Anthrax mailed to Senate leader

By Ron Fournier and Sara Kugler
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A letter opened today in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle tested positive for anthrax, prompting a criminal investigation into bioterrorism that has now spread to Capitol Hill.

The letter to Daschle was postmarked Sept. 18 from Trenton, N.J., the FBI reported. A letter containing anthrax mailed to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw also was postmarked Trenton.

Postal officials today said a mail carrier and a maintenance employee at the Trenton Main Post Office have reported symptoms that may be related to anthrax and were undergoing testing.

Also today, authorities said small amount of anthrax spores have been found in a Boca Raton, Fla., post office that handled mail for a publisher where the germ killed a man earlier this month. The area was shut down and employees were being tested for anthrax and were taking antibiotics.

Within a few hours of the delivery of the letter to Daschle's office, officials in the House and Senate issued orders to all congressional offices to stop opening mail.

A memo from the House sergeant-at-arms said the mail would be "picked up ... for additional screening and returned to you as soon as possible."

Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols said the letter to Daschle, which was opened by aides, contained a powder that two preliminary field tests found positive for anthrax. The letter was sent to an Army medical research facility at Fort Detrick, Md., for further tests.

People exposed were being treated with the antibiotic Cipro, said a Capitol physician. There was no immediate indication whether any had anthrax spores in their bodies.

Daschle said there were 40 people in his office at the time, but he doesn't know how many may have come in contact with the letter.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said, "there may be some possible link" between Osama bin Laden and a recent flurry of anthrax-related developments.

"I wouldn't put it past him, but we don't have any hard evidence," Bush said of the main suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, which killed thousands.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said precautions were being taken at the White House with regard to mail, which she would not describe, but said she was not aware of any tainted letters received there.

The suspicious package was delivered to the majority leader's office in a Senate office building across the street from the Capitol.

One source said separately that a powdery white substance fell out when it was opened.

Bush, responding to a reporter's question, said he had just talked with Daschle. "His office received a letter and it had anthrax in it. The letter was field-tested. And the staffers that have been exposed are being treated," he said.

The president said the letter "had been wrapped a lot," and there was "powder within the confines of the envelope."

The disclosure came after days of unsettling reports of anthrax scares in three states, including the death of one man in Florida last week.

Americans returning to work faced anxious moments opening envelopes after a jump in the number of people across the nation exposed to anthrax sent through the mail.

Three new cases — a police officer and two lab technicians involved in an investigation at NBC's New York headquarters — tested positive for exposure to the bacteria, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said yesterday. Nevada officials said four people who may have come into contact with a contaminated letter at a Microsoft office tested negative, while results weren't known for two others.

The new New York cases brought to 12 the number of people around the nation who either contracted anthrax or have tested positive for exposure.

The anthrax scare began in Florida Oct. 4 when it was confirmed that an editor at the tabloid the Sun had contracted the inhaled form of the bacteria. He later died.

Seven other employees of American Media Inc. have tested positive for exposure and are being treated with antibiotics. None has developed the disease. A second round of blood tests for more than 300 of the company's employees is expected this week.

In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft said it was premature "to decide whether there is a direct link" to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, but "we should consider this potential that it is linked."

Some of the Sept. 11 hijackers spent time in Florida, and the FBI said the wife of the Sun's editor, who works as a real estate agent, rented apartments to two of them.

"Right. That's true," FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said early today when asked about reports that Gloria Irish rented apartments in Delray Beach, Fla., to Hamza Alghamdi and Marwan al-Shehhi this summer. Her husband is Sun editor Michael Irish. "Right now we consider it a coincidence," said Orihuela.

In New York, Giuliani said the officer and two technicians were exposed while working on the anthrax case involving Erin O'Connor, 38, the assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw who developed a case of skin-contracted anthrax, a mild form of the disease. O'Connor is expected to recover. Another NBC employee is taking antibiotics after displaying possible symptoms of the disease; that worker has not tested positive.

In New Jersey, federal officials interviewed postal workers and watched surveillance videotapes yesterday in efforts to trace the letter. Postal Service officials believed it could have been mailed from one of 46 post offices, said FBI Special Agent Sandra Carroll.

In Nevada, where a letter contained pornographic pictures sent to a Microsoft office in Reno was contaminated with anthrax, officials said today that all six people checked for exposure — five Microsoft workers and a family member — had tested negative.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he would ask Congress for more than $1.5 billion to counter bioterrorism threats.

News of the exposures caused jitters around the world, with a number of false or pending cases reported over the weekend. Among them:

• In Hawai'i, hazardous-materials teams were called to the Honolulu and Lihu'e airports after a white powder was discovered at both locations. Tests were negative for anthrax.
• In Uniontown, Pa., a 49-year-old woman was given the antibiotic Cipro and tested for exposure after receiving an envelope containing powder.
• In Boston, preliminary tests on a Boston Globe editor for anthrax exposure were negative. The editor asked for the tests after recalling he had recently handled and thrown out a threatening letter similar to the one that provoked fears at the New York Times last week. He said it contained no powder.