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Ohio Postal Worker Under Investigation In Theft of Rebate Checks  (Gazette, 6/30/2010)

Chillicothe, OH--A Chillicothe postal employee has been placed on leave while a mail theft investigation is completed.

Scott Balfour, a special agent with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, confirmed the ongoing investigation Wednesday.

According to a pair of Ross County Sheriff’s Office reports, a postal employee is suspected of taking at least two rebate checks for Menards.

The first report was made June 15, when a woman told deputies a rebate check for $73 had been issued April 19, but she never received it. Someone forged her signature and the check was redeemed June 2 at Menards.

On June 24, the same suspect from June 15 was back in Menards trying to cash another rebate check issued to someone else, according to a sheriff’s report.

Balfour declined commenting on details of the investigation, including whether the case includes additional thefts.

“Once we’re done with our investigation, we’ll present our findings to the appropriate prosecutor and to postal service management,” Balfour said.

In 2009, 446 postal employees or contractors across the nation were arrested by the Office of Inspector General for theft or delay and destruction of mail.

“Considering the size of the work force, which is over 600,000 postal employees nationally, these incidents are very infrequent,” Balfour said.

Alabama Man Pleads Guilty To Anthrax Hoax Letters  (Montgomery Advertiser, 7/1/2010)

BIRMINGHAM, AL -- A 38-year-old Montevallo man charged with mailing eight letters containing white powder to the Pell City Post Office has pleaded guilty to con­spiracy.

Milstead Earl "Mickey" Dar­den admitted before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon on Tuesday that he conspired to mail the hoax letters on April 24.

U.S. Postal inspectors arrested Darden and 38-year-old Clifton La­mar Dodd of Lincoln, shortly after a letter was deposited in a Pell City post office drop box. The white powder inside the letters was tested and found not to be anthrax.

Dodd also is suspected of mailing 17 letters containing white powder to authorities, inmates and politicians. A trial date for Dodd has not been set.

St. Paul Man Pleads Guilty To Sending Threat To Kill President  (Star Tribune, 6/30/2010)

St. Paul, MN--A Minnesota man used the White House website to twice threaten the president and his family.

Chane Phillip Christenson, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to one count of threatening the president on Jan. 6. It was an action fueled in part by alcohol, his lawyer said after the hearing.

"It started as a rant," defense attorney Lyonel Norris said. "There was no present danger to the president or his family."

Norris added that authorities could have given Christenson a warning after he posted the threat on the White House website. Instead, a federal grand jury indicted Christenson on April 6.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney pointed out, however, that he sent two threats, one on Dec. 9, 2009, and another on Jan. 6. "With Christenson, it wasn't just a onetime threat," said Jeanne Cooney, community relations director for the U.S. attorney's office.

The first threat stated, among other things that, "I would kill Obama if I could." The second included, "Kill Obama, Mrs. Obama" and then mentioned the Obamas' two daughters, using a racial epithet.

John Kirkwood, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Minneapolis, said: "The U.S. Secret Service takes very seriously, and investigates thoroughly, every threat against the president ... regardless of the intent or purpose behind the making of that threat."

Norris said that he isn't excusing what Christenson did but wonders why an alcohol-induced rant had to lead to a grand jury indictment. Although Christenson faces up to five years in federal prison, Norris said prosecutors have agreed not to pursue a prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank will sentence him later. The judge ordered Christenson not to drink alcohol while awaiting sentencing.

Greek Police Launches International Investigation Over Minister's Murdered Aide  (The Sofia Echo, 6/30/2010)

Greek police have extended investigations outside of the country in relation to the June 25 murder of Giorgos Vassilakis, a 50-year-old father of two and aide to Greek counter-terrorism minister Michalis Chryssohoidis, Greek media reported on June 30 2010.

Vassilakis was killed by a parcel bomb sent to the citizens' protection ministry, just a few metres away from Chryssohoidis's office.

According to the BBC, the shock was so great that some in the heavily guarded building thought it had been hit by an earthquake.

Greek national television website reported that in the past a similar parcel bomb had been sent to several targets in Italy and Spain.

Greek police are tracking members of Greek terrorist organisations who have links to the IRA or ETA, or who have similar operational techniques, the report said. Reportedly, the parcel bomb device had never been used before in Greece, hence the authorities are trying to determine if the device was made abroad or whether an "expert" travelled to Greece to make the bomb.

Anthrax Threat Sets Off Hazmat Response At County Courthouse in New Jersey  (Trenton Times, 7/1/2010)

TRENTON, NJ -- A suspicious white powder, billed as anthrax in a threatening letter to Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini yesterday, sparked a lockdown of his office while the Trenton hazmat team investigated.

The substance turned out to be nothing more than a vitamin powder called Nature's Wonder, officials said.

Prosecutors are investigating who sent the letter, which bore a return address of the Mercer County Detention Center.

"I would characterize the letter as threatening but I can't reveal the specifics of what it said because this is a criminal investigation," said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

The drama began shortly after 10 a.m. when a secretary in the prosecutor's office opened the envelope and discovered the white powder that was identified in writing as anthrax.

Letters containing white anthrax powder killed five people in the fall of 2001. Some of the letters were processed at a postal facility in Hamilton.

Investigators who were in the office when the powder was discovered yesterday called the Mercer County Sheriff's Office. The officers, in charge of courthouse security, immediately moved to isolate the people who had come into contact with the envelope, shut down the third floor where the office is located and turned off the building's air-conditioning system. Courthouse doors were closed to incoming people, and Broad Street in front of the courthouse was closed.

The officers placed the suspicious letter in a sealed plastic bag and waited for the hazmat team to arrive.

