New Poison Letter Sent to Obama
Justin Sink, The Hill
uthorities have intercepted a letter to the White House that tested positive for ricin poison, according to multiple media reports.
The Secret Service has acknowledged the letter addressed to President Obama contained a suspicious substance but has not stated it was ricin, a deadly poison.
On Tuesday, lawmakers revealed that a letter addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) had tested positive for the poison.
The Secret Service said the letter was sent to Obama on April 16 and was discovered at an remote White House mail screening facility.
"This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery," the Secret Service said in a statement. "The Secret Service White House mail screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through."
The agency said it is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in the investigation.
Fox News reported that like the letter to Wicker, the letter to Obama was sent from Memphis, Tenn. Fox News said the letters to Obama and Wicker contained similar language and are signed identically.
News of the letters comes just days after two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in a terrorist attack that killed three people and injured more than 170. Government officials have not linked the two events.
Security has been tightened since the attacks, with visitors asked to take off their shoes before entering some Senate and House office buildings on Tuesday.
A day later, there were reports of Capitol Police investigating suspicious packages at two different Capitol Hill buildings.
Capitol Police issued a message to Senate offices that they were responding to a suspicious envelope on the third floor of the Russell Senate Office Building. The message directed staff and other personnel to avoid that area until further notice.
An identical message was sent about a suspicious envelope in the Hart Senate Office Building.
Of the letter sent to Wicker, Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance W. Gainer said: "The letter was not outwardly suspicious, which is usually a clue.
"But we want Senate State office employees to beware of what we know, but they must be careful with all mail they open, follow the procedures with which they have been skilled," he said.
Gainer said previously that the Senate's offsite mail facility has been closed as Capitol Police and the FBI investigated. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Capitol Police have a suspect who has been known to write letters to members of Congress.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was aware only of the letter to Wicker.
"All we know now is just one," Reid said, speaking to reporters after an intelligence briefing at the Capitol.
In 2004, a letter addressed to former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) also tested positive for ricin after it was found to contain a white powder while being sorted in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Senate office buildings were closed and decontaminated, but authorities never solved the case.
Ricin is a poison found in castor beans, which can be manufactured from castor bean waste materials, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Ricin works by getting inside the cells of a person's body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need. Without the proteins, cells die. Eventually this is harmful to the whole body, and death may occur," the CDC warns.