Science Insider reports on the "long-awaited review of the scientific evidence relating to the investigation of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks" now that FBI has agreed to let the National Academy of Sciences study the "scientific techniques used ... in solving the case." The article notes that FBI has been pushed to reveal this kind of information since Bruce Ivins, the researcher FBI said was guilty of the anthrax crimes, committed suicide last summer.
Ivins' culpability will not be the focus of the review, however. "What the study will not do, as spelled out in the academies’ official description of the study, is issue a verdict on whether US Army researcher Bruce Ivins was indeed guilty of the crime," Science Insider says. FBI is paying $879,550 to the National Academy for the review, which is likely to include analysis of genetic studies of the B. anthracis strain mailed to victims.