"They knew the procedure and that helped us a lot," said Battalion Chief Peter Fiabane with the Trenton Fire Department.

"We have policies and procedures in place in the event of something like this, and they worked," said Mercer County Undersheriff Dennis McManimon.

Although no one was allowed to enter the building -- even Bocchini had to wait outside until the scene was cleared at 11:50 a.m. -- it was business as usual for those already inside. Only the third floor was off-limits as the hazmat team concentrated its efforts there.

Using a portable detection device, the team was able to analyze the powder and determine that it was not hazardous, Fiabane said.

Although the powder turned out to be benign, its appearance was enough to send shocks waves of fear through those who came into contact with it.

"As soon as people see a white powder they panic," Fiabane said. "It's understandable."

He said his platoon -- one of four in the city -- has responded to about a dozen anthrax scares this year.

"It's not a daily thing. It's not a monthly thing, but it's not uncommon," he said.

Sometimes it turns out to be narcotics, other times it's a benign powder designed to spark fear, Fiabane said.

"We haven't seen the real thing since 2001," he said.

Florida Woman Sentenced For Sending Anthrax Hoax to Sheriffs Office  (BioPRep Watch, 6/30/2010)

Sebring, FL--A Sebring, Fla., woman was recently sentenced to almost a year in jail for sending letters containing white powder to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office last July.

Cally-Jo Wilson Richardson was charged with one count of criminal use of personal identification information and two counts of possession of a hoax weapon of mass destruction, HighlandsToday.com reports.

Richardson was sentenced by a judge to 364 days in county jail after pleading guilty to the charges. She was also sentenced to two years of community control, to be followed by three more years of probation. The judge in the case also ordered Richardson to write a letter of apology to Highland Sheriff Susan Benton.

Richardson sent the letter to the Sheriff’s Office last summer, according to the report. The arrival of the letters forced 40 employees to evacuate. Operations for the jail and 911 center, which are located within the building, were also disrupted.

The envelopes were addressed at a Franklin Street address and were “signed” by Richardson’s estranged husband. Investigators ruled the estranged husband out as a suspect. According to the report, however, the man recognized the handwriting as that of his ex-wife. Richardson eventually admitted to sending the letters.

The powdery substance found in the envelopes tested negative for anthrax.

Milwaukee Bomb Squad Gives All-Clear After Federal Courthouse Evacuation For Suspicious Device  (TMJ 4, 6/29/2010)

MILWAUKEE, WI - Investigators have given the all-clear after evacuating the federal courthouse Tuesday afternoon. The Milwaukee Bomb Squad safely dismantled a suspicious device, but found nothing dangerous.

A bomb-sniffing dog reacted to something left in a charity donation box, prompting authorities to shut down all streets in several directions for more than two hours.

Members of the bomb squad thought the package still looked suspicious when they X-rayed it.  Authorities used a small explosive to render the package safe.

It turns out there were no explosives inside that package.

"It was discovered there was, in fact, nothing in it that was dangerous to the general public," said Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. "There were sort of school supplies; toner, ink and whatnot and nothing dangerous inside."

US Attorney James Santelle believes the ink and toner may have been what the bomb sniffing dog hit on.

"Probably the dog hit on the toner or some other material that otherwise could be in the category of explosive powder," he said.

Flynn says it looked suspicious because the package was very tightly taped, unlike a normal package of school supplies.

"Any time you have a dog hit on it, you have to take the threat very seriously," said Flynn.  "I think this was an appropriate response to the perceived threat."

Authorities gave the all-clear at about 6:00 Tuesday evening.

Bomb Squad Investigates 'Suspicious Package' at Orlando Office Building  (WESH, 6/29/2010)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A package deputies call "suspicious" was left at the rear of an office building in Orange County on Tuesday morning.

The Orange County Sheriff's office said the package was spotted at 3505 Lake Lynda Drive in Orlando.

A bomb squad has responded to the area to examine the package, according to deputies.

Officials said they would work to determine if the package contained anything explosive.

Alleged Bomb Builder in Maine Has Federal Record  (Journal Tribune, 6/29/2010)

PORTLAND, ME — The Alfred man charged by federal agents Friday with allegedly building pipe bombs in the basement of his Avery Road home – and having five in his car when he drove himself to the hospital – first served time in federal prison 23 years ago.

Robert W. Infante, 47, appeared relaxed as he made a first appearance before magistrate judge John Rich at U.S. District Court in Portland Monday. Held in federal custody at Cumberland County Jail, he is scheduled to appear Thursday for a hearing to determine if he will be released on bail.

Wearing orange prison garb, his left hand bandaged and sporting a sling as a result of injuries he sustained in an explosion at his home, Infante chuckled as he talked with his court appointed attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender J. Hilary Billings, before Monday’s hearing convened.

Infante is charged with possessing an unregistered destructive device. If convicted on the single count, he could be sentenced to as many as 10 years in federal prison.

But further charges are likely. Infante has spent time in federal prison on at least three prior occasions.

According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Infante was convicted in 1987 of possession of a destructive device and possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to three years. In 1989, he was convicted of possession and manufacturing destructive devices and making false statements and sentenced to five years. Noting the discrepancy in the length of time between the first sentence and the second, the spokeswoman said federal inmates are eligible for time off their sentence for good behavior.

In 1993, Infante was sentenced to seven years in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon and was later sentenced to eight months for possessing alcohol and marijuana, a probation violation, in 2001.

“There is a single count pending now,” said Billings, outside the federal court building. “Within the next 30 days, I am sure the charges will be somewhat different. There could be a collection of other charges.”

U.S. Attorney Stacey D. Neumann declined to comment.

Rich questioned Infante about his assets to determine his eligibility for a court-appointed attorney.

