I don't think it has anything to do with the anthrax letters, AQ, or similar.
Plenty of nutty and dangerous stuff is sent through the mail.
I don't think this is "terrorism"...more like a weird extortion.
You beat me to it, but here is an article from USAToday. I don't think we have to cut it so short...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-03-ricin-usat_x.htm WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are investigating whether the ricin attack on the U.S. Senate is connected to a letter containing the same deadly poison that was sent to the White House in November, three federal law enforcement sources said Tuesday.
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police HAZMAT Team prepare to search through an SUV used by Sen. Frist.
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The White House letter had not been previously disclosed. It was intercepted at an off-site mail processing facility and never reached the White House, one of the sources said. The ricin was low quality and posed no public health risk, a second source said.
Investigators also are trying to determine whether the White House and Senate attacks are related to a case in Greenville, S.C. A vial of low-grade ricin was found in a post office Oct. 15, the sources said. The vial was in a letter addressed to the U.S. Transportation Department that warned of future attacks if rules limiting truckers' driving hours aren't relaxed. The White House letter contained similar threatening language. A reward up to $100,000 is being offered in the Greenville case.
The White House wouldn't comment Tuesday about the letter.
On Tuesday, three Senate office buildings were closed after a large amount of white powder was discovered Monday afternoon in the mailroom of Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. Frist said advanced testing showed the substance was an "active" form of the ricin poison. But analysis was continuing in at least four laboratories to measure its potency and to test swabs taken from the majority leader's mailroom.
"This is an insult, an assault on the Senate side of the United States Capitol," Frist said.
At least 16 people were treated for possible exposure. But the U.S. Capitol physician said there were no signs of illness. Inhalation or ingestion of ricin can lead to death. And there is no antidote.
Federal officials said it was unclear whether the substance was sent through the mail or hand-delivered. There was no evidence to identify the source of the attack or if it was linked to international terrorism, including al-Qaeda.
An intern assigned to open Frist's mail discovered the substance Monday on a letter-opening machine. About 40 letters near the machine were sealed in a barrel that remains in the senator's office suite in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. FBI agents were expected to examine the contents as soon as Tuesday night.
Similar investigative precautions were taken in October 2001, when deadly anthrax was discovered in mail addressed to Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D. The anthrax attack crippled Capitol Hill and scared the nation still reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The anthrax case remains an open criminal investigation.
On Tuesday, Daschle called the ricin threat a "criminal act" and "an act of terrorism."
In a separate incident in Connecticut, U.S. postal inspectors found a letter addressed to the Republican National Committee that contained a suspicious substance at a mail-sorting center in Wallingford. Tests late Tuesday revealed it was not ricin.
Kevin McDonough, Boston's assistant postal inspector-in-charge, said initial field tests Monday night had been inconclusive. The Connecticut facility remained open during Tuesday's testing.
Wallingford also processed an anthrax-laced letter in 2001 traced to the death of a 94-year-old woman. She was one of five people killed and 17 who became ill in the anthrax attacks.
(s)one of al queda's sleepers was a trucker who assignemnt was to observe for possible targets. (/s)
The fact this is getting so little bump sends a good message.
"In Monday's incident, a pile of powder was found in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and may have come from one of several dozen envelopes that had passed through a mail-opening machine, Frist and other officials said. In the anthrax attacks, letters containing the deadly spores were mailed to, among others, Sens. Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., - then Senate majority leader - and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "That is obviously one of the main lines of inquiry that we're pursuing," one FBI official said Tuesday.
"There are a lot of similarities that certainly raise the possibility of a connection."