Similarities in local, White House ricin cases

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The disclosure came as federal investigators scrambled to learn if there was a link between the Greenville ricin incident and ricin found Monday in the mailroom of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Monday's discovery in the Dirksen Senate Building prompted the closure of three Capitol office buildings and a postal processing facility, as well as the decontamination of at least 16 people. Officials said they were not aware of anyone becoming ill from the powder, which can be deadlier than nerve gas.

The White House letter was intercepted off-site, and the substance tested positive for ricin. The ricin, however, was not deemed a threat because tests showed it was of a low-potency, according to the official, who asked not to be identified by name.

Officials have no evidence linking the Greenville and the Senate ricin incidents but will look at any possible connection as part of their investigation, said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office.

"It would be a natural investigative step for us to address both cases to see if there are any similarities," she said.

Ricin, derived from the castor bean plant, has been labeled as a tool for terrorists because it can be lethal if inhaled, ingested or injected. There is no known antidote.

Police said no note or threatening letter was found with the ricin in the mailroom offices of Frist, a Tennessee physician who serves as the Senate Majority Leader. The Greenville ricin came with a letter threatening to use large quantities of the poison if certain new federal trucking rules requiring drivers to rest were not repealed.

The author of the Greenville letter signed the name "Fallen Angel."

The Senate ricin also was not contained, police said. A clerk discovered the powder spread on a mail-opening machine, Weierman said. She said as of Tuesday police had not located the piece of mail that might have been the source of the ricin.

The Greenville ricin was found in a sealed metal vial inside an envelope labeled "caution, RICIN, POISON." The envelope also warned handlers not to open without proper protection. There was no postage or address on the envelope, officials have said.

Capitol police responded within minutes of Monday's discovery, sealing off the floor and sending a team of officers trained in handling hazardous materials.

Tests were done Monday and again Tuesday to confirm the substance was ricin. Further tests are being done to determine the type and potency of the toxin, Weierman said. The building and two other Senate buildings were closed Tuesday as authorities removed mail for testing. Postal officials also closed a local mail center that processed Capitol mail, a spokesman said.

And officials made the discovery public and held press conferences to release details.

By contrast, the public and local health officials did not learn of the Greenville ricin discovery until a week after it happened.

Postal workers in Greenville did not contact law enforcement until 11 hours after the ricin was found, officials have said.

The first sheriff's deputy dispatched in the Greenville incident was not trained in the handling of hazardous materials. And officials waited five days before sending the vial to a federal agency in Atlanta to be tested.

"We learned from Greenville that a pretty major city wasn't prepared," U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, "and we have taken that knowledge and hopefully improved the protocols that exist for post offices and other like facilities."

Graham said because the Capitol is considered a terrorism target, security is tighter and the system is set to respond more quickly to any type of attack. But he said that doesn't mean the rest of the country should be left with gaps in their defense.

"We can learn as much from the Greenville incident as we can from the one in the Capitol, probably more so," he said.

No arrests have been made in the Greenville case. The FBI is offering a reward of $100,000.

The latest ricin incident comes three years after a series of anthrax-laden letters terrorized the nation, infecting 18 people and killing five.

Federal officials then were criticized for not quickly examining a Washington postal facility where some of the anthrax letters were processed. Two Washington-area postal workers died and three other postal workers were hospitalized from the anthrax attacks.

Lawmakers at the time said officials should have moved more quickly to offer testing and antibiotics to postal workers and to evacuate a Washington-area mail center where some of the letters were processed.

Graham said the system has improved since the anthrax mailings.

"I am very pleased with what I've heard thus far about how we handled this," he said.