House Searched In Anthrax Probe

The FBI searched the home of a researcher near Fort Detrick, Md., who may have had access to anthrax while doing work for the Army base, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The researcher agreed to the search in hopes of removing himself from suspicion, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear whether the researcher was a federal worker at Fort Detrick or a worker under contract with the Army base.

"This was a consensual search for which the only qualification was potential access to anthrax," the law enforcement official said. The official said the search was not unusual in the FBI's hunt for a suspect for last year's anthrax letter attacks.

Fort Detrick, which also is home to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, has anthrax samples. The FBI is conducting voluntary lie detector tests at the base.

At the conclusion of the search, no arrests were made.

The investigation into who sent several anthrax-laced letters to two U.S. senators and to the news media last fall has produced few leads and some investigators acknowledge the trail is growing cold. The government has begun a strategy of focusing on possible sources of anthrax and casting a wide net, rather than identifying suspects from the few clues gained from the letters.

Five people died from anthrax since early October, and 13 others were infected.

The incidents came in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, sparking fears they were part of another extremist plot. But authorities later said they believed they were a domestic crime.