Someone mailed letters containing anthrax to ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, The New York Post, and the Florida-based company that publishes the National Enquirer in mid-September.
On October 4, an employee of the Florida media company is confirmed to have contracted anthrax.
The next day, a letter containing a white powder is mailed from Florida to the New York Times reporter Judy Miller. The powder tests negative for anthrax.
It always struck me as odd that someone would go to such lengths to raise fear in the halls of the New York-based news media industry, yet somehow skip over the Times. Or that someone merely carrying out a copycat hoax just happened to hit the one major media target that had been previously missed, even though that fact (that the Times never got and never would get an anthrax letter) was not known at the time.
Now that we know how sleazy Miller can be, is it not worth revisiting this episode? If Fitzgerald were permitted to check Judy's phone records from September-October 2001, might he find an interestingly-timed call down to Florida?
Or are we in tinfoil-hat world?
More, including timeline: intelligencesquad.blogspot.com