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Hoover Bfzfement- e @ ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED DATE 12-08-2008 BY 60324 UC BAW/RS/LSC Tama Microbiologist in the USAMRIID Division of Bacteriology. Last fall, I became concerned that the fine powder of the Daschle letter and as well as other potential anthrax letters and samples might not be adequately contained with the practices that were being used here in the Institute. I also was concerned that bé contamination of personnel might lead to contamination of areas outside the containment suites. bic Specificall repeatedly had mentioned her concern that she may have been exposed to powder and possibly contaminated. She also repeatedly voiced safety reservations about the way that incoming samples were handled during "Operation Noble Eagle." These concerns and my decisions to perform surveillance cultures and the results of those cultures are accurately described in the attached document entitled “ExSum -18 APR 02, Bruce Ivins.” The dates for the cultures taken in April are the 15® and 16", as indicated by my corrections. Also, in paragraph 2 of that document, “December of 2002” should read “December of 2001”. In response to direct questions, I have the following answers: Q. How was the Daschle letter handled? A. I worked on this letter with[__________ vas also present in the lab[___]when I was working with the powder from this letter. I received the letter fro1 in room, ‘It had already been used in the sSpecial pPathogens area. It was contained in 2 or 3 ziplocks. I carried it to the passbox in B-3. From the passbox, I took it to the hood inl____] opened it, and scraped some of the powder from the envelope and letter into a pre-weighed Wheaton vial. I was surprised at how fine the powder was. It floated around inside the hood like dust in the sunlight. After removing the powder, I wiped off the vial with bleach, put the vial ina 50 ml polypropylene tube and bleached that tube. I then sent the vial out through the passbox into the| for weighing. I showered out of B3, went to the B3 ieved the vial and tube, and went t lab. At the balance, I removed the vial from the tube and weighed the vial. After weighing, I put the vial back in the polypropylene tube, returned to B-3, put it through the passbox and, once inside B3, took it to the hood iL beain, There, I added water to the powder and did serial dilutions for plate counts. After that, the vial stayed in the lab. I took the letter in the ziplocks, bleached the outside of the ziplocks, and returned the letter in the ziplocks out through the passbox. It was returned to Special Pathogens, but I do not remember if I returned it took-or someone else did. did. I made laboratory notes that contain dates and descriptions. These notes can’t be released because they are considered evidence for the Amerithrax Grand Jury Investigation. Later, I also received vials of powder from the New York Post and Leahy and-New-YerkPest specimens. Fhese-vials The powders were already contained in tubes, and the contents had already been weighed. They came i way, through the B3 passbox. I also received some other powdered sample in-vials-fro1 that came in through the passbox, but I do not remember how these samples were packaged. Q. Did you tell anyone that you had done the surveillance cultures outside the containment area? 6 A. I mentioned lthat I was going to chee est in December and told her after I did bye it that about 1/2 of the cultures were suspicious for anthrax. I didn’t keep records or verify the cultures because I was concerned that records might be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. I was also aftaid that reporting would have raised great alarm problems-ferwithin the Institute, which at the time was very busy with the processing of samples for Operation Noble Eagle. I personally decontaminated| ] Tiesk area. wiping it down with a dilute bleach solution, and gave it little thought until the incident in B3 in April. Q. Have you had any concerns about the lab operations that might cause risk to lab personnel? A. Seeing powder float around in the| ood raised considerable seme-concern. In the future, I would not work with dried or powdered spores except itf__Jconditions. There needs to be more cleaning inside b2 the suites and maybe surveillance. There may be some laxity in Bacteriology; alse-and, from what I have bIF heard, possibly also in DSD. Most of the workers in Bacteriology are careful, but a few seme are somewhat careless.sleppy; Cleaning of B3 #s-seems to be performed mueh less than back in the 1980s. Q. Is there a regular plan for cleaning? Is the floor cleaned regularly? A. Not that I know of. I can’t remember when the lab floor was last cleaned. We used to do weekly surveillance cultures inside the B3 labs back in the 1980s, but these are almost never done now. Although there is Fhere-is-suppesedly a suite supervisor, but-there-is-net-there frequently does not seem to be much