Infante told Rich that he has been unemployed since 2007, had about $3,000 in savings and owned two vehicles: A Toyota Camry and an old full-size Bluebird school bus he said he was in the process of converting into a recreational vehicle. He said he had a collection of Persian rugs and a collection of semi-precious stones like aquamarines and bloodstones.

On Friday morning, he allegedly told Alfred fire and rescue officials he had been injured in a propane explosion at his home, and later said he was injured when filling a butane lighter. He refused treatment and drove himself to hospital.

Federal agents and the state bomb squad converged on the hospital parking lot Friday afternoon and detonated five pipe bombs located in the trunk of a car registered in his name. Later in the day, the bomb squad made its way to Avery Road in north Alfred, where they detonated four or five pipe bombs found in the house where he was living.

A state fire investigator told authorities that when he searched the house after the initial report of a propane explosion, he found 12 pipe bombs in various stages of construction, more than 100 marijuana plants and a shotgun.

Billings said it was his understanding that Infante had been in Maine for “a couple of years.”

According to documents on file with the Town of Alfred, the Cape Cod-style home at 60 Avery Road where Infante has been living was built in 2005 and is owned by Sydney A. Milliken of Eastham, Mass. Several attempts to reach Milliken Monday and today were unsuccessful.

Doubts Surface As Air Cargo Screening Deadline Nears  (GSN, 7/1/2010)

WASHINGTON -- The Transportation Security Administration is at odds with government investigators over whether all cargo on U.S. passenger planes can be screened for weapons of mass destruction by early August without disrupting trade and other commerce.

A 2007 law requires TSA to ensure that cargo placed aboard passenger planes is screened for weapons of mass destruction by Aug. 4. The deadline applies to flights originating inside the United States and those flying into the country.

John Sammon, TSA deputy administrator, told House lawmakers during a hearing Wednesday that the deadline for domestic flights will be met. But GAO cast doubt on that claim, saying in a report released at the hearing that TSA should develop a contingency plan to prevent disruptions.

"TSA faces several challenges in developing and implementing a system to screen 100 percent of domestic air cargo, and it is questionable, based on reported screening rates, whether 100 percent of such cargo will be screened by August 2010 without impeding the flow of commerce," the GAO report said.

"Moreover, TSA faces technology challenges that could affect its ability to meet the screening mandate," the report added. "Among these, there is no technology approved by TSA to screen large pallets or containers of cargo, which suggests the need for alternative approaches to screening such cargo."

Sammon disagreed that TSA should have a contingency plan, saying it would dissuade companies and cargo shippers from complying with the law. "If we say, come Aug. 1, 'Don't worry; we'll take care of you,' those people aren't going to do anything," he said. "These are all people acting in their self-interest."

TSA will not meet requirements under the law to ensure that all cargo on international flights entering the United States is screened for weapons of mass destruction by Aug. 4. Obama administration officials previously admitted the deadline would not be met.

But Sammon stated for the first time that the administration does not expect the international mandate to be met until 2013. He said the main obstacle in meeting the mandate is negotiating agreements with foreign governments for a cargo screening program that can be verified.

Sammon's admission drew an angry response from Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who was a chief sponsor of the 2007 law.

"Here's the problem I have: I think it's just a lack of will, to be honest with you," Markey said. "I still don't understand why this deadline has slipped three years."

He added: "Just saying these other governments are just too tough on us doesn't prove to me that our government has been tough enough on them to establish the standards."

Sammon said another big challenge is finding technology that can accurately screen large pallets of cargo.

"There are technologies in the hopper but we share your frustration and concern about the pace of developing this technology. We simply have to pick that up," he said.

Alabama Man Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy in Anthrax Threat Letter Case  (St. Clair Times, 6/30/2010)

Birmingham, AL--A Montevallo man pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to mail hoax anthrax letters.

U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Postal Service inspector in charge Martin Phanco said Milstead Earl “Mickey” Darden, 38, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon.

According to a United States Department of Justice press release, Darden admitted he conspired with Clifton Lamar “Cliff” Dodd, 38, of Lincoln to mail eight threatening hoax letters on April 24. U.S. Postal Service inspectors arrested the two men shortly after they deposited the eight letters in a Pell City post office drop box. The letters contained a white powder, which was tested and found not to be anthrax.

“These type letters are a threat, not a joke,” Vance said. “When people open or handle letters containing white powder, they fear for their health and must endure medical precautions against poisonous contaminants. The emergency response and required testing on every potentially harmful letter is costly. These cases will be prosecuted.”

A federal grand jury indicted Darden and Dodd in connection with a series of hoax letters mailed in March and April. The indictment charged both men with conspiracy and with mailing the eight letters on April 24. The letters were intercepted by postal inspectors before they could be delivered. The indictment charged Dodd with mailing an additional 15 hoax letters between March 6 and April 5. Dodd’s case remains pending, and a trial date has not been set.

“Tampering with U.S. mail is a serious offense and sending hoax letters to scare postal customers is something that cannot be tolerated,” Phanco said. “Because of the disruption to mail service that such letters cause, the penalties can be just as severe as if they had sent something hazardous.”

In his plea agreement, Darden acknowledged he allowed Dodd to prepare and address letters containing white powder while sitting in Darden’s truck in the parking lot of a Pell City store on April 24. Darden then drove Dodd to the post office, where Dodd placed the letters in a drop box, according to the plea agreement.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to mail hoax anthrax letters is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Darden’s sentencing is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 4.

New Jersey Businesses Evacuated After Letter With Bomb Threat, Suspicious Powder Is Delivered  (Asbury Park Press, 6/28/2010)

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A bomb threat at a dietary and body-building supplements company, later found to be unsubstantiated, prompted the evacuation Monday of several businesses on Prospect Street, authorities said.

