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Possible Anthrax Found In Pentagon Mailrooms
by Superhawk
Originally posted to BNN 3/14/2005
This is either a false alarm or extremely troubling:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sensors at two military mail facilities in the Washington area detected signs of anthrax on two pieces of mail Monday, but Pentagon officials said the mail had already been irradiated, rendering any anthrax inert.
Officials weren't sure if this was an attack. Additional tests and other sensors at the two facilities, one of them at the Pentagon and the other nearby, found no presence of the bacteria, which can be used as a biological weapon. There were no initial reports of illness.
The Pentagon's mail delivery site, which is separate from the main Pentagon building, was evacuated and shut down Monday after sensors triggered an alarm around 10:30 a.m. EST, spokesman Glenn Flood said. It was expected to remain closed until at least Tuesday while the investigation continued.
(HT: Little Green Footballs)
What makes this especially troubling is the recent news of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's plans to attack here in the United States. They never did catch the individual responsible for the anthrax attacks in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Anthrax false alarms have become a fact of life since September 11. Suspicious packages or letters containing "some kind of powder" are found on a regular basis. Looking through a google search of "anthrax false alarms" however, I couldn't find a story (after reviewing 338 of them) that contained a reference to an actual bio-hazard alarm going off. And in a Pentagon mail room, you'd think the hazard alarm would be state of the art and designed to go off only when there was a real threat.
Since the letters were already irradiated there's probably no problem at that facility. That doesn't preclude the possibility of others being exposed either at other Post Office facilities or even neighbors of the individual who sent the deadly letter or package in the first place.
Definitely a story that bears watching.
Superhawk blogs at Rightwing Nuthouse.
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