by John M. Curtis
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Copyright October 24, 2001
All Rights Reserved.

hile the White House got timely anthrax treatment, postal workers got lip service. Prescribing prophylactic Cipro on Sept. 11, the White House Medical office admitted dispensing the antibiotic to staff joining Vice President Dick Cheney to an unknown location at Camp David. White House officials were reticent to acknowledge who’s received antibiotic treatment. What’s not confirmed yet is whether key administration officials—including President Bush and Vice President Cheney—began a standard course of treatment around Sept. 11, nearly a month before Sun photo editor Bob Stevens died from inhalation anthrax on Oct. 5 in Boca Raton, Fla. With D.C. postal workers now dropping like flies, concerns were also raised about White House safety. “We’re making sure that the West Wing, the White House is safe,” said President Bush, brushing aside questions about his own exposure to the deadly bacteria. “I don’t have anthrax,” answered President Bush, sidestepping the question of whether he currently or already received antibiotic treatment.

       Center for Disease Control [CDC] officials maintained that possible side effects outweighed prophylactic antibiotic treatment. Yet it’s not clear whether the White House received preventive therapy or treatment due to actual anthrax exposure. Oct. 23 was the first day the White House confirmed that trace amounts of anthrax were found in an automated letter opener at the White House postal processing facility at Bolling Air Force Base. So far, the White House denies that any anthrax was found in the mailroom or contaminated any employees. But it’s curious that the White House began its inoculations 11 days before the first anthrax-laden letter was mailed from Trenton, N.J. to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw. His assistant finally received treatment for cutaneous anthrax on Oct. 1. When Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) received his anthrax-letter bomb on Oct. 12, 28 of his staff tested positive by Oct. 17, attesting to the highly virulent or “weaponized” strain. By that time the CDC knew all too well about the anthrax emergency, yet only encouraged the Postal Service to begin preventive antibiotic treatment on Oct. 23.

       By Oct. 22, two D.C. postal workers had expired from inhalation anthrax. Two others were also diagnosed with pulmonary anthrax and receiving antibiotic treatment. It’s still difficult to explain why the White House received urgent Cipro “preventive” treatment back around Sept. 11, but D.C. mail handlers only started treatment Oct. 23. Postal officials blame the delay on the fact that there was no need to panic because only cutaneous anthrax turned up at a Trenton post office. This doesn’t square with the White House getting Cipro around Sept. 11, for purely preventive measures. Anthrax didn’t even make headlines until Sept. 26, the day after Tom Brokaw’s assistant opened the anthrax-laced letter. “They should have had the same treatment,” said John Ford, an official with the American Postal Union, finding the delay in treatment unacceptable. From the beginning, the CDC—and postal officials—insisted that unopened letters posed no risk. Yet White House medical officials, operating on only ‘hypotheticals,’ urged key administration personnel to undergo immediate Cipro treatment? Something just doesn’t add up.

       Declining to answer whether he’s undergone preventive Cipro treatment, President Bush opened a can of worms. Already admitting that Cheney and staff received antibiotics on Sept. 11 suggests that the White House had plenty of advance warning to alert the CDC and postal officials. After the Daschle letter was opened Oct. 12, Senate staffers lined up for testing and preventive Cipro treatment. Postal workers were lectured about the “indiscriminate” use of antibiotics and risk of purely preventive treatment. “There’s a risk in prophylaxis when it’s not necessary,” said Mitchell C. Cohen, a spokesman for the CDC at an Oct. 22 press conference. “One of our basic goals is to identify who’s at risk. Previous investigations in Florida and New York did not identify that the postal workers were at risk.” On that basis alone, why would the White House undergo urgent Cipro treatment when they didn’t have credible evidence of contamination? And if the White House were exposed on Sept. 11, why wasn’t that made public? At the very least, CDC must have reconsidered its protocol for managing anthrax after 28 Senate staffers tested positive on Oct. 17.

       “We need to treat and treat quickly,” said D.C. health chief Dr. Ivan Walks after confirming that Brentwood branch postal workers Joseph P. Curseen, 47, and Thomas L. Morris Jr., 55, died from pulmonary anthrax. But the time for timely treatment long since expired. Unlike with White House personnel, few officials were alarmed about potential anthrax exposure among postal workers. CDC director Dr, Jeffrey Kaplan admitted that earlier diagnosis might have saved the two ill-fated postal workers. “Knowing what we know today, would we have done things differently? Yes,” Kaplan said, implying the CDC should have known that anthrax spores could spread from sealed envelopes. Kaplan’s comments aren’t too reassuring knowing that the White House received prophylactic Cipro treatment as early as Sept. 11. Given the White House’s early treatment, it’s difficult to argue that letter carriers were at low risk. Having direct exposure—in sealed envelopes or not—places postal workers more in harm’s way than White House staffers.

       Whatever the source of the anthrax, it’s a serious health risk. Offering urgent care to the White House but not front-line postal personnel directly exposed to the deadly bacteria raises certain red flags. “There’s something here that bothers us,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the subcommittee on labor, health and human services, trying to figure out the puzzling delay in getting postal workers timely treatment. Without knowing whether President Bush already received Cipro, it’s difficult to figure out the White House’s steps on Sept. 11. Cipro isn’t taken like a vaccine. Under the circumstances, it’s only logical use is treating anthrax exposure. If, indeed, the White House was exposed to anthrax, then why wasn’t the public informed? Allowing hapless postal workers to remain untreated while the White House received state-of-the-art therapy just doesn’t add up. “We just had the impression that no one was concerned about us,” said Michael Pailen, a 29-year D.C letter carrier, trying to figure out why postal workers were last in line.

About the Author

John M. Curtis is editor of OnlineColumnist.com and columnist for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He’s director of a Los Angeles think tank specializing in political consulting and strategic public relations. He’s the author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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