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"The bureau was caught almost as unaware and unprepared as the public was for these events." -- Bill Tobin, retired FBI scientist.
The FBI is in a mad scramble to find out who was responsible for the anthrax attacks and so far the government's premier sleuths have failed miserably.
The stumbling, missed chances and missteps in the investigation defy belief and the Feds' performance makes the Keystone Cops look like a slick, sophisticated operation.
For instance, more than one month after the most serious bio-terrorism attack in the nation's history, the FBI has failed to even identify and locate all the laboratories in the country that store samples of the deadly bacteria.
With the fear of bio-terrorism well known as a threat since the Gulf War more than a decade ago, you'd think the agency charged with the responsibility for anti-terrorism would already have an inventory of such facilities. But not the Fumbling Bumbling Idiots.
A simple directive to the 56 FBI field offices to locate all laboratories within their jurisdictions would have been a start. No one from the bureau has been able to offer an explanation as to why the lab count is so difficult.
Putting that failure aside, what followed underscores why the FBI, already a mess before the terrorist attacks, is in need of radical reform, if not outright elimination, for being an ineffective, irreparable bureaucracy.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was justifiably livid when he learned the FBI had waited five days before alerting him about a suspicious letter that arrived at NBC News headquarters -- a letter the bureau still had not tested.
Of course, as we know now, it contained anthrax, and it's reasonable to say lives might have been saved and those exposed to the disease could have sought medical attention more quickly had the FBI shared its little secret.
A furious Giuliani ordered the City of New York to take over the testing and local police agencies began tracking the anthrax terror, as FBI agents got their shoes shined, nails manicured and had their blue suits pressed.
The average big city police officer typically is more experienced, has more street savvy, works harder and is more dedicated than his typical counterpart in the FBI. The nation will be better off when we realize local law enforcement is invaluable in thwarting terrorism and is currently a virtually untapped resource in that cause.
Now the FBI reports the strain of anthrax found on the letters to NBC, the New York Post and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle came from the same source and was probably sent by the same person. That's vital information, but here's the rub.
The anthrax comes from the Ames strain originally isolated at Iowa State University. Within that strain, however, there are distinct genetic markers and differences.
Anthrax spores collected over 70 years, including the Ames strain, were stored in more than 100 vials at Iowa State. When the anthrax attacks began, university officials, worried about security, called the FBI for advice. Big mistake. They would have been better off calling Oprah, Howard Stern or even Jerry Springer.
The FBI urged that the spores be destroyed and that's exactly what Iowa State did, and in so doing ruined an opportunity to learn where the anthrax used as a tool of terrorism originated.
Scientists could have compared the signature DNA of the anthrax in the letters with the DNA of the anthrax in the Iowa State archive. And then the carefully documented trail of the bacteria's distribution could have been checked and that would have given investigators important clues about which lab had it and perhaps even the killer's identity.
But no, that can't be done now. Bill Tobin, a former FBI scientist, says the bureau just doesn't grasp the importance of following the flow of scientific data, noting that this critical information "just doesn't make it into criminal investigations."
Besides a badge, a gun and a blue suit, most FBI agents receive a heavy dose of arrogance. Destroying the Iowa State anthrax samples was a serious mistake and whoever the arrogant non-scientist from the FBI is who made the decision should be condemned to polishing the bust of J. Edgar Hoover's ugly head at the bureau headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Attorney General John Ashcroft should put doing something to make the FBI better at the top of his agenda, or perhaps dismantling it and assigning its functions to other federal agencies. But he is too busy trampling on the Constitution and nullifying basic freedoms to deal with the FBI abomination.
Ashcroft now says it's proper to eavesdrop on conversations between lawyers and those rounded up and jailed since the Sept. 11 attacks. I hesitate to call these people "suspects" since, if they are, it's about time the government charges them with crimes.
Ashcroft says the eavesdropping is necessary so the Justice Department "is able to respond to current intelligence and law enforcement concerns relating to threats to the national security or risks of terrorism or violent crimes."
If the government believes someone in jail and his or her lawyer are plotting a crime, it can already do something -- go to a judge, outline the evidence and get a search warrant. That's the way it works in a democracy.
But Ashcroft doesn't want any judicial monitoring. What he's basically saying is, "If I believe the evidence is sufficient, it's sufficient." Most of the public seem content to accept this intrusion as necessary. It isn't and it's very dangerous.
The legal community and the media ought to be howling about this unprecedented move, which puts innocent people under suspicion into a terrifying nightmare, destroys the confidentiality of the attorney-client relationship and eliminates the judicial system as an independent voice in the criminal justice system.
The idea of the government arbitrarily and unilaterally deciding to listen in on conversations between lawyers and clients is outrageous and repugnant to the American system and spirit.
President Bush, who ran for office with themes like "Big government is bad" and "You can't trust the federal government," now wants us to trust government in the most private and privileged places.
Fix the mess at the FBI. Don't use creeping fascism in the struggle against terrorism. Don't end the quest to save democracy by destroying it.