Synopsis
New York-based investigative journalist Bob Coen goes in search of the origins of the almost forgotten anthrax letters affair of 2001, which cost five people their lives. The prime suspect was Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist working for the U.S. Army's "biodefense laboratory" at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Following his suicide, the FBI said that Ivins acted alone in mailing the deadly letters. Coen has his doubts, and during a journey that takes him across four continents, he uncovers an increasingly suspicious web of circumstances. It is alleged that the American government is undertaking secret laboratory experiments with bacteria that can be used in biological warfare. This "state-supported program" is said to have connections across the globe. Coen makes a link to the suicide (or murder?) of Dr. David Kelly, the British microbiologist and Ministry of Defence employee considered one of the world's leading authorities on biological warfare, who served as a weapons inspector in Iraq. In addition, Coen claims that experiments have been conducted on people and has shocking clues to the existence of harmful bacteria that select their victims by race. During his travels and through many interviews, he demonstrates how lucrative this new, privatized industry is. For 15 years, Bob Coen was CNN's Africa correspondent, but he now refers to himself as "an exile from mainstream media."