The bloodhounds were "barking and howling and straining at their leashes." That was the sensational lead to a Newsweek story that has become part of the mythology surrounding the government’s persecution of Dr. Steven Hatfill. They went crazy, a law enforcement official told Newsweek. Unable to uncover any evidence linking Hatfill to the unsolved anthrax killings, in early August the FBI brought bloodhounds to Hatfill’s Maryland apartment. They then leaked their version of what happened to Newsweek. Not surprisingly, Newsweek’s story was then picked up by dailies around the U.S. and was repeated as far away as Qatar.

Newsweek said that the bloodhounds were used to match scent lifted from the anthrax letters to Hatfill and his surroundings. Newsweek said that the dogs were taken to Hatfill’s girlfriend’s apartment and a Denny’s restaurant in Louisiana. Newsweek doesn’t say how the dogs got to Louisiana.

AIM decided to ask the national training coordinator of the Law Enforcement Bloodhounds Association, a police officer with fifteen years of experience handling bloodhounds, about Newsweek’s story. He told AIM that the dogs’ reported actions and even the scene depicted in the Newsweek story are, in his words, "atypical." He represents one of fifteen police and bloodhound teams in the part of Maryland that includes Hatfill’s apartment. Among this group are a dog team often called upon by the FBI to assist in major cases. None of these teams conducted the search at Hatfill’s apartment and they too have been wondering whose dogs participated in the Hatfill search. He also emphasized that the FBI does not use volunteers in these cases.

The training coordinator also raised questions about Newsweek’s depiction of the bloodhound story. Newsweek said that the dogs were presented with scent packs from the anthrax-contaminated letters. But AIM was told that no responsible dog handler would expose his animal to anthrax and if the letters had first been decontaminated there would be no scent left for the dogs. Moreover, his handler said Newsweek didn’t even get the terminology right. He had never heard the term scent packs and said dog handlers always refer to scent-articles instead.

Through his spokesman, Patrick Clawson, Hatfill says that Newsweek’s description of the dog’s visit to his apartment is inaccurate. He says that the Bureau took him to an empty apartment in his complex and told him to sit in one of three chairs. A dog was brought in and Hatfill, a dog lover, scratched the dog’s ears. When the dog began to return the affection, a Bureau agent started screaming "the dog is reacting, the dog is reacting." AIM was told that even this is not the way bloodhounds are used in such cases.

The Baltimore Sun has also reported that its canvass of Denny’s restaurants in Louisiana came up dry. No Denny’s manager reported a visit from the Bureau with bloodhounds in tow. AIM was told by the bloodhound expert that he thought the Bureau might have been trying to extract a "spontaneous confession from Hatfill." It looks like Newsweek was fed a shaggy dog story and didn’t bother to check it for accuracy.

Reed Irvine can be reached at ri@aim.org