Pentagon reporters assigned gas masks

Agence France-Presse | June 2, 2003

[HAL9000]

Reporters who cover the Pentagon were assigned gas masks Monday as a security precaution in case the US military's main headquarters comes under chemical attack.

The masks, which resembled plastic hoods fitted with visors and rubber mouthpieces, filters out nerve agents, allowing people to breath for about 65 minutes, said Colonel Mandy Lopez.

They do not protect against exposure through the skin. But respiratory protection was given priority because nerve agents kill fastest when inhaled, he said.

More than 25,000 masks have been distributed to people who work in the Pentagon since February, said Lopez, who heads a Pentagon directorate that deals with defenses against weapons of mass destruction.

Only about 30 reporters who have permanent work spaces in the Pentagon news room were assigned the masks, which are priced on the Internet at between 180 and 220 dollars.

Others will have to rely on a supply of some 6,000 masks stored in hallway cabinets for visitors, Lopez said.

"This is part of our measures to protect the people who work in the Pentagon," said Glenn Flood, a Pentagon spokesman.

The 1995 sarin attack in the Tokyo subway system was the first event that prompted the military to review Pentagon safeguards against gas attacks, he said.

"It's become more intense with each terrorist attack," he said.

[TheCrusader]

I hope they save the biggest one for Helen Thomas and make her wear it during all press conferences, (that woman is so ugly that the doctor slapped her mother when she was born).

[El Gato]

Helen Thomas and make her wear it during all press conferences, (that woman is so ugly that the doctor slapped her mother when she was born).

She wasn't always that frightening looking. Oh say back in the 40s when FDR was President, she wasn't so bad. However, she's been "rode hard and put up wet" way way too many times since then.