Anthrax traces found with White House mail

  The Associated Press Press secretary Ari
Fleischer speaks during a briefing about the discovery of
anthrax at a remote White House mail facility in Washington.

By Sandra Sobieraj
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON “”mdash; President George W. Bush said confidently on
Tuesday, “I don’t have anthrax” after biohazard
testing at the White House and the discovery of anthrax on a
mail-opening machine at a screening facility six miles away.

All White House mail ““ more than 40,000 letters a week
““ is examined at military facilities across the Potomac
River.

“Let me put it this way,” Bush said.
“I’m confident that when I come to work tomorrow,
I’ll be safe.”

When asked if he was tested for the germ that has already killed
three people this month, or if he was taking precautionary
antibiotics, Bush replied simply: “I don’t have
anthrax.”

Some White House personnel were given Cipro six weeks ago. White
House officials won’t discuss who might be receiving the
anthrax-treating antibiotic now.

On the night of the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House Medical
Office dispensed Cipro to the staff accompanying Vice President
Dick Cheney as he was rushed off to the safety of Camp David, and
told them it was “a precaution,” according to one
person directly involved.

At that time, nobody could guess the dimensions of the
terrorists’ plot.

Now, Bush said on Tuesday, “There’s no question that
the evil-doers are continuing to try to harm America and
Americans.”

The president spoke in an afternoon Cabinet Room meeting with
members of Congress, minutes after his press secretary announced
that a “small concentration” of anthrax spores were
found on the slitter machine that opens White House mail at a
Secret Service-controlled facility on property shared by the
Anacostia Naval Station and Bolling Air Force Base.

Inside the iron gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., regular
biohazard testing has been stepped up in the past month, and no
traces of anthrax have been found, said presidential spokesperson
Ari Fleischer.

Security officials were apparently alarmed even before
Tuesday’s discovery at Bolling, which handles mail processed
through the Brentwood postal facility. Suspicious, they halted mail
delivery to the White House complex several days earlier.

“We have not seen mail in a while,” said a West Wing
aide. A staffer on campus at Bolling, in southeast Washington, said
the same was true there.

Two postal workers in Brentwood died of pulmonary anthrax
““ one on Sunday, the other on Monday.

The anthrax-laced letter to Senate majority leader Tom Daschle
was first handled in Brentwood.

The Bolling facility, which also handles mail for the Secret
Service, “has been closed for further testing and
decontamination,” said Fleischer. All their employees, and
those in the mailrooms within the White House complex ““ which
includes the mansion, its East and West Wings, and the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building ““ were tested for exposure to
anthrax.

In a statement, the Secret Service said no one connected with
the mail facility at Bolling has reported symptoms of anthrax.

Postal and health officials state that it’s possible for
an anthrax-tainted letter to contaminate another letter, indicating
that the anthrax found on the Bolling machinery could have come
from a letter that was mixed with other mail at Brentwood.

Experts believe it is unlikely that a cross-contaminated letter
would have contained enough anthrax to make someone sick.

Fleischer said a sweep of the Bolling facility turned up a
“positive culture” around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Considering that the U.S. Capitol, network TV news anchors and
media companies have already been targeted by anthrax-tainted
letters, an attempted attack on the White House was almost to be
expected, Fleischer said.