FBI to pursue probe of suspicious Reno letter

Mary Manning and Jeff German

Friday, Oct. 19, 2001 | 9:55 a.m.

The FBI said this morning it will press ahead with an investigation into a suspicious letter sent to Microsoft in Reno even though the letter did not contain anthrax.

"We're going to continue to look into it and try to identify any violations of federal law," FBI spokesman Daron Borst said.

The FBI, Borst said, still had concerns about the way the letter caused disruption in the state.

"With the receipt of the letter and the panic that ensued, it has greatly disturbed Microsoft's business and public safety services in Reno," he said.

This came as Gov. Kenny Guinn Thursday defended the state's decision to go public last week with preliminary test results that showed anthrax was inside the letter.

The Nevada test results were contradicted Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which found no evidence of the deadly bacteria.

The CDC, however, said the letter did contain another bacteria that it still was trying to identify.

"I think it is incumbent on us to disclose results for the protection of the public," Guinn told reporters at a late afternoon news conference called to announce the conflicting CDC results. "It would have been wrong not to do it. We are playing life and death here."

Guinn, while hailing the CDC test results as "good news for us," said the federal authorities have better resources to identify the presence of anthrax in cases like this.

"We don't have sophisticated equipment like the Army and the CDC," the governor said.

In Atlanta, CDC Acting Deputy Director Julie Gerberding said the Nevada samples would be tested further in an effort to learn more about the bacteria.

"The sample we are working on right now is under evaluation and still under investigation," Gerberding said.

State epidemiologist Randy Todd said the CDC has not determined how long it will take to conduct further tests. None of the six Microsoft employees in Reno who had contact with the mail from Malaysia have experienced any sign of illness.

A Microsoft employee opened an envelope on Oct. 10 that had been sent from Malaysia and noticed water marks as if it had been opened and resealed. There was no powder or grainy substance inside the envelope, as in other suspicious incidents.

Dee Brown, chief of the state lab, said that the initial test, performed Oct. 10, indicated a rod-shaped bacteria that could indicate anthrax. However, the state needed final identification to rule out anthrax, Brown said. That triggered the state's request to the CDC for further analysis.

The CDC's current pursuit to identify the organism is "more academic" than the fear of finding a health hazard at this point, Brown said.

After the state requested that the CDC perform further tests, two samples were sent to Atlanta on Oct. 12 in a liquid solution. The third sample arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday, Gerberding said.

Sun reporter Ben Grove contributed to this story.