Gaspari Nutrition, 575 Prospect St., received an envelope in the mail containing a threatening letter and a suspicious powder, Sgt. Louis Sasso said.

"The letter had white powder in it, and it also threatened a bomb explosion if they didn't give a sum of money," Sasso said.

The powder tested negative for any biological or chemical hazards, and the bomb was "nonexistent," he said. The sender of the letter is unknown.

"It's still being investigated," Sasso said.

The oppressive heat sent one officer — who wore a protective suit and gas mask as he walked through the building to alert employees of other businesses that they were being evacuated — to the hospital with heat exhaustion, "but he's fine," Sasso said.

Susan Alpert, who works in a building near Gaspari Nutrition, said: "I was on the phone at my desk, and all of a sudden through the back warehouse comes a police officer with a gas mask on, screaming — screaming — for us to get out of the building (because) this is an emergency. "His eyes were wild, scared, which made us scared."

Alpert said she learned later that the white powder turned out to be a nonhazardous substance, such as baking soda.

But before that determination was made, there was a considerable law enforcement response. In addition to local police, State Police, the FBI, Berkeley hazardous materials team and the Ocean County Sheriff's Department K-9 unit were at the scene on Prospect Street, which is off Route 9 in an industrial park.

Albert said the evacuation lasted from about 2:15 to 3:45 p.m.

Alpert said she and her co-workers first tried to get in their cars but were told to keep away from them because they were near the businesses and the danger posed by the letter was not yet determined. They waited outside in the afternoon heat for further instructions, she said.

"We were finally allowed to run as fast as we could to our cars and get out as fast as possible" after about 90 minutes, she said.

Police said that the area was determined to be safe around 5:30 p.m.

Sacramento Area Man Sentenced For Stealing Cash, Gift Cards, and Checks From Mail Collection Box  (Sacramento Business Journal, 6/29/2010)

Sacramento, CA--A Roseville man has been sentenced to 1½ years in prison and three years of supervised release for stealing cash, gift cards and checks from the U.S. mail.

Keith Allen Skipper, 35, also was ordered to pay $1,950 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced Monday.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Skipper was found Dec. 9 in possession of a large amount of mail addressed to 51 different addresses. Some of it had been opened — and some of the items had been reported stolen from a neighborhood collection box.

Skipper was charged in Nevada County Superior Curt and released on bail. He then went to El Dorado County and stole more mail from residential mail boxes Dec. 20 and 22 to get mailed Christmas cash and gift cards, the complaint charged.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Nevada County Sheriff’s Department and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. It was prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez.

Pipe Bomb Suspect Appears In Federal Court in Maine  (WMTW, 6/28/2010)

ALFRED, Maine -- A man from Alfred charged with possession of destructive devices made his first court appearance Monday morning.

A judge appointed Robert Infante defense attorney Hillary Billings. A bail hearing in Federal Court is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Infante is charged with one count of possessing an unregistered explosive.

Federal agents arrested Infante Friday after they found IED's in his home and car.

Friday morning, emergency crews responded to a home in Alfred for a report of a propane explosion.

Once at the scene, investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office learned Infante had been injured because a IED exploded and that he had driven himself to the hospital.

Authorities went to Southern Maine Medical Center, in Biddeford, where Infante was being treated, and found five pipe bombs in the trunk of his car.

The hospital went into lockdown and the bomb squad detonated the devices in the parking lot.

Investigators said they also found more devices in Infante's home on Avery Road.

Infante suffered hand and chest injuries.

Security Staff Fooled In Athens Mail Bomb  (Hurriyet Daily News, 6/27/2010)

ATHENS--A parcel bomb that detonated on Thursday night next to the office of Public Order Minister Michalis Chryssohoidis, killing the minister's 52-year-old aide, had not been sent directly to the ministry building but mailed to Chryssochoidis's political office and transferred from there to the ministry two days later, police sources told Greek daily Kathimerini on Friday.

According to the same sources, the package had been marked with a name and address, ostensibly of the sender. But the signature, “Christos Karavelas, Ekali,” appears to have been a stab at dark humor by the terrorists as Karavelas is a former Siemens Hellas executive who has been implicated in the cash-for-contracts scandal embroiling the electronics and engineering firm and who continues to elude arrest.

The package sat in Chryssochoidis’s political office for two days before its transfer on Thursday to the ministry building in Katehaki, east of the city center, one of the best-guarded addresses in Greece. Ironically, it was probably close aides of the minister or even members of his security detail who brought the package into the ministry building.

There the package was opened by Giorgos Vassilakis, who sorted all the minister’s mail. The bomb, which had been wrapped and resembled a gift, exploded in Vassilakis’s hands, killing him instantly.

Toronto Letter-Bomb Sender Found Guilty  (CBC News, 6/25/2010)

Toronto, ON, Canada--A Toronto man has been found guilty of 11 counts of attempted murder for sending contaminated water and explosive mail packages to a number of people and businesses.

Adel Arnaout, 39, was convicted of 15 of 16 charges against him in the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto Friday, including 11 attempted murder charges. The only charge he escaped was a count of possessing an explosive at his home.

In making the convictions, Justice Todd Ducharme described Arnaout as a delusional narcissist who gave preposterous and illogical testimony during his trial.

He faces a life sentence as a result of the attempted murder convictions. In addition, the Crown is considering whether to pursue a dangerous offender application to prevent him from getting parole in the future.

Arnaout sent contaminated water and letter bombs between 2004 and 2007 to people he bore grudges against.

Ducharme said the only reason no one was seriously hurt was because of luck and Arnaout's incompetence as a bomb maker.

