FBI renews search for anthrax at Boca media building, first step is reconnaissance

<br>BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ Federal agents wearing protective gear entered the quarantined home of The National Enquirer on Tuesday to start preparations for their new detailed search for clues to the

Tuesday, August 27th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ Federal agents wearing protective gear entered the quarantined home of The National Enquirer on Tuesday to start preparations for their new detailed search for clues to the source of deadly anthrax contamination.

Their first order of business inside the sealed headquarters of tabloid publisher American Media Inc. was to take photographs and survey the layout of the building, making sure the interior is laid out the way building plans show, police Cmdr. Maria Maughan said Tuesday.

FBI special agent Wayne Russell said the first trip inside the building was strictly for reconnaissance. He would not give details about anything the agents found Tuesday.

The FBI said initial investigations after the building was contaminated last fall were incomplete and concentrated on a mailroom and workstations used by infected employees.

The new detailed search for anthrax spores and other evidence _ which could begin Wednesday following the reconnaissance _ is to be more thorough and use newly developed techniques.

FBI officials said they expect to collect thousands of samples in hopes of finding a large amount of anthrax spores or the letter, package or other device that brought the bacteria into the building and fatally infected a photo editor in October.

``We hope this investigation will bring to justice the person or persons responsible for this horrific act,'' said Hector Pesquera, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Miami division.

Pesquera stressed that the operation ``has nothing to do'' with Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, a biowarfare expert U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has called a ``person of interest'' in the anthrax investigation. Hatfill has denied involvement.

The operation was expected to take about two weeks, Pesquera said.

AMI has had to use other offices in the area to publish its six supermarket tabloids, including the Enquirer, Globe and Weekly World News.

The building has been under federal quarantine since October, when photo editor Robert Stevens died of anthrax after becoming infected at his desk. He was the first person to die during the anthrax attacks last fall, which eventually killed five people. Another AMI worker became ill and was hospitalized for more than three weeks.

AMI CEO David Pecker said front pages from Oct. 4 editions are still plastered to the walls of the abandoned offices, and coffee cups, fish tanks and family photos are still sitting on desks.

``It's almost the anniversary of Bob Stevens' death and the family really wants to know who's responsible,'' Pecker said. ``I'm hoping that they really can find something.''

Spores delivered by mail also hit media outlets in New York and a congressional building in Washington.

While transmission by mail was suspected at AMI, investigators have never determined how anthrax spores entered the building. The original investigation did not locate a ``dissemination device'' or large quantities of spores.

``We're looking for a dissemination device such as a letter or letters, again, to generate new leads,'' said Dr. Dwight Adams, assistant director of the FBI's laboratory division.

He said investigators hoped to find spores to compare with infected letters mailed to Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

Steven Block, a Stanford University professor and bioterrorism expert, said newly developed tests can determine if the anthrax spores are from the same strain as those used in the mailings to politicians and other news organizations.

``Even if they don't have a smoking gun, they can say the anthrax is the same and therefore from the same person,'' he said.