(4 of 6)
If there is some sort of terrorist connection, the NBC case could help nail it down. In mid-September Brokaw's assistant, Erin O'Connor, 38, came in contact with two noteworthy pieces of mail. The first contained a threatening letter and a substance that resembled sand; the woman who opened it threw away the "sand"--it raised no suspicion--and gave O'Connor the letter, which she filed. The second letter, mailed from St. Petersburg, contained a white powder; NBC reported that one to the FBI.
The bureau did not test it, though, until O'Connor developed a rash and a fever. An initial biopsy of the rash tested negative. But when O'Connor developed a dark lesion on her chest several days later, she saw an infectious-disease specialist who sent the CDC a biopsy sample. The lesion tested positive for anthrax. Now the FBI got serious about the white powder--but it tested negative. Then O'Connor's co-worker recalled the first letter, and when the FBI tested it, evidence of anthrax was found there as well. The anonymous letter, in a plain, white envelope with no return address, was postmarked Sept. 18, Trenton.
Fortunately for O'Connor, the disease is far less dangerous on the skin than in the lungs; she was never contagious and is expected to recover fully. Still, NBC and city and federal authorities are taking no chances. Parts of two floors at the network's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where Nightly News offices are located, were evacuated. Everyone who works there is being tested, including the woman who opened the Trenton letter. Brokaw delivered his broadcast on Friday evening from the Today show studios in an adjacent building.
The New York Times scare began, coincidentally, just as the NBC anthrax-test result came to light. Reporter Judith Miller, who covers the Middle East and has co-authored a best-selling book on bioterrorism, was at her desk in the Times' third-floor newsroom on West 43rd Street when she received a letter through the internal mail system.
When Miller opened the envelope, a white, talcum-like powder fell on her face, hands and sweater. A lot of it went into the air as well, and shortly after the incident was reported, she and the people working closest to her were told to move and work elsewhere. Then, after another half hour or so, the newsroom was sealed; the reporters were evacuated to the lobby while agents in haz-mat suits headed up the stairs. It wasn't until Saturday that the staff learned that the powder was almost certainly anthrax-free.
If the attacks and false alarms this week turn out to be the peak of the anthrax mailings, Americans can consider themselves lucky. The bacterium has long been the bug of choice for anybody interested in waging germ warfare. Both American and Soviet scientists perfected anthrax weapons during the cold war. Today an estimated 17 countries have germ-warfare programs, many of which include anthrax.