During his trial, Arnaout testified he never intended to kill or seriously injure his targets but wanted to scare them and police.

Arnaout, an aspiring actor and model, injected a solvent into water bottles and delivered them to modelling agencies as a promotion, after the agencies failed to find him the kind of work he wanted.

He also mailed packages filled with explosives to two people in Toronto and one in Guelph, Ont., in August 2007. Following Arnaout's arrest in the latter incidents later that month, police found three other bombs. They closed off the Don Valley Parkway to transport the devices to the Leslie Street Spit near Lake Ontario and carry out a controlled detonation.

Minnesota Postal Worker Picks up Suspected Pipe Bomb  (CBS News, 6/25/2010)

A mailman in rural Welch, Minn. was driving his route this afternoon when he spotted an "apparatus" resembling a "pipe bomb" alongside the road, according to Kris Weiss at the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office. Weiss said the mailman saw a group of kids headed toward to the device. The mailman picked it up, put it in his vehicle and drove it back to the post office before calling the Sheriff's Office.

A bomb squad from Bloomington, Minn. responded to the call just after 1 p.m.

Weiss said the Welch Post Office is four or five miles from where he found the "pipe bomb."

"It probably would have been better if he had called us right away and we would have responded at the scene," she said. "If it happens to be a bomb, it might have been not stable."

The bomb squad is still investigating.

Update 5:46 p.m. ET: At around 4 p.m. CST, a bomb squad from Bloomington, Minn. moved the device from the post office to a remote gravel pit and detonated it. Members of the bomb squad said they were not certain whether or not the pipe bomb was real.

"They do that to be on the safe side to just about everything they find," Weiss said.

Officials have determined that the device was found in Dakota County but driven into Goodhue County. Any further action will be taken by authorities in Dakota County.

Letter Bomb That Killed Greek Ministerial Aide Sent Through Regular Mail, Police Say  (AP, 6/26/2010)

ATHENS, Greece- - Police say a letter bomb that killed a close aide of Greece's minister in charge of law enforcement in one of the country's most heavily guarded buildings had been sent to the minister's political office earlier in the week through the regular mail.

The bomb detonated on the seventh floor of the public order ministry just outside central Athens killing 50-year-old police officer Girogos Vassilakis, the adjutant of minister Michalis Chryssohoidis.

The device had been hidden in an A3 sized envelope originally sent by mail last Friday to Chryssohoidis' political office, which is located in another part of Athens, police said. The letter bomb arrived Monday at the office, where it remained until being taken along with the minister's regular mail to his adjutant in the ministry on Thursday.

The device exploded when Vassilakis, a father of two, opened the envelope.

Former NY State Worker Admits Theft Of $16K In Sending Out Personal Mail  (WRGB, 6/28/2010)

ALBANY -- A former state worker from Rensselaer has pleaded guilty to using state resources to mail out items as part of a personal side business, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

Robert Pangini admitted to using the Department of Health's postage meter to send items he'd auctioned on eBay, and other personal mail, costing taxpayers in excess of $16,000.

Pangini worked as a senior mail and supply clerk at the Department of Health from 1997 until January of this year, said AG Cuomo. From March 2004 through January 2010, Pangini sold items over eBay -- mainly coins and currency -- and then used the DOH postage machine to pay the postage for items he sent to his eBay customers.

Along with the personal mail he sent out, the postage amounted to a theft from taxpayers of more than $16,000, according to Cuomo.

Pangini pleaded guilty to felony fourth-degree grand larceny in Rensselaer County Court Monday.

As part of the plea agreement, Pagini must pay full restitution and never again seek nor obtain employment with a government agency, said Cuomo.

He has been released without bail pending sentencing August 27th.

Anthrax Mailings Spurred Countermeasure Development, Study Says  (Global Security Newswire, 6/25/2010)

A recent study asserts that the 2001 anthrax mailings spurred a massive expansion of research into medical countermeasures for dealing with the deadly bacteria if it is released in a terrorist attack, the American Chemical Society stated.

The discovery of anthrax strains resistant to multiple antibiotics has necessitated investigation of possible alternative means of fighting anthrax infections, including antitoxins and "passive immunization" treatments that would complement use of antibiotics, Greek researcher Dimitrios Bouzianas noted in the study, titled Current and Future Medical Approaches To Combat the Anthrax Threat.

Scientists have not yet developed an effective means of countering the life-threatening toxins sometimes released into the bloodstream by an anthrax infection, the report says.

Bouzianas also outlined new treatments now in development, including next-generation vaccines that could confer immunity with fewer doses.

Still, the scarcity of humans infected by naturally occurring anthrax has complicated efforts to determine the efficacy of emerging treatment methods, Bouzianas noted.

Texas Postal Worker Stole 150 Credit Cards From Mail  (DFW News, 6/24/2010)

Dallas, TX--A former postal worker has been sentenced for his role in a mail theft conspiracy, where he stole credit cards being mailed out to customers.

Sometime in 2008, then postal worker James Olabode Laniyan, of Grand Prairie, was approached by Sulaimon Olasode, of Houston, about stealing mail from the post office, the US Attorney's Office revealed Thursday.

The two worked as a team, where Laniyan would take credit cards before they could be delivered to their rightful recipients and send them to Olasode in Houston. Olasode would then activate and use the stolen cards. Both men benefited financially from the agreement.

The duo ran the scheme until Aug. 2009. That's when members of Discover Financial Services' organized crime unit identified more than 40 credit cards mailed to customers in the Dallas area that were reported to be never received, but then later used. Most of those cards were being used in the Houston area, the US Attorney's Office said.

Investigators with the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General were able to quickly identify Laniyan and Olasode as the culprits.

