Anthrax found at CIA Link

October 26, 2001 Posted: 1:21 a.m. EDT (0521 GMT)

(CNN) -- Traces of anthrax have been found in a building at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia, where incoming mail is sorted, U.S. officials tell CNN.

The amount of anthrax detected in what officials say were highly sensitive and sophisticated tests was "medically insignificant" an official said, but the building has been closed until further testing and cleaning can be don e.

Officials say 31 different sites in the mail receiving building and the CIA's main mailroom have been checked since October 23. Only one site tested positive for anthrax.

No CIA personnel have tested positive for anthrax exposure, however antibiotics have been offered to all staff handling mail in bulk and to any other interested employees of the agency.

Like many other U.S. agencies, the CIA receives its mail via the Brentwood post office facility in Washington, where two postal workers have died from inhalation anthrax and a number of others are being treated in hospitals.

Anthrax apparently spread through the U.S. mail has infected at least 13 individuals, three of whom have died.

Latest developments

• Terrorists live within U.S. borders "plotting, planning, waiting to kill Americans again," Attorney General John Ashcroft warned Thursday. Speaking before a gathering of the nation's mayors in Washington, Ashcroft again warned of the possibility of further attacks. (Full story)

• The U.S. Postal Service Thursday began trucking some mail addressed to federal government offices in Washington to an Ohio company to be irradiated to prevent more anthrax-laden letters from reaching government targets. (Full story)

• Crews in congressional office buildings are using a special solution to kill anthrax spores on walls, furniture and office equipment. (Full story) (More information)

• The State Department said Thursday the diagnosis that one of its mail handlers has inhalation anthrax has been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A second mailroom employee with "flu-like" symptoms is being tested for anthrax. (Full story)

• New Jersey's top health official said Thursday a second employee at the Hamilton Township mail distribution center near Trenton may have inhalation anthrax. Two other postal workers in New Jersey have been diagnosed with cutaneous, or skin, anthrax. (Full story)

• Shadowy terrorists using "anthrax as a weapon" are to blame for tainted letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other targets, Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said Thursday. He said the samples taken from Daschle's letter were "more dangerous" than those received at the other sites.

• Flags at post offices nationwide are being lowered Thursday to half-staff in memory of two postal workers killed by anthrax, The Associated Press reported. The two died after being infected with inhalation anthrax, believed to have resulted from spores mailed to the Senate.

• New Jersey officials have announced the creation of a state task force to "identify, arrest and prosecute the person or persons sending letters laced with anthrax through the United States mail." (Full story)

• Hospital officials said Wednesday six more employees of the Brentwood mail center -- the Washington facility that employed two mail handlers who died of inhalation anthrax -- are suspected of having anthrax and are hospitalized and are being given Cipro. (Full story)

• U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Willhite said Wednesday that environmental testing will be performed at mail facilities in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and the New York City area. (Full story)

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2001