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Ricin Found in Mail Addressed to the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations

posted by martyb on Wednesday October 03 2018, @01:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the return-to-sender dept.

takyon writes:

Ricin detected in mail sent to Pentagon

Two pieces of mail delivered to the Pentagon mail facility on Monday have initially tested positive for ricin, according to a US defense official.

The two suspicious envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, the official told CNN.

The mail facility is in a separate building on the grounds of the Pentagon and the piece of mail which tested positive never entered the Pentagon building.

All US Postal Service mail received at the Pentagon mail screening facility on Monday is currently under quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel, according to Pentagon spokesperson Col. Rob Manning.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:40PM (#743484)

    and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel

    Sounds like the lives of postal workers don't have much value.

    Or there's a difference between 'tested positive for' and 'touch this evilly contaminated missive with your ungloved sweaty fingers and you'll die...muahahaha! etc. etc. etc.'.
    Assuming that there was a lethal dosage and viable means of delivering it contained in the letters, the thing about using mail as a delivery system for this sort of thing is that it's a bit pointless if the delivery agents along the chain all sort of die/get mysteriously Ill before the letter(s) reach(es) the(ir) intended target(s)..gives the game away.

    Once the detection gear sniffed and flagged that there was Ricin contamination (having seen the GE Streetlabs return positives for people who've only been in rooms with others smoking pot days prior to the test, I'm assuming that government mail goes through something even more sensitive), I hope that normal Hazmat/CBW procedures kicked in.

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