During the fall of 2001, five or more letters were received in the mail by the offices of two U.S. Senators, and news organizations in New York and Florida. The letters contained a dry, powdered, and airborne form of the anthrax bacteria, as well as a handwritten note (D.O.J., 2010). As a result of these mailings, five people lost their lives, 31 more …show more content…
The anthrax attack of 2001 was precisely the sort of event that should act as a “surprise” or cue that “violates expectations,” and thereby trigger the sensemaking process. As discussed more fully below, the FBI’s problems lay in its failure to treat the Amerithrax case as an opportunity for organizational sensemaking, and the resulting emphasis of its normal sensemaking apparatus on the enacting portion of the sensemaking