Erin Rush of Leesburg, Va., an instructor for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, demonstrates to members of the media how to put on an emergency gas mask at the Pentagon Monday, June 2, 2003. The Pentagon has handed out 25,000 emergency gas masks to prepare Pentagon workers for possible chemical or biological terror attacks. That completes about one-third of the effort started in late February, when they began training an average of several hundred people a day in use of the 'emergency escape hoods.' On Monday, they gave masks to a few dozen members of the press corps who work daily in the Defense Department headquarters.
Pentagon reporters assigned gas masks
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Reporters who cover the Pentagon were assigned gas masks 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.
Jeannie Ohm of MSNBC, center, in red, and other members of the media uses practice masks during a demonstration on proper use of gas masks, Monday, June 2, 2003 at the Pentagon. The Pentagon handed out 25,000 emergency gas masks to prepare Pentagon workers for possible chemical or biological terror attacks. That completes about one-third of the effort started in late February, when they began training an average of several hundred people a day in use of the 'emergency escape hoods. On Monday, they gavemasks to a few dozen members of the press corps who work daily in the Defense Department headquarters. Afterward everyone was given a sealed 'real' mask of their own.