James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction with training & analysis

Research Story of the Week

Tracking Anthrax Hoaxes and Attacks

Clayton Lee Waagner, anthrax hoax suspect.

By Laura Snyder and Jason Pate

Much attention has been paid to the anthrax letters sent last fall to major media outlets and two U.S. senators that resulted in five deaths and 17 non-fatal infections. However, in the midst of the turmoil in late 2001, it largely escaped attention that more than 750 “hoax” letters claiming to contain anthrax were sent worldwide in October and November. More than 550 of these hoax letters were sent to abortion clinics in the United States by a single group called the Army of God.

This was not the first time that abortion clinics were the victim of anthrax hoaxes. In 1998, at least 12 clinics received letters that claimed to contain anthrax, followed by more than 35 such letters in 1999 and over 30 in 2000. Indeed, from 1998 to September 2001, more than 400 anthrax hoaxes occurred in the United States.

THE LETTERS

First Wave: On October 15, 2001, the same day the anthrax-tainted letter was found in Senator Daschle’s office, nearly 300 family-planning centers received letters purporting to be from U.S. government agencies.[1] The letters, which listed either the U.S. Marshals Service or the U.S. Secret Service as the return address, were also labeled “Time Sensitive—Urgent Security Notice Enclosed.” When opened at abortion clinics around the nation, the envelopes turned out to contain threatening letters from the Army of God, a radical anti-abortion group that has been associated with multiple attacks against abortion doctors and clinics. Accompanied by threatening white powder, later identified as a relatively harmless insecticide, the letters warned recipients that they had been exposed to the bacterium that causes anthrax and described in detail the symptoms of the disease.[2] The letters also cautioned the reader to call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for treatment.[3]

This wave of hoax letters was concentrated in the South and the Northeast. According to an analysis of 272 letters by the National Abortion Federation, Florida received the most letters (68), followed by Pennsylvania (50), and Ohio (29). Almost all of the October letters were postmarked in Knoxville or Chattanooga, Tennessee; Cleveland or Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; or Washington, D.C.[4]

Second Wave: On November 7, 2001, more than 250 Army of God anthrax hoax letters were received by clinics and advocacy groups.[5] These letters were sent in FedEx envelopes and purported to be from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America or the National Abortion Federation; the sender had somehow obtained the NAF and Planned Parenthood FedEx account numbers and forged the envelopes. This was the first time that FedEx packages had been used to deliver the anthrax threats.

Thirty-one of the letters in this second wave were concentrated in New England, and 20 others were received in the Mid-Atlantic states. One explanation for the fact that very few hoax letters were received on the West Coast is that many of the letters were stopped in transit after postal authorities learned of the other hoaxes.

THE INVESTIGATION

In late November 2001, fugitive Clayton Lee Waagner claimed responsibility for both waves of anti-abortion anthrax hoaxes. Waagner, 44, of Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, had escaped from an Illinois county jail in February 2000 while awaiting sentencing for weapons possession and auto theft. He has known ties to the Army of God and claimed that God had called on him to murder abortion providers and to attack clinics.

Waagner’s obsession with abortion doctors and clinics began in September 1999, following a funeral service that was held after his daughter suffered a miscarriage. He claims that God called on him to “be [his] warrior and kill abortion doctors.”[6] In a statement posted online in June 2001, Waagner declared: “I am anointed and called to be God's Warrior. And in that call I am protected by THE MOST HIGH GOD.”[7] According to Neil Horsley, an Army of God member whom Waagner supposedly visited over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2001, Waagner claimed to have identified 42 abortion clinic workers he was planning to kill.[8]

On December 5, 2001, Waagner was captured outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, and on January 25, 2002, he was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for illegal possession of firearms, theft, and breaking out of prison.[9] On April 18, 2002, Waagner was convicted on six firearms and car theft charges. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.[10] Waagner has been transferred to Philadelphia for questioning in the anthrax hoax letters and will probably stand trial for the hoaxes in summer 2002.

CONCLUSION

Although the media have begun to focus on the anthrax hoax phenomenon in light of the fall 2001 anthrax letter attacks, the hundreds of anthrax hoaxes that occurred in the United States in 1998-2001 received very little attention. It is probably not a coincidence that three years of anthrax hoaxes predated the actual attacks. Although there is as yet no clear linkage between the perpetrators of the anthrax letter attacks and the anthrax hoaxes, systematic tracking of hoax events could provide some basis for bioterrorism response planning.

Sources:

[1] “Planned Parenthood Offices Nationwide Receive Envelopes Containing Unknown White Powder,” Planned Parenthood, October 19, 2001, <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about/pr/101501anthrax.html>, accessed on October 22, 2001.
[2] Ibid. See also: “Police: Top Fugitive Carried Insecticide,” Cincinnati Enquirer, December 11, 2001.
[3] “Planned Parenthood Offices Nationwide Receive Envelopes Containing Unknown White Powder.”
[4] Ibid.
[5] Tamar Lewin, “Anthrax Scare Hits Groups Backing Right to Abortion,” New York Times, November 9, 2001.
[6] “On the Lam, But Online,” Salon.com, June 27, 2001, <http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/06/27/waagner/index.html>, accessed on 16 May 2002.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Army of God Terrorist Caught!” One Peoples Project, December 2001, <http//www.onepeoplesproject.com/waagner.htm>, accessed on 16 May 2002.
[9] “Waagner Receives 30 Year Sentence,” Cincinnati Post, January 26, 2002.
[10] “Conviction,” St. Petersburg Times Wires, April 19, 2002.

Laura Snyder is a 2002 Master of Arts graduate of the International Policy Studies program at the Monterey Institute, and she received a Certificate in Nonproliferation Studies. She has worked as a Research Assistant with the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program (CBWNP) at CNS since 2000.

Jason Pate is Senior Research Associate and Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism Database Manager for the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program at the Monterey Institute.

Contacts for more information about anthrax letter hoaxes and attacks:

Jason Pate
Senior Research Associate and WMD Terrorism Database Manager
jpate@miis.edu
Tel: 831-647-6661

Gary Ackerman
Research Associate
Gary.ackerman@miis.edu
Tel: 831-647-6545

View previous Research Stories.