It might be a diversion, or even a test.

You're right that something seems not quite right about these attacks, and I certainly hope none of our home-grown idiots have chosen this particular time to set in motion their own nefarious schemes.

It could be that our security forces have thwarted the planned large-scale delivery of anthrax, and this amounts to just a nuisance attack to test our response, probe our biowar defenses, while the terrorists possibly prepare for action in other arenas.

In the meanwhile, the genetic structure of the anthrax spores may provide some clues to our labs about the origin of these biowar agents. I would not be surprised to find the fingerprints of an old foe somewhere in the poisonous heap.

sp