Among the small circle of scientists who worked with him, Ivins was solid, quiet, eccentric, even and a bit nerdy. But he also had a darker side, as suggested by court papers filed last month by Jean C. Duley, who asked a Frederick judge for a protective order against Ivins, saying he had repeatedly threatened her.
"Client has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans," the woman wrote in note attached to her request for protection. She said Ivins' psychiatrist had confided to her that the scientist was "homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions." She also noted that she had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury about a capital murder case involving Ivins.
[From Scientist in anthrax case had darker side - The Boston Globe]
Just wondering. Hey, I'm OK with the idea somebody might be brilliantly productive in one area and dangerously unbalanced in another area of his life. Nobody's perfect. But you'd think a guy "homocidal sociopath" (just quoting here) working in a bioweapons lab would be under some kind of observation from the jump. I would, that is. And if he had a security clearance (one would think) and it hadn't turned up this reported history, then something's way, way wrong with that.
Something about this story just isn't passing the sniff test with me.
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