U.S. Settles With Scientist Named in Anthrax Cases

Hatfill Was Called 'Person of Interest'

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page A01

In this Aug. 11, 2002 file photo Steven Hatfill, gestures during a news conference outside his lawyer's office in Alexandria, Va. The Justice Department has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with Hatfill, who was named a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. He sued the Justice Department, saying it violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) (Rick Bowmer - AP)

The Justice Department agreed yesterday to pay biological-weapons expert Steven J. Hatfill a settlement valued at $5.85 million to drop a lawsuit he filed after then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft named him a "person of interest" in the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

The agreement, in which the government did not admit wrongdoing, ended a five-year legal saga. It came after months of mediation in a case that pitted investigators and major news organizations against the scientist, who said his privacy rights had been violated in the race to solve the notorious crimes.

Hatfill, who once worked at the Army's elite biological-warfare research center at Fort Detrick, Md., has always maintained that he played no role in the mailing of lethal powder to lawmakers and media figures weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said information that law enforcement agents supplied to the media cost him a job and any chance of employment.

"I don't think anyone would believe the Department of Justice would . . . pay that kind of money unless they felt there was significant exposure at trial," said Brian A. Sun, a defense lawyer who represented nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee in a leak case.

The anthrax mailings killed five people, including two postal workers at the Brentwood Road facility in the District, and sickened 17 others, spreading fear on Capitol Hill and across the country.

At a 2002 news conference, Ashcroft named Hatfill a person of interest in the wide federal investigation. Hatfill's home was searched, he was followed and his conversations were wiretapped. He lost his job as an instructor at Louisiana State University and, he said, his reputation was tarnished.

He eventually sued Ashcroft, the Justice Department and the FBI, maintaining that they had violated his constitutional rights and prevented him from earning a living. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered five reporters at news organizations, including The Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today and CBS News, to answer questions about who provided them information about the investigation and its focus.


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