Feb 5, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – One of three Senate office buildings that were closed this week after ricin was found in an office was set to reopen today, but the source of the ricin remained a mystery.
The Russell Senate Office Building was to reopen today at noon Washington time, according to an announcement on the Senate Web site. The Hart building is scheduled to open tomorrow at 9 a.m., and the Dirksen building, where the ricin was found 3 days ago in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office suite, is to reopen Monday, Feb 9.
No illnesses were reported in connection with the ricin episode. John Eisold, the US Capitol's attending physician, said he had not seen anyone with symptoms suggestive of poisoning, according to an Associated Press (AP) report.
An intern found a powdery substance Feb 2 on a letter-opening machine in a mailroom in Frist's fourth floor office suite. Officials announced Feb 3 that tests had confirmed it was ricin, a potent poison derived from castor beans. Authorities have not determined whether the ricin arrived in mail or some other way.
Investigators have found no clear link between the ricin found in the Dirksen building and ricin found in an envelope that was addressed to the White House last November, according to AP and Washington Post reports. Federal officials did not publicly reveal the discovery of the letter addressed to the White House until Feb 3.
The White House letter, intercepted by the Secret Service Nov 6, was similar to one that was addressed to the Transportation Department and found at an airport mail facility in Greenville, S.C., Oct 15. Both were signed "Fallen Angel" and said that more ricin would be used unless new trucking regulations were repealed. The rules, which took effect Jan 4, limit how long truckers can drive without resting.
The letter directed to the White House had a Chattanooga, Tenn., postmark, according to a New York Times report. Both letters found in the fall contained ricin in a small metal vial, but no such vial has been found in the attack this week, the report said.
Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said detectives had found "no obvious direct connection" between the Frist letter and the earlier letters, according to the Post. Police also said they had received no ricin threats and no claim of responsibility for the attack and had no evidence of international terrorism. But Frist was quoted as saying, "I regard this as a terrorist attack on my life."
Yesterday hundreds of police and US Marines in chemical protection suits sifted through unopened mail from the office buildings, according to the Post. The AP reported that a white powder was found on the first floor of the Capitol last night, but tests indicated it was harmless. The building was not evacuated.
Gainer said hundreds of ventilation filters and air samples from the Senate buildings and surrounding areas were tested, with "reassuring" results, according to the Post report.
In addition, 132 samples from the Washington postal facility that processes congressional mail tested negative for ricin, the US Postal Service reported yesterday. The V Street facility was closed late Feb 2 because of the ricin attack and was to be reopened last night, officials said. They said no workers from the V Street facility had reported symptoms of poisoning.
The Senate conducted some business yesterday by borrowing hearing rooms in House office buildings. But it was difficult to accomplish much because most staff members were at home or working in borrowed space and most documents were locked up in the closed office buildings, the Times reported.
