Major news event, and a major news event with an extremely sharp Vermont connection: Federal authorities have apparently cracked the long-dormant 2001 anthrax letter case. In a nutshell, the government’s settlement of a civil suit with Steven J. Hatfill, who claimed innocence from the start, led to renewed attention on another suspect, another government researcher named Bruce Ivins, who has just committed suicide. Truly incredible stuff.

Like the Unabomber case, this one seems to have been solved in part through the reluctant but crucial cooperation of a brother. Says Thomas Ivins, who testified about his brother Bruce,
“I was questioned by the feds, and I sung like a canary.”

Ivins goes on to say that his brother Bruce “had in his mind that he was omnipotent.”

Hard to overestimate the importance of this development; this event marked, after all, an instance of biological warfare carried out against two of the highest ranking members of the Democratic leadership. As Pat Leahy told VDB back in September of 2007, “I’m a little sensitive on this one, because two people died touching an envelope I was supposed to open.”

More as developments warrant.