Suspicious powder mailed to several newspapers across the country; FBI investigating
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041006/APN/410060529&cachetime=5
The Associated Press
The FBI is investigating envelopes containing suspicious powder that were sent to several newspapers, including one in North Carolina, in the last several days.
Among them was an envelope addressed simply to The News that was opened by a Detroit Newspapers' stockroom clerk Tuesday, The Detroit News reported in a Wednesday story.
The envelope included a brown granular substance and a letter that claimed it was "snail poison," said Richard Karstensen, purchasing manager for the agency that handles business operations for The News and the Detroit Free Press.
Three News employees - including Karstensen - were exposed to the substance, but did not suffer any ill effects or undergo any treatment.
Tests hadn't been completed, but the material wasn't believed to be harmful, FBI Special Agent David Brooks said.
The letter received by The News bore a return address of an Arlington, Va., post office box and a Sacramento, Calif., postmark - as did some of the other letters, said FBI spokesman Jeff Tarpinian in Omaha, the field office leading the investigation.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Charlotte Observer received letters Monday, officials at both newspapers said. The FBI was investigating.
No injuries have been reported.
"We always take something like this seriously," said Peter Ridder, publisher of the Observer. "But it's an indication there is some kook out there trying to frighten people."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer received a similar envelope Saturday, but the substance turned out to be onion powder and other seasonings.
A day earlier, The Des Moines Register received a package, prompting the evacuation of 70 employees. Tests confirmed the substance in that letter was the chemical Metaldehyde, possibly from snail poison.
FBI's backlog is overstated
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-10-05-oppose_x.htm
During the past three years, the FBI has substantially improved its ability to analyze foreign-language terrorist intercepts. Americans are safer as a result, and we continue to strengthen our capabilities every day.
Reports that the FBI has 123,000 hours of counterterrorism audio recordings waiting for review are not accurate. In the highest-priority counterterrorism investigations, there is no backlog, and all intercepts are reviewed within 24 hours. While we do have a backlog in certain lower-priority counterterrorism matters, that backlog is only 2,800 hours — less than 1% of the total number of hours of audio collected in the FBI's counterterrorism investigations.
In arriving at the 123,000-hour figure, the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General looked at the gross number of audio hours collected by the FBI in counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations in certain languages and subtracted the gross number of audio hours reviewed during the period from Oct. 1, 2001, through Jan. 1, 2004. The numbers did not distinguish between terrorism and other investigations, so the resulting statistics include cases that have nothing to do with terrorism.
Today, new technologies and management improvements are helping us prioritize assignments and track our response time. We have also instituted strict quality controls.
Most important, we have hired more than 700 linguists since Sept. 11, 2001, and we will continue to hire qualified linguists to meet future needs. Like all intelligence organizations, we have difficulty finding speakers of lesser-used languages.
To overcome these difficulties, we have a dynamic recruiting campaign to identify, attract and hire qualified linguists. We offer hiring bonuses, training, a clear path to promotion and a chance to work closely with investigators and analysts as part of the FBI's Directorate of Intelligence. And FBI linguists can work in any of our field offices across the country so they don't have to relocate to serve their country in the war on terrorism.