A former US army biodefense researcher who was a "person of interest" in the still-unsolved case of the 2001 anthrax letters and who sued the government, claiming the investigation ruined his reputation, will receive a $5.8 million settlement from the Justice Department. The FBI turned its attention on the researcher, linkurl:Steven J. Hatfill,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/20669/ in 2002 as part of its investigation of the mysterious anthrax case that caused the death of five people in 2001 and 2002. The FBI's search of Hatfill's home was covered heavily by the media, and he was named a "person of interest" in the case on national television by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, presumably because of his past work on bioterrorism. Hatfill, who trained in Zimbabwe as a physician, became an expert in bioterror pathogens as researcher at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, in Fort Detrick, Md. Some aspects of his...
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