Before it was all said and done, about 150 victims had their Capital One or Discover credit cards stolen by the two, investigators said.

Laniyan pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to possess stolen mail matter and commit fraud.

In Jan. 2010, Laniyan's co-conspirator, Sulaimon Olasode, pleaded guilty to the same offense and was sentenced last month by Judge Solis to 48 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution jointly and severally with Laniyan.

Olasode is in federal custody. Following his sentence he will be referred to U.S. Immigration authorities for deportation to Nigeria, the Department of Justice Said.

Liberia: Mail Theft Reports 'Unfortunate'  (All Africa News, 6/25/2010)

The Liberian Ministry of Post and Telecommunication has described as “unfortunate”, recent media reports that linked employees of the Expedited Mail Services (EMS) to mail thief at the Ministry.

The Ministry’s Director of Public Affairs Joe Leesolee said though there were allegations of mail smuggling at the Ministry, it is employees from the Counter Section of the Republic of Liberia (R/L) Mail department that are involved, not employees of the Expedited Mail Service (EMS) as being reported in the media.

Leesolee who appeared worried in an exclusive interview with The Analyst said the Ministry has not charged employees of the R/L Mail Delivery Section with thief, but said they were undergoing investigation for their alleged involvement in duping the Ministry of its needed revenue through what he termed as “Mail Smuggling” from the country.

According to him, the alleged Counter workers were booked for placing unrecorded parcels into customers belonging, and at the same time, demanding little money in return.

He further explained that these acts are causing the Ministry an unaccountable amount of money daily to traveling agency or airlines, which he says often, demands the ministry to pay for the excess parcels or packages.

Postal Affairs spokesperson warned that the Ministry will to take drastic decision on the alleged mail smugglers, who he strongly believe could be found guilty at the end of the ongoing investigation.

“This will serve as a deterrent to other employees who will be caught in similar acts,” he cautioned.

Meanwhile, Mr. Leesolee revealed that the ministry has begun the renovation and construction of more postal offices in and around the country, to put the ministry’s mail delivery services on par with other courier providers, such as DHL in the country. Besides, he added that it will also enable them to provide affordable and cheap services to the citizen, especially those in rural communities.

“We are undertaking these projects to be in par with others courier systems in the Country, and to provide affordable services to our people, mainly those in the rural areas,” he pointed.

Radical Animal Rights Activist Claims Responsibility For Arson Fires in Utah and Colorado  (ABC 4 News, 6/25/2010)

SALT LAKE CITY-- "Lone Wolf" sent a communiqué to an Animal Liberation Front claiming responsibility for two arson fires -- one of them in Salt Lake.

The fire in Salt Lake happened overnight on June 5th at Tandy Leather Factory at 1107 South State Street in Salt Lake City. The arsonist didn't bother to hide his crime. He used cans of gasoline. The fire burned mostly flooring and the front counter of the store. Still, all of the merchandise was destroyed by smoke.

But Tandy wasn't the only store damaged. Smoke also poured into the other businesses in the block. Steve Tippetts owns Anchor Ink which is next door to Tandy. "The smoke was so bad, we had to shut down for two days just to clean up," he said.

The other fire was on April 30th at a Sheepskin store in Denver. That store burned to the ground. The FBI is reviewing a videotape from a surveillance camera that may show the arsonist around the store at the time of the fire.

In the communiqué, Lone Wolf wrote the fires in Salt Lake and Denver were "done in defense and retaliation for all the innocent animals that have died cruelly at the hands of human oppressors."

Tippetts is now concerned the arsonist will strike again.

Lone Wolf wrote that the fires were "in defense and retaliation for all the innocent animals that have died cruelly at the hands of human oppressors."

If Long Wolf had something to do with the fires, Deputy Chief Brain Dale believes he didn't do it alone. He said arsonists don't typically travel. They set their fires close to home. "Makes me more or less skeptical that they're local," Deputy Chief Dale said "But it's certainly not a common behavior or pattern we would have seen."

Tippetts just worries the arsonists will return when Tandy Leather reopens next month. He said, "I've heard ... They've actually come back. They wait until they're done the repairs or remodel and come back and do it again. So, I have a fear of that."

Bomb Mailer Sent To Prison in Minnesota  (Winona Daily News, 6/25/2010)

Winona, MN--A West Virginia man was sentenced Thursday to 21/2 years in federal prison for mailing a bomb to a former neighbor in Houston, Minn.

Mark Steven Anderson, 57, of Marmet, W.Va., mailed the bomb intending to injure his former neighbor, authorities said. Anderson moved from Houston in 2006.

The neighbor opened the package July 22, 2009, and found two sticks of dynamite connected to fuses and cords. The bomb did not go off because the man lifted the packaging flap that wasn't connected to matches intended to ignite the improvised explosive device, according to a federal postal inspector's affidavit.

Houston County sheriff's deputies dismantled the device, made from gun powder-filled toilet paper tubes, a fuse, matches and a striker plate. A deputy lit the fuse and found "it burned faster than a ‘firework' fuse," according to the affidavit.

In late July, federal authorities in West Virginia questioned Anderson, who said he built the bomb two years earlier and mailed the package to "scare" his former neighbor.

Anderson pleaded guilty Feb. 23 in federal court to mailing an injurious article.

"People do stuff to scare people," Anderson reportedly told federal agents. "And that (mailing the bomb) was it."

Greek Anti-Terror Police Probe Deadly Bombing  (AP, 6/25/2010)

ATHENS, Greece — A letter bomb that killed a close aide to Greece's law enforcement minister had originally been sent to the minister's political office before being taken to the heavily guarded ministry building where it exploded, police said Friday.

