Anthrax killer Bruce Ivins: alcoholism explained the behaviors.
Bruce Ivins, anthrax suspect. Verdict: alcoholic.
Bruce E. Ivins, PhD, was a leading scientist researching vaccines and cures for anthrax exposure. Until 2006, he was also one of the key members of the team investigating the October 2001 anthrax attacks. About a year ago, he emerged as the prime suspect in the one of the longest and most frustrating government investigations ever. A federal affidavit says he was the “sole custodian”of the unique strain of anthrax that killed five Americans and sickened 17 others. It asserts he was inexplicably working late on the nights before the deadly mailings and had not spent so many late-night hours in his lab “at any time before or after this period.”It states he purposely provided the wrong material when asked for samples. He had a decades-long obsession with a sorority with a chapter 60 feet from the only mailbox where spores from the letters were found. Learning he was going to be charged with five counts of murder, Ivins committed suicide.
If government investigators and those in management understood alcoholism, he might have been suspected far earlier, not only saving taxpayers millions but maybe even preventing the frightening episode from ever occurring.
Steven Hatfill was the first person of interest in the anthrax investigation, which is estimated to have cost the government at least $16 million. After realizing it had erred in focusing on Hatfill (awarding him $5.8 million for his trouble), Ivins, 62, came under scrutiny. He reportedly became distraught and died from a “prescription drug overdose”on August 1, with only Tylenol, a non-psychotropic drug, mentioned in initial news reports.
The “prescription”part, along with his reaction to being a target (consider the fact that the exonerated Hatfill didn’t commit suicide while under scrutiny for a far longer period), offered addictionologists clues to the likelihood of psychotropic drug addiction. However, evidence is not gold standard proof.
A dozen news reports and several days later, there was still no mention of heavy alcohol or other drug use in Ivins’ past. Instead, several items focused on a social worker, Jean C. Duley, who claimed that Ivins had stalked and threatened to kill her and she was “scared to death”of him. The addiction-aware might at first figure such threats as additional evidence of Ivins’ addiction. However, Duley has a 15-year police record including a DUI, at least two dropped arrests for DUI and dismissed charges for battery and possession of drug paraphernalia. Since Duley is, therefore, an addict, maybe she falsely accused Ivins, who might be just another Steven Hatfill. And while Duley works with (ironically enough) prescription drug addicts and had counseled Ivins, there was (and still is) no mention that he was being treated for addiction. In fact, she may have been a classic therapist enabler”she is reported to have met with Dr. Ivins in weekly therapy sessions for the past six months. No explanation was given as to the reason she continued meeting with someone she considered a stalker.
Two statements by his brother, however, provided additional behavioral evidence that Ivins might be alcoholic. “He has a master’s degree, and other degrees. He thought he was omnipotent.”Chapter 4 in How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics details specific behavioral clues to alcoholism, listed generically as “A Supreme Being Complex.”A God-like sense of self is a terrific clue to alcoholism. Most people with degrees do not consider themselves or act like God. Further, even his brother conceded that Bruce may have been the anthrax mailer, since “he considered himself like a God.â€
Long before the Addiction Report existed, I suggested to friends that the anthrax culprit”just like most wrongdoers”would prove to be an alcoholic. Few others inflict harm on innocents to make a point, whether over outright hatred or a sick love for an America that “wouldn’t listen”and develop a viable vaccine against anthrax (the best alcoholic twisted-logic excuse offered so far for his actions). While the government rushed to develop prevention plans and policies to prevent similar attacks, only months earlier the alcoholic FBI agent, Robert Hanssen (see the July 2007 TAR for the review of “Breach,”the movie about the story), was arrested for selling more secrets to the Russians than any American ever, before or since. Despite the damage these two have done, there was has been no public discourse over the idea that alcoholics need to be identified and treated or fired, especially when involved with top-secret work and clearances.
Five days after his death, the first kernels of proof of Ivins’ alcoholism could be unearthed in the 24th paragraph of an article (“Documents link U.S. anthrax scientist to terrorism warning”by David Stout and Scott Shane) in the International Herald Tribune, which mentioned that the “prescription”part of the fatal overdose included codeine. While codeine is a painkiller for non-addicts it’s a psychotropic drug for addicts. So it’s possible he’s a non-addict who happened to get his hands on a bottle of Tylenol with codeine. However, in the coup de grace several paragraphs later friends and colleagues were quoted as saying that Ivins was so distraught by the FBI’s constant scrutiny he began “drinking excessively”and had to be hospitalized twice for “substance abuse.”A friend and fellow member of “a 12-step program for alcoholics”said that Ivins had not been a “drinker”in recent years. Perhaps, but the clear implication is he was a “drinker,”code-word for “alcoholic,”in prior years. Stress, including that created by an FBI search with agents questioning one’s spouse and children, can trigger a relapse. Since the house search over seven months ago another friend said Ivins was drinking “large amounts of vodka, combined with Ambien and prescription tranquilizers,”providing all the proof we need to diagnose alcoholism. As regular readers of these Reports and my books are aware, alcoholism is triggered at an average age of 13, not 62. The likelihood that Ivins’ God-like sense of self was rooted in a sick alcoholic mind borders on 100%. The need to be right regardless of cost, as well as the desire to control others, most likely impelled him to release anthrax to “prove his point”about the need for a vaccine.
Not only can we as individuals benefit from identifying the addicts in our lives, but also the country can as well. Journalists everywhere reported that “Ivin’s possible motive remains unclear.”Bio-warfare expert Elisa D. Harris said that in order to develop plans and policies that will prevent future attacks it’s important to know how the attacks were executed. However, those who understand that alcoholics need no motive grasp the idea that we need to prevent practicing addicts from gaining access to weapons and secret clearances and coerce as many of as possible into sobriety. If we get addicts sober, we eliminate over 80% of the people who would attack others and greatly reduce the need for plans and policies that would protect us from such people. And as I have said many times before in these pages, journalists can help forge the link between alcoholism and misbehaviors. They could start by informing the public of a suspect’s alcohol or other drug addiction closer to the 1st paragraph and at the inception of such reports rather than burying such crucial information in the 24th paragraph almost a week later.
Because the amazing “enablers of the month”are all connected to this story, we’ll present the follow-up stories in a slightly different order than usual. Here you go: