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A letter addressed to President Obama containing what the Secret Service calls "a suspicious substance" was intercepted Tuesday at a mail screening facility, the agency said Wednesday. The FBI has since said that it preliminary tested positive for ricin.

REPORT: A Second Letter Sent To The US Senate Tests Positive For Poison Michael KelleyApril 17, 2013 A second letter sent to the U.S. Senate has tested positive for the poison ricin, according to Terry Moran of ABC News. Last night Poltiico reported that an envelope sent to an office of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) tested positive for the deadly poison. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ricin is a poison naturally found in castor beans. It gets inside the cells of a person's body, preventing the cells from making any proteins. It can come in the...

(Reuters) - An envelope sent to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi tested positive for ricin, Senator Dick Durbin told reporters after a group of lawmakers were briefed by the FBI.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says a letter containing ricin or another poision was sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. In brief remarks to reporters in the Capitol, Reid did not say when the letter was sent. It’s customary for mail addressed to congressional offices to be screened at an off-site facility.

A letter addressed to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) tested positive for the deadly poison Ricin this afternoon, according to two sources, and high-ranking security officials are briefing U.S. Senators now on the situation. The letter, which there is no word on whether it was sent to Senator Wicker's Washington or home office, contained the poison in a powdery form, which is deadly if inhaled, injected or ingested. Ricin causes the body to stop forming protein and results in death within three to five days of exposure if not treated, and if successfully treated results in long-term organ damage. The toxin...

An envelope sent to the U.S. Senate office of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) included a substance that has tested positive for Ricin, two sources say. It was not immediately clear when the envelope was received. But it arrived in a Senate mail facility, which has now been closed for more testing. All congressional mail will now be processed through the U.S. House facility. The Senate went into recess shortly after 6 p.m. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FBI Director Robert Mueller were briefing senators on Tuesday afternoon. A DHS official said that the briefing was intended to address cyber-security,...

This is not good at all. CNN is reporting that an envelope that was sent to a Senator (unnamed) has tested positive for ricin poisoning. It’s been tested at least three times and each time it came up positive. The mail facility is off-site so the ricin is not in the Capitol. Watch the report from CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- An envelope that tested positive for the deadly poison ricin was intercepted Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol's off-site mail facility in Washington, congressional and law enforcement sources tell CNN.

On Wednesday, the strange news flew across the nation’s wires that four men from Georgia, in their upper-sixties and early-seventies, had been arrested on Tuesday for an alleged plot to attack state and federal officials and buildings. The fantastic story involves Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, GA, Dan Roberts, 67, of Toccoa, GA, Ray H. Adams, 65, of Toccoa, and Samuel J. Crump, 68, of Toccoa. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), they are accused of planning to procure an unregistered explosive device and a silencer and to manufacture the bio-toxin ricin for use against fellow American citizens,...

U.S. Attorney’s Office November 01, 2011 Northern District of Georgia(404) 581-6000 ATLANTA—Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, Ga.; Dan Roberts, 67, of Toccoa, Ga.; Ray H. Adams, 65, of Toccoa; and Samuel J. Crump, 68, of Toccoa, were arrested today relating to plans to obtain an unregistered explosive device and silencer and to manufacture the biological toxin ricin for use in attacks against other U.S. citizens and government personnel and officials. U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates said, “These defendants, who are alleged to be part of a fringe militia group, are charged with planning attacks...

Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested four Georgia men accused of plotting to buy explosives and produce a deadly biological toxin to attack fellow U.S. citizens and government officials. The Justice Department said the men were members of a fringe domestic militia group and had planned to manufacture ricin for use in their attacks. The men attended meetings starting in March where they discussed carrying out crimes, including murder, in order to undermine federal and state government, prosecutors said. The targets included local police, federal government buildings and employees of agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. (snip) At a meeting...

Four men from Georgia have been arrested and charged in an alleged plot to purchase explosives and to manufacture ricin, a biological toxin, with the intent to attack U.S. citizens, according to the Justice Department.

American counterterrorism officials are increasingly concerned that the most dangerous regional arm of Al Qaeda is trying to produce the lethal poison ricin, to be packed around small explosives for attacks against the United States. For more than a year, according to classified intelligence reports, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen has been making efforts to acquire large quantities of castor beans, which are required to produce ricin, a white, powdery toxin that is so deadly that just a speck can kill if it is inhaled or reaches the bloodstream. Intelligence officials say they have collected evidence that Qaeda operatives are...

Federal investigators said this afternoon that the material taken from a Coventry Township home is ricin -- a toxin that is "derived from the caster bean and can be deadly if ingested, inhaled or injected." The FBI, responding to a call from Coventry Township and Summit County officials, had seized a small amount of material from home on South Main Street late Tuesday afternoon. The substance was flown to a federal lab in Maryland for analysis and the results announced today. The substance was found by the new owner of the home, which had recently been foreclosed on. Federal agents...

Toledo, OH (WTVG) -- Some parts of the Safety Building downtown were under quarantine Tuesday evening as several police officers underwent decontamination by hazmat crews. It began as a domestic violence 911 call to the 4700 block of Douglas. Responding officers found some highly toxic chemicals inside the home. Toledo police say officers seized mushrooms and a cultivation of castor beans, used to make the chemical ricin. Hazmat was called. As a precaution, the half dozen officers exposed to the chemical underwent a decontamination process. None exhibited any signs of abnormalities. FBI agents from Detroit are on the scene and...

Some of the Islamic Terrorists' plotted mass murder --2000--- OLYMPICS 2000 BOMBSaturday, 26 August, 2000, 05:37 GMT 06:37 UK Olympic 'bomb plot' foiled Police accidentally uncovered the threat to the Olympics New Zealand police have uncovered a possible plot to blow up a nuclear reactor in Sydney during next month's Olympic Games. The reactor is in Sydney's suburbs Australian police have been informed and the two forces are working together on the case involving a group of Afghan refugees who had suspicious material in their possession. The group was reportedly linked with Afghanistan-based terrorist Osama bin Laden. Detective superintendent...

For the first time, compounds that protect against ricin poisoning have been identified by French researchers. It's hoped the research could lead to an antidote for the poison, which is a thousand times more toxic than cyanide. Banned under chemical weapons conventions, ricin became infamous when a modified umbrella-gun containing a poisoned pellet was used to kill Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in 1978. Although not as potent as synthetic nerve agents, ricin is obtained from a natural source - the castor bean - so could potentially be more easily obtained by terrorist groups. Research has been undertaken into an antibody-based vaccine and...

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SNIPPET: "A white supremacist yesterday admitted producing deadly ricin while preparing for acts of terrorism. Ian Davison's home in Myrtle Grove, Burnopfield, Co Durham, was raided by anti-terror officers who found the killer substance in a jam jar in his kitchen. At Newcastle Crown Court he admitted producing a chemical weapon — ricin — and preparing for acts of terrorism." SNIPPET: "He will be sentenced after the trial of his son Nicky Davison (19), who denies two charges of possessing material containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing acts of terrorism. The case will be...

The politics of national security has become more volatile lately. Republicans are increasingly emphasizing national security in hopes of electoral gains in 2010. Their push has raised fears that existentially important security issues have become too political for the nation's good. Whether or not that's true, Democrats will have to push back, and liberals are worried that they are struggling. GOP Splitting Congressional Dems from Obama Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent writes, "Congressional Dems have no message or strategy on national security, and they’re getting badly outworked by the GOP on the issue." Republicans have a "very specific strategy" with...