By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
U.S. Rep. Rush Holt has reintroduced legislation to establish a commission to investigate the 2001 anthrax attacks as well as a bill that would preserve Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields.
Many significant Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites are in danger of being destroyed, including sites in Princeton and Trenton, according to a release from Rep. Holt’s office. The battlefield protection act passed the House last session, but was not acted on by the U.S. Senate. It would set aside funding for the preservation of sites as is done for Civil War sites.
”I think the battlefield legislation will pass the Senate,” Rep. Holt said, explaining it was introduced earlier in the session, and there will be more time to get to it.
”The Anthrax Commission legislation is a taller order,” Rep. Holt said.
The Anthrax Commission legislation would set up a 9/11-style commission to look into the 2001 anthrax attacks and the federal government’s response to and investigation into them. The FBI has tied the attacks to senior Army microbiologist Bruce Edwards Ivins, who killed himself last July when he was aware he was a prime suspect in the attacks.
The lethal anthrax letters in the attack were mailed from a single mailbox at 10 Nassau St. in Princeton, the FBI has said. But the FBI never presented any evidence placing Mr. Ivins in Princeton at the time the anthrax letters were mailed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. It only detailed an “obsession” Mr. Ivins had with a college sorority, which had a presence in Princeton. Mr. Ivins’ father also attended Princeton University. In the past, Rep. Holt has been critical of the FBI, calling its case against Mr. Ivins “circumstantial.”
”Some people want to forget. Others think I am doing this to poke at the FBI. That is not the case,” Rep. Holt said. “I do think the FBI has botched this from the beginning, but that is not a reason to establish a commission for every botched investigation. This is a case of major importance with major policy implications that we still don’t understand and still haven’t drawn all the lessons from.”
He added, “The work of this commission will be helpful in moving forward,” acknowledging “it is going to be a challenge” to convince Congress the commission is not looking back and “settling scores.”

