A month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, letters tainted with the anthrax bacteria were sent through U.S. mail processing facilities, infecting people in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington and Florida. The worst bioterrorist assault in U.S. history left five people dead, 17 sickened and some 10,000 on antibiotics. Public buildings had to be closed and cleaned at great expense; similarly expensive workplace safeguards have since been installed. Rubber gloves in mailrooms are now almost as common as envelopes. Yet three years after the anthrax mailings shocked the nation, we seem to be no closer to knowing who sent the letters. The bioterrorists are still at large.
