WASHINGTON FBI reveals poison got to White House
The letter-writer is upset about new trucking regulations.
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON -- A letter containing ricin poison that was sent to the White House last fall threatened to "turn D.C. into a ghost town" and was postmarked in Tennessee three weeks before the Secret Service discovered it, the FBI said Monday.
Officials also disclosed that the ricin powder found in the envelope was loosely sprinkled on the letter rather than contained in a vial, as it had been in a related case. The letter was one of two signed by "Fallen Angel," who complained about trucking regulations that require more rest periods for long-haul truckers.
Officials said the envelope was postmarked Oct. 17 in Chattanooga and received Nov. 6 at an off-site facility that processes mail addressed to the White House, and that Secret Service employees discovered it that day. Addressed by hand to "The White House," it contained a typewritten letter addressed to the "department of transportation," according to a copy released by the FBI.
"If you change the hours of service on January 4, 2004, I will turn D.C. into a ghost town," the letter read. "The powder on the letter is RICIN have a nice day Fallen Angel."
Tests confirmed it
Laboratory tests confirmed that the powder in the envelope was ricin, a poison made from castor beans, federal officials said.
The information the FBI released Monday casts new light on simultaneous probes into the two ricin letters and, to a lesser extent, into the discovery of a small amount of ricin Feb. 2 on a mail-opening machine in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Investigators have not found a letter or envelope in connection with the discovery in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and authorities said Monday that they have found no direct evidence linking that case with the letters.
In addition to the letter sent to the White House, "Fallen Angel" signed another typewritten letter that was addressed to the Department of Transportation and found Oct. 15 at an airport mail facility in Greenville, S.C. The envelope included a metal vial that contained ricin and similar complaints about trucking regulations.
Reward
In its news release Monday, the FBI formally extended a $100,000 reward to include either of the letters. The White House ricin mailing had been kept secret until after the Frist discovery, and the FBI had not officially acknowledged its existence until Monday.
Postal and law enforcement officials Monday had no detailed explanation why 20 days elapsed between the day the White House letter was postmarked and the day the processing facility received it.
A copy of the envelope released Monday indicates that the Zip code on the letter was wrong, which would likely have led to some delay, postal officials said. Mail sent to the White House is also processed through an irradiation facility in New Jersey before it is passed on to the off-site mail facility, which is run by the Secret Service, the officials said.
Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said her agency discovered the letter the day it was received, Nov. 6. Secret Service officials previously acknowledged waiting six days after that to alert the FBI and other federal agencies to the ricin mailing, and they have implemented new procedures to avoid other such delays.
Many lawmakers have complained about the decision to keep the case quiet. Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform, criticized what he called "the administration's obsession with secrecy."