Applying Sensemaking to the Amerithrax Case
In September 2001, America experienced a biological attack on US soil that resulted with the death of 5 americans and 17 being infected from letters laced with anthrax. As a result of this national crisis, the FBI was given the task of investigating the anthrax attack. This was the very first time that the FBI handled a case like this. In order to solve the anthrax case, the FBI used sensemaking. Sensemaking is the process of how an organization interprets an ambiguous situation. Some distinguishing factors of Sensemaking include: grounded in identity, enactive retrospective and driven by plausibility not truth, to name a few (Ansell 10.13.16) . The FBI used some of these distinguishing factors of …show more content…
The anthrax case was not a typical crime such as murder or kidnapping that the FBI were so used to solving, but it was a murder case in which a biological weapon was used to execute the death of 5 people. Not only did the case need to be interpreted through the lens of investigators and crime solving experts like the FBI, but it was necessary to fully understand the case with a level of scientific knowledge about the anthrax bacteria. This is where the gap in using their organizational identity comes in because without having expertise or knowledge about anthrax they would not be able to understand how this attack was even possible to begin with. As a result the FBI sought professional expertise from private laboratories and organizations such as USAMRIID to help them understand the bacteria and its capabilities (United States Department …show more content…
The FBI made sense of the situation by trying to find evidence that helped them to reinforce their belief. In doing so, this led them to make impulsive actions and false suspicions. To solve the mystery of who carried out the anthrax attack the FBI were so eager on finding a suspect and gathering evidence to support their belief. After looking into many potential suspects, they were able to narrow down their very first suspect to Dr. Steven J. Hatfill (United States Department 2010). After Hatfill became their main suspect in the Anthrax case, they tried to look for any evidence that would only reinforce their belief that he was the actual killer, rather than evaluating the evidence with an open mind. For example, after finding out that the AMES strand used in letters could have only come from a USAMRIID lab, and Hatfill worked at USAMRIID and he also had the knowledge about the strand they used this evidence to further build up their case that Hatfield was the mastermind behind the attack (United States Department 2010). Instead of taking the information in with an open mind, by looking at other USAMRIID workers who might have also had the expertise to work on the lab, they quickly assumed that this piece of information only applied to
In September 2001, America experienced a biological attack on US soil that resulted with the death of 5 americans and 17 being infected from letters laced with anthrax. As a result of this national crisis, the FBI was given the task of investigating the anthrax attack. This was the very first time that the FBI handled a case like this. In order to solve the anthrax case, the FBI used sensemaking. Sensemaking is the process of how an organization interprets an ambiguous situation. Some distinguishing factors of Sensemaking include: grounded in identity, enactive retrospective and driven by plausibility not truth, to name a few (Ansell 10.13.16) . The FBI used some of these distinguishing factors of …show more content…
The anthrax case was not a typical crime such as murder or kidnapping that the FBI were so used to solving, but it was a murder case in which a biological weapon was used to execute the death of 5 people. Not only did the case need to be interpreted through the lens of investigators and crime solving experts like the FBI, but it was necessary to fully understand the case with a level of scientific knowledge about the anthrax bacteria. This is where the gap in using their organizational identity comes in because without having expertise or knowledge about anthrax they would not be able to understand how this attack was even possible to begin with. As a result the FBI sought professional expertise from private laboratories and organizations such as USAMRIID to help them understand the bacteria and its capabilities (United States Department …show more content…
The FBI made sense of the situation by trying to find evidence that helped them to reinforce their belief. In doing so, this led them to make impulsive actions and false suspicions. To solve the mystery of who carried out the anthrax attack the FBI were so eager on finding a suspect and gathering evidence to support their belief. After looking into many potential suspects, they were able to narrow down their very first suspect to Dr. Steven J. Hatfill (United States Department 2010). After Hatfill became their main suspect in the Anthrax case, they tried to look for any evidence that would only reinforce their belief that he was the actual killer, rather than evaluating the evidence with an open mind. For example, after finding out that the AMES strand used in letters could have only come from a USAMRIID lab, and Hatfill worked at USAMRIID and he also had the knowledge about the strand they used this evidence to further build up their case that Hatfield was the mastermind behind the attack (United States Department 2010). Instead of taking the information in with an open mind, by looking at other USAMRIID workers who might have also had the expertise to work on the lab, they quickly assumed that this piece of information only applied to