Officer: Missing Anthrax Isn’t Related to Attacks

The anthrax spores that went missing from the Army’s top biological warfare laboratory in 1991 had been sterilized and could not have played a role in last fall’s terrorism attacks, a former senior officer at the research facility said.

But the apparent loss of biological specimens from the military research complex at Ft. Detrick, Md., reflected what officials described as a dysfunctional working environment in the early 1990s. They said the conditions contributed to security lapses and acrimony among scientists working with some of the world’s deadliest agents.