Federal employees to get lie detector tests in anthrax investigation

The government plans to give lie detector tests to hundreds of current and former employees of federal laboratories across the country in an effort to find the culprit behind last fall's anthrax attacks.

The FBI will start administering the polygraph tests in June to as many as 200 employees working at Fort Detrick, Md., Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and several other labs across the country, ABC News reported Tuesday. Law enforcement officials suspect someone with access to and knowledge of biological agents was behind last fall's anthrax attacks. The attacks killed five people, including two Postal Service employees working in Washington's Brentwood Road postal facility.

The government hopes the lie detector tests will help generate new leads in the investigation. To date, no suspects have been named.

Fort Detrick is home to the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dugway Proving Ground is one of the Pentagon's major chemical and biological defense testing facilities. Both buildings house samples of anthrax.

On Monday, some mail at the World Bank in Washington tested positive for anthrax. The organization, which has been regularly testing its mail for anthrax, told 1,200 of its 8,500 employees not to report to work at least through Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve found traces of anthrax on about 20 pieces of mail after an initial screening. Since such preliminary test results often are inaccurate, additional testing is being done.