Authorities had been probing how the bomb got into the public order ministry building, which is equipped with explosives detectors to check parcels.

Thursday night's brazen bombing was the latest step in an escalating campaign of attacks in Greece, where radical domestic groups often carry out bombings and shootings but rarely cause injuries. The bomb detonated on the seventh floor of the building just outside central Athens, killing 50-year-old police officer Giorgos Vassilakis, a close aide to minister Michalis Chryssohoidis. Chryssohoidis was unhurt.

The device had been hidden in an envelope originally sent by mail last Friday to Chryssohoidis' political office, police said. The letter bomb arrived Monday at the office, where it remained until being taken along with the minister's regular mail to the ministry on Thursday. The device exploded when Vassilakis, a father of two, opened the envelope.

The name of the sender was listed as Christos Karavellas - a former executive of Siemens AG's Greek branch who is a suspect in a corruption case against the company and who was frequently in newspaper headlines at the height of the corruption scandal last year.

Police are examining the remains of the bomb, and believe gunpowder was used in the device.

The blast caused extensive damage to the ministry's seventh floor, just 25 meters (yards) from the office of Chryssohoidis, who was inside at the time.

 There was no claim of responsibility by Friday, but suspicion fell on militant groups opposed to government economic and social policies. Greece has passed a set of stringent austerity measures and narrowly avoided defaulting on its debt by receiving the first installment of euro110 billion ($134.9 billion) in rescue loans from other EU countries and the International Monetary Fund.

The tactic used was a clear departure from the usual method of planting bombs late at night when they are less likely to cause injuries, making it difficult for experts to narrow down which group could be responsible.

"It's unclear which organization is responsible. This is the first time something like this has happened," a public order ministry official said, speaking on condition his name not be used in order to discuss details of the investigation.

Although there were many people on the seventh floor at the time of the explosion, Vassilakis had been in his office alone when he opened the package. The door was closed and absorbed much of the blast, preventing others from being wounded, the ministry official said.

Chryssohoidis has waged a campaign for years to eradicate domestic terrorism in Greece, and is considered instrumental in dismantling the country's most notorious group, November 17, in 2002 during his previous tenure as public order minister.

Bombings and shootings by radical domestic groups in Greece increased significantly after the fatal police shooting of an Athens teenager in December 2008, which sparked the country's worst riots in decades. Over the past nine months, police have arrested more than a dozen people accused of belonging to two small militant groups that claimed responsibility for a string of bombings, including a rocket attack against the U.S. Embassy in 2007.

In March, a 15-year-old Afghan boy was killed when he opened a bag containing a bomb that had been planted outside a management institute in an Athens neighborhood. The boy's 10-year-old sister suffered serious facial injuries that damaged her sight.

The boy was the first person to be killed in a bomb attack in Athens since 1999, when a blast outside a hotel killed a conference worker. Another two people were killed in separate shootings claimed by terrorist groups since 2000.

Parcel Bomb Kills Greek Security Minister's Aide  (The Guardian, 6/25/2010)

Athens, Greece—A parcel bomb disguised as a gift exploded last night inside the offices of the minister in charge of security in Greece, killing a senior aide who tried to open the box.

The explosion was meters away from where the minister, Michalis Chrysohoidis, was sat at his desk on the seventh floor of the heavily-guarded building in Athens.

Giorgos Vassilakis, 52, head of the minister's security team, died instantly when the device, thought to have been gift-wrapped as a box of sweets, went off in his hands. So strong was the blast that employees in the building thought it had been struck by an earthquake.

Visibly shaken, Chrysohoidis vowed the "cowardly murderers will be brought to justice".

The unprecedented assassination attempt had clearly been aimed at him, he said, since as minister he has sought to crack down on the medley of domestic armed groups active in Greece. By late last night no group had claimed responsibility for the explosion.

The bombing came amid a rise in the number of assaults on police and public buildings, starting with the series of riots which gripped the country in December 2008.

Most have been claimed by ultra-left and anarchist groups.

But last night was the first time an attack had targeted the heart of the security apparatus.

Two of Chrysohoidis's predecessors survived bombings, most recently an assault in May 2006. But in both cases the politicians were unscathed. "We are all asking how the device could have passed all the security, how it could have got in there," a senior member of the governing socialist Pasok party told the Guardian. "Our concern now is that this will mark an escalation in terrorism at a time when the country is battling on so many other fronts, economically and socially."

Last month three people died after protests over unpopular economic austerity measures turned violent, and a bank in the capital's city centre was firebombed with workers inside.

Earlier this year, after painstaking work on Chrysohoidis's watch, the authorities arrested six suspected members of the Greece's most militant group, Revolutionary Struggle.

In the run-up to the Athens 2004 Olympic games when he also held the same post, Chrysohoidis successfully dismantled November 17, one of Europe's most notorious terrorist groups which had operated with impunity, targeting diplomats, government officials and industrialists, since 1975.

Security analysts expressed alarm last night.

"This signifies a malicious escalation from violence on public property to public persons that could potentially intimidate other ministers from doing their jobs," said Aya Burmeila, a senior analyst at the Athens-based Research Institute for European and American Studies.

A Chronology Of The Main Terrorist Strikes In Greece Over The Past 20 Years  (AP, 6/24/2010)

A chronology of the main terrorist strikes in Greece over the past 20 years — nearly all by left-wing militants.

— June 24, 2010: Parcel bomb explodes in public order ministry building in Athens, killing senior ministerial aide. No immediate claim of responsibility.

— May 14, 2010: A powerful bomb explodes in a courthouse in the northern city of Thessaloniki, causing extensive damage but no injuries. Radical anarchist group Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims responsibility.

