR, they asked Keim for the sample taken from flask RMR-1029 by its number.
Keim went to the locked cabinet where all the "chain of evidence" samples were kept, and he sent the slant to USAMRIID per their request. He had no idea what it was or what it represented. It was just another numbered sample in his "chain of evidence" locker.
So, everyone was doing everything correctly. There was no carelessness, as Kemp implies. The FBIR slants kept at USAMRIID had to all be made the same way, otherwise their evidence could be challenged in court. Keim was doing different kinds of tests that didn't require that everything be made the same way.
No one knew in February 2002 that Ivins was the anthrax killer. If they had known, they would had assumed that he was deliberately creating slants that could not be used in court. And they would have used BOTH slants from RMR-1029 as evidence, not just the one that Keim kept.
Ed
Anonymous,
DeleteIf you want to fantasize that everything remains on the hard drive until it's "scrubbed" out by taking it to some repair facility, that's up to you.
But, you should also check out what "fragmentation" means. I believe you use an Apple computer. I wasn't sure that Apple products work the same way as Microsoft products do when it comes to fragmentation, so I looked it up. Yup. Apple works the same way.
Here's a statement from Apple Support describing how defragmenting will help your computer to operate faster and WHY:
"Fragmentation occurs when files are deleted and created. For example, suppose you create three files, then delete the second one. If you save a fourth file, which is larger than the size of the second file, the Macintosh file system may put a portion of the fourth file in the space occupied by the second file, and put the remainder after the third file. To access the entire file, the system has to look in two places."
If someone deletes his huge porn collection, some of the files will be written over the next time he saves something, but the rest will remain there until he gradually writes over everything.
Your belief that nothing gets written over is PREPOSTEROUS, no matter how may "experts" you misunderstand or misinterpret.
Ed
Ed,
DeleteYou rely on your experience 15 years ago with off-the-shelf software relating to recovery of deleted files.
What the FBI uses is far more sophisticated that the off-the-shelf software available to you then (or now).
Ed,
DeleteYou don't even read the Amerithrax articles as they come down!
Anonymous wrote: "What the FBI uses is far more sophisticated that the off-the-shelf software available to you then (or now)."
DeleteYour ignorance of computers is amazing. Maybe you watch too much TV. If a 0 or 1 (magnetized or not magnetized) bit in any kind of computer file is changed, there is NO WAY to recover what it was before. Period. Therefore, if a file is written over, all the zeros and ones are changed. Recovery is impossible.
However, your vast misunderstandings may result from the fact that some files are not actually deleted but are moved into the "Recycle Bin." And you need to then delete them from there when the "Recycle Bin" gets too full. But, once deleted from the "Recycle Bin" they will still be gone forever when they are over-written.
On Microsoft computers, pressing the Delete key will just move the file to the "Recycle Bin." But pressing the Delete key AND the Shift key will permanently delete the directory information for the file. And, once the file is written over, no one can recover it. Period.
It's not about sophisticated software. It's about physics. A bit contains no memory of what it was before. Therefore it is physically impossible to figure out what it was before by just looking at the bit.
Ed
Anonymous wrote: "You don't even read the Amerithrax articles as they come down!"
DeleteNow you're just being silly. In case it's slipped your mind, I have a web site where I not only comment on articles "as they come down," I also provide links to them. My site has thousands of links and ten years of my comments about the articles.
Ed
There are probably dozens of places on the Internet where the process of deleting and restoring files is described. There's one HERE. It says:
ReplyDelete"When a file is deleted from your computer, you just lose the file entry in My Computer. The file content still exists on the hard disk, Windows simply marks the hard drive space as being available for use so that you can write new files. If you manage to start an undelete process before Windows uses that part of the hard drive to write a new file, all you have to do is set that flag back to "on" and you get the file.
Obviously, the sooner you try to restore a file, the more successful you'll be."
Ed
Another ridiculous "rant" from Paul Kemp in the videos is the way he repeatedly stated how Ivins went to the grand jury room without a lawyer, and how that somehow shows his innocence.
ReplyDeleteIt does nothing of the kind. You can't take a lawyer into the Grand Jury room. So, Ivins would have had to pay Kemp or some other lawyer hundreds of dollars per hour just to sit on a bench in the hall outside - plus travel time.
Ed
Okay, given what's above in this thread, this is a TAD off-topic (mea culpa!), but I'm intrigued: what does the movie THE CELL have to do with Amerithrax/the probability of Ivins' guilt/the price of tea in China? I didn't see THE CELL when it came out, but in recent years I've seen it a few times on CD and it never occurred to me that it was in any way related to Amerithrax (except for people being killed!). Am I missing something?!?
ReplyDeleteRichard Rowley wrote: "what does the movie THE CELL have to do with Amerithrax/the probability of Ivins' guilt/the price of tea in China?"
ReplyDelete1. The movie "The Cell" starred Jennifer Lopez and was about a psychiatrist who possessed new technology to enter a person's mind and wander around in there to help solve mental problems.
2. The movie "The Cell" came out in 2000 and would have come out on video in early 2001.
3. Ivins was looking for a psychiatrist who could help him solve his mental problems.
4. Ivins was constantly talking with women about his mental problems, and he would have been very intrigued by a movie where a woman fully understands what's going on in someone's mind.
5. Someone sent a letter to Jennifer Lopez just prior to the anthrax attacks c/o the Sun newspaper. A lot of people thought it was the anthrax letter because it contained a powder. But the powder was laundry detergent.
6. Ivins once sent laundry detergent to either Mara or Pat Fellows to see if she could figure out who sent it. He signed the letter with the detergent "Laundry Boy."
7. Ivins occasionally sent packages to Mara and Pat that contained items that were "codes" and required deciphering the code to figure out who sent the items and what they meant.
8. The Jennifer Lopez letter contained detergent and a bunch of mysterious items that needed decoding: a cigar tube, a Jewish star pendant, etc.
9. Ivins sent the anthrax letter to The National Enquirer, which was owned by the same company as The Sun. And he apparently liked reading those kinds of tabloids.
So, the question is: Did Ivins mention "The Cell" in any of his emails? If he did, an hypothesis can be developed to suggest that Ivins sent the Jennifer Lopez letter to The Sun.
If Ivins mentioned the movie "The Cell," it wouldn't be proof that he sent the J-Lo letter, but it would make a pretty good hypothesis. It would fit all the facts, and there would be no facts to say otherwise.
Of course, it wouldn't prove that Ivins sent the anthrax letters, but it would prove that he sent the letter that a lot of people believe was the anthrax letter. (DXer rants endlessly about how he thinks it was sent by al Qaeda and contained al Qaeda codes.)
It would show that Ivins really liked using the mails to do strange things. And, it would probably prove a few other things about how Ivins' mind worked, too.
Ed
Ramzi Binalshibh used "Jenny" as code with Atta in communications in August 2001 or so regarding a key hijacker. "Marriage" is Al-Qaeda-speak (code) for event.
DeleteA planned marriage refers to a planned attack.
The letter to the National Enquirer concerned Jenny's planned marriage -- which is the subject of the letter to National Enquirer.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteTerry Abshire was Dr. Ezzell's main assistant.
According to page 78 of the FBI Summary report:
"On or before March 28, 2002 – the date the FBIR was officially up and running and had received its first sample, FBIR001 – Dr. Ezzell’s lab technician advised Dr. Ivins and his lab technician that their submissions were not prepared according to the protocol."
Ed