Possible HazMat Found In Sen. Maj. Leader's Office

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-02-02 11:43pm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A white powder found in a mail room in a U.S. Senate office on Monday has been tested and found to be hazardous, said a U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman, raising fears of a repeat of a 2001 biological attack that killed at least five people along the East Coast.

The powder found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's mail room tested positive for ricin in a field examination, CNN reported, citing a Department of Homeland Security official. Frist is a Republican from Tennessee.

Ricin is a deadly toxin derived from castor beans.

Local news reports said the substance was in a letter and that the 4th floor of the Dirksen office building had been shut down.

A Homeland Security spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

U.S. Capitol Police received a telephone call shortly after 3 p.m. EST that a suspicious powdery substance had been discovered in the Dirksen office building, said Capitol Police Sgt. Contricia Sellers-Ford.

"In preliminary tests, the substance tested positive for a hazardous substance. Further tests are now being conducted," Sellers-Ford said.

In 2001, Capitol Hill was one target in a series of anthrax attacks that killed at least five people on the East Coast, including two Washington postal workers.

Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to the Washington offices of two senators and to news media offices in New York and Florida.

Doesn't look good...

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-02 11:47pm

Wonderful...

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-02-03 12:34am

I wonder if they'll blame it on Iraq

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-02-03 12:37am

Just saw that it was confirmed, apparently really is ricin

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-03 12:38am

Well, Iraq did have ricin...

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2004-02-03 01:10am

A late winter, early spring, when an assholes thoughts turn to biological warfare stunts

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2004-02-03 01:15am

well, dammit.. everyone has ricin. While it's a deadly substance, it's not one of the more uncommon ones. Now, if we saw small pox (then we bomb Russia), the plague, or anthrax again.. we should start getting psyched.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-02-03 01:16am

Sending suspicious powder is sooo 2001.

When was the last case of this before this one?

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-02-03 01:38am

The anthrax that went around in 2001 was domestic American- this didn't stop the invade-Iraq zombies on FNC from claiming it was Iraq anyway. Ricin has also been produced in Afghanistan, IIRC.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-02-03 02:13am

When you consider that this was sent to Bill Frist, it seems much more likely that this is the work of extreme left-wing domestic terrorists then anyone else.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-02-03 05:01am

Unless the ricin statement also involved the words "umbrella", "injected" and "politician's leg", it matters not. Like anthrax, it's not lethal unless you go around snorting the stuff, as far as bioweapons go this is the Tec-9 equivalent, not the H-bomb.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-02-03 12:11pm

Joe wrote:Well, Iraq did have ricin...

You don't honestly believe that Iraqi insurgents put ricin in the Sen. Maj. Leaders office, do you?

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-02-03 01:04pm

latest tests confirm that it is indeed ricin.

More suspicious white powder has been found in at a postal processing center in CT. The envelope holding the powder was addressed to GOP headquarters

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110278,00.html

ALSO: Fox News has a red banner claiming that more of the suspicious substance has been found INSIDE THE CAPITOL BUILDING.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-02-03 04:07pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:latest tests confirm that it is indeed ricin.

More suspicious white powder has been found in at a postal processing center in CT. The envelope holding the powder was addressed to GOP headquarters

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110278,00.html

ALSO: Fox News has a red banner claiming that more of the suspicious substance has been found INSIDE THE CAPITOL BUILDING.

Great source for this sort of thing... they probably just found a copy of next years budget, through to be fair that still is a Hazardous Material.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-02-03 04:09pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:latest tests confirm that it is indeed ricin.

More suspicious white powder has been found in at a postal processing center in CT. The envelope holding the powder was addressed to GOP headquarters.

Are you sure that's not just Shrubby reverting to his old Coke habits due to job stress?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-03 04:12pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:
Joe wrote:Well, Iraq did have ricin...
You don't honestly believe that Iraqi insurgents put ricin in the Sen. Maj. Leaders office, do you?

Nope, probably some of our homegrown crazies.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-02-03 10:32pm

Tests revealed it was ricin.

I wonder why anyone would ship ricin to try and kill anyone, since it's only dangerous if injected straight into the blood stream and cannot be swallowed or inhaled.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-02-03 10:56pm

I don't understand the motive behind these Anthrax and Ricin attacks. It seems incredibly complex and difficult to pull off. If the objective is simply to kill somebody, you'd think they'd just wait till the target politician is on vacation and then pop him with a sniper rifle.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-03 11:02pm

Darth Wong wrote:I don't understand the motive behind these Anthrax and Ricin attacks. It seems incredibly complex and difficult to pull off. If the objective is simply to kill somebody, you'd think they'd just wait till the target politician is on vacation and then pop him with a sniper rifle.

Cause mass terror? The prospect of opening a normal envelope and inhaling deadly bacteria is a scary one indeed. But it didn't work as well as they had anticipated, I imagine, because the anthrax scare was over within a few weeks.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-02-03 11:03pm

Darth Wong wrote:I don't understand the motive behind these Anthrax and Ricin attacks. It seems incredibly complex and difficult to pull off. If the objective is simply to kill somebody, you'd think they'd just wait till the target politician is on vacation and then pop him with a sniper rifle.

These seem to be mainly statements more than credible assassination attempts, plus they also have an aura of anonymity if sent correctly.

Like I said, the two products mentioned are pretty hopeless weapons (barring the good ol' injection from an umbrella), but brilliant fear and paranoia primers.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-02-03 11:06pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Like I said, the two products mentioned are pretty hopeless weapons (barring the good ol' injection from an umbrella), but brilliant fear and paranoia primers.

Actually, as Malvo demonstrated in Maryland, a sniper is a more effective generator of paranoia and fear.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-02-03 11:12pm

Well, one can't deny that the Anthrax scares in late 2001 didn't cause a panic, they certainly reached national, if not, international levels since the idea of someone opening the morning post and inhaling spores was not too far fetched anymore.

It's also a nasty disease to acquire, but a sniper is far more effective and as seen, still has the ability to make entire states alter their practices until the perp is apprehended.

I'd truly like to know who would be sending these packages now though, there was a raid last year which revealed a load of Ricin in the UK, but that was easily confiscated.