Ricin find shuts Senate offices ("There is no cause for alarm")

BBC ^ | 3 February, 2004

[traumer]

The US Senate office buildings in Washington have been shut down, after the deadly poison ricin was discovered in a Republican senator's mailroom.

Tests on a suspicious white powder, found in the Dirksen building, strongly suggest it is the deadly poison ricin. That and the other two Hart and Russell buildings were closed on Tuesday, and Capitol tours were suspended.

Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, whose staff found the powder, said no one appeared to have been poisoned.

"Nobody's been hurt and everybody is fine. There've been absolutely no injuries whatsoever," said Mr Frist. "There is no cause for alarm," he said.

The Tennessee senator added: "This is a criminal activity and... will be investigated as such."

Suspicious

The suspect powder was found in an envelope by Mr Frist's staff in the Dirksen building, where a number of senators and their staff have offices.

RICIN Made from castor beans 6,000 times more powerful than cyanide Initial flu-like symptoms, followed by death within three to five days Quite easy to make, but more difficult to use as a mass contaminant Secret agents used it to kill Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London in 1978 Preliminary tests and two of three more extensive tests point to ricin. The result of a further test will be released later.

"It is not clear what package or what letter the powder may have come from but it was suspicious," said Capitol police chief, Terry Gainer. Mr Gainer said 16 people who may have come into contact with the powder had undergone precautionary decontamination procedures.

Although all three US Senate office buildings have been closed, the Senate will go into session at 0945 (1445 GMT) as usual, a spokesman for Mr Frist said.

Ricin is made from the castor bean plant, and can be injected, inhaled or ingested. There is no antidote to ricin, which is twice as deadly as cobra venom.

It was found in a package at a post office in Greenville, South Carolina in October.

Two senators were among targets when anthrax was sent by post to a number of US cities in 2001, killing five people.

[Catspaw]

Fox News is reporting that they found a white powdery substance in a post office in Wallingford CT.

[Williams]

I'm sure such substances are found and test negative all the time, but certainly the risk exists that Ricin went to a variety of locations.

[Catspaw]

I'm sure there are powdery substances found in post offices routinely, but what Fox didn't say if this tested positive or negative for ricin.

Wasn't one of the anthrax victims a very elderly woman in Connecticut?

[Catspaw]

Found the story:

Officials Investigating Suspicious Powder at Connecticut Postal Facility
The Associated Press
Published: Feb 3, 2004

WALLINGFORD, Conn. (AP) - State environmental officials and federal agents were investigating the discovery of an unidentified white powder at a postal distribution center.

Department of Environmental Protection officials say an employee found the powder in an envelope Tuesday morning. The facility remains open, and officials say they've isolated the area where the powder was discovered.

The Wallingford facility is the same postal center at which investigators found anthrax spores in 2001. The substance found Tuesday has been taken for testing, DEP officials said.

The discovery of the powder comes a day after a suspicious white power that tested positive for ricin was found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office.

The powder was apparently delivered to the Republican senator's office through the mail system. More definitive tests were expected later Tuesday.

AP-ES-02-03-04 0614EST

[kinghorse]

Sounds like the last act of a cell. I say this based on the fact that it appears Atta and his cellmates mailed out their calling card (anthrax letters) immediately before executing their terror strike. Could it be that a major attack was avoided during the Superbowl. The timeline of having this mail arrive a day or two later would be consistent. Just saying.

[kinghorse]

Sounds like the last act of a cell. I say this based on the fact that it appears Atta and his cellmates mailed out their calling card (anthrax letters) immediately before executing their terror strike. Could it be that a major attack was avoided during the Superbowl. The timeline of having this mail arrive a day or two later would be consistent. Just saying.

[OXENinFLA]

Move along folks, noting to see here.

[DarthVader]

Yes, but don't forget the threat of terrorism is over-exaggerated.

[Principled]

Let's see how many of them argue against the war now that they personally are in the crosshairs.

What a bad move on the islamonazi's part - assuring their destruction by attacking the ones who could defend them - and some would argue many in the Senate ARE ALREADY defending them.

Of course, it was likely a white male, anti-government militia nut - NOT a terrorist....probly a tax evader too- and owned a gun - nothing to see here... move along...< /sarcasm

[Principled]

Good catch.

[Stirner]

As the article notes, ricin is easy to make. Instructions are available on the internet. Castor beans are used to grow ornamental flowers (which make more beans) and are in too many private hands to ever be effectively subjected to controls. My point is that you don't need state sponsorship or any organizational support to manufacture ricin. It's something that a high-school student could do on his own (although he would be putting himself in danger if he didn't use strict precautions against contaminating himself during the manufacture). That doesn't mean that the attack using ricin on the Senate was not a terrorist act by a major international group, but just that it's so low tech that it could have come from any direction.

[AppyPappy]

"I think there has been an exaggeration," Mr. Kerry said when asked whether President Bush has overstated the threat of terrorism. "They are misleading all Americans in a profound way."

[Monty22]

They were already in the crosshairs, as flight 93 almost certainly would've knocked out the lot of them.

However, they didn't get them then. And now, 2 years later, we have Kerry acting like it was nothing.

He's lucky to have survived that day.