Utah's state capitol was hit with a package of "white powder" at a federal IRS office. Details are still coming in as to the details of the event, but it appears that the local emergency responders got to practice their "personnel decontamination" skills.
A package with suspicious powder turned up at the State Capitol today and led to the partial evacuation of the office of Gov. Jon Huntsman. Utah now joins about a dozen other states where governors have been sent these suspicious packages.
In all those states, the powder inside the package was nontoxic. This afternoon, the FBI said field tests on the powder sent to Utah's Capitol were negative for organic toxins like anthrax and ricin, as well as radiation.
The white powder was discovered by a woman working inside the governor's office just before noon. She opened what is described as either a package or a letter and found the substance.
--------
Envelopes containing suspicious powder have been received this week by governor's offices in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Texas. Officials in some of those states said the powder was flour, corn starch or some other harmless food substance.
Some twisted people are out there. Could this be a copycat who wants to leverage news about the FBI's closing the Amerithrax case? Or is this just a disgruntled Tea Party member who thinks he's striking back against the Evil Empire? Either way, he's (yes, I'm assuming this is a disgruntled American middle-aged white man) going to go to federal prison when he's caught.
Events such as these are finally getting attention by defense firms who want to market "on-site" toolkits to emergency responders who are assessing "white powder" incidents. And why not? No one wants to go through a decon shower and wait for answers if it can be avoided. On the other hand, a blank index card with the words "if this paper doesn't change color upon contact with the white powder, you're okay" would do well as an interim on-site anthrax detector, too (kidding).
Comments