— May 13, 2010: Powerful bomb blast outside Greece's largest prison in Athens smashes windows in nearby homes, one woman injured by flying glass. Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims responsibility.

— March 28, 2010: Pipe bomb explodes outside management institute in Athens, killing a 15-year-old Afghan bystander and severely injuring his 10-year-old sister. No group claims responsibility.

— Feb. 16, 2010: Bomb explodes at offices of American financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Athens, causing no injuries.

— Jan. 15, 2010: Bomb explodes outside press and information ministry in central Athens, shattering glass and damaging the front of the building but causing no injuries.

— Jan. 9, 2010: Small bomb explodes near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of Parliament in central Athens. No injuries. Radical anarchist group Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims attack.

— Dec. 28, 2009: Bomb damages an insurance company headquarters in central Athens, no injuries. Radical anarchist group Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims attack, saying it was to protest the "Christmas consumer spirit."

— Nov. 13, 2009: Small bomb explodes outside Athens home of governing party lawmaker Mimis Androulakis, causing minor damage but no injuries. Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims attack.

— Oct 30, 2009: Bomb outside home of prominent conservative politician Marietta Giannakou causes no injuries. Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire claims blast.

— Oct. 27 2009: Gunmen on a motorcycle fire on a suburban Athens police station with automatic weapons, wounding six officers. No claim of responsibility.

— Sept. 2, 2009: Powerful bomb explodes outside Athens Stock Exchange building, causing extensive damage and lightly injuring one woman. Far-left militant group Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— June 17, 2009: An anti-terrorist policeman guarding a terror trial witness in central Athens is shot dead. Far-left militant group Sect of Revolutionaries claims the attack.

— Feb 18, 2009: Greek police destroy a massive car bomb — with enough explosives to crumble a four-story building — abandoned outside Citibank offices in suburban Athens. Revolutionary Struggle claims the attack.

— Jan. 5, 2009: Gunmen open fire on riot policemen in central Athens, severely injuring one officer. Revolutionary Struggle claims the attack.

— Jan. 12, 2007: Small anti-tank rocket hits U.S. embassy in Athens, causing no injuries. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— May 30, 2006: Bomb strapped to the back of a bicycle explodes near home of Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis. No injuries. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility, says aimed to kill minister, who held public order portfolio during 2004 Athens Olympics.

— Dec. 22, 2005: Bomb explodes outside Development Ministry in Athens, without causing injuries. No group has claimed responsibility.

— Dec. 12, 2005: Bomb explodes outside National Economy Ministry, beside Athens' central Syntagma Square. Three people lightly injured. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— June 2, 2005: Bomb explodes outside Labor Ministry in Athens. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— Oct. 29, 2004: Bomb explodes beside convoy of police vehicles in western Athens, without causing injuries. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— May 5, 2004: Three bombs explode at southern Athens police station — 100 days before the start of the Athens Olympic Games — causing no injuries but deeply embarrassing security-conscious Greek government. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— Sept. 6, 2003: Double bomb attack on main Athens courts complex. One police guard lightly injured. Revolutionary Struggle claims responsibility.

— June 8, 2000: British defence attache Brig. Stephen Saunders shot dead.November 17 claims responsibility.

— April 27, 1999: Bomb explodes outside Intercontinental Hotel in Athens, killing a woman working late after a conference. Revolutionary Nuclei claims attack.

— May 28, 1997: Greek-British shipowner Constantinos Peratikos shot dead. November 17 claims responsibility.

— Feb. 15, 1996: Anti-tank rocket hits wall of U.S. embassy parking lot. No injuries. November 17 claims responsibility.

— July 4, 1994: Turkish Deputy Chief of Mission Haluk Sipahioglu shot dead. November 17 claims responsibility.

— Jan. 24, 1994: Former National Bank of Greece chairman Michalis Vranopoulos shot dead. November 17 claims responsibility.

— July 14, 1992: Rocket attack aimed at finance ministry accidentally kills student Thanos Axarlian. November 17 claims responsibility.

— Nov. 2, 1991: Police officer Yiannis Varis killed in rocket and grenade attack on riot squad bus. November 17 claims responsibility.

— Oct. 7, 1991: Turkish attache Cetin Gorgu shot dead. November 17 claims responsibility.

— March 12, 1991: U.S. Air Force Sgt. Ronald O. Stewart killed by bomb. November 17 claims responsibility.

— Jan. 25, 1991: Four bombings at U.S. and British banks and home of French military attache. November 17 claims responsibility.

Parcel Bomb Disguised As Gift Explodes and Kills Aide To Greek Counter-Terrorism Minister  (BBC News, 6/24/2010)

Athens, Greece--A bomb blast at the offices of Greece's public order ministry in Athens has killed a close aide to the minister responsible for counter-terrorism.

Police said the victim had opened a parcel bomb.

The explosion happened only meters away from the office of the minister, Michalis Chryssohoidis, who was unhurt.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the bombing was a terrorist attack. So far no group has said it was behind the bomb.

'Cowardly murderers'

The blast was so powerful that some in the heavily guarded building thought it had been struck by an earthquake, the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens reports.

The victim was later identified as Giorgos Vassilakis, a 50-year-old father of two.

Visibly shaken, Mr Chryssohoidis said he had "lost a valuable and beloved colleague".

 "We cannot be scared and we cannot be terrorized. These cowardly murderers will be brought to justice."

The minister added that the parcel had been meant for him.

Mr Papandreou also branded the bombers "cowards", adding: "They will get the response that they deserve not only from the state but also from all of society. The terrorists will not reach their objective."

Greek terrorism expert Dr Athanasios Drougas told the BBC that the bomb was probably the work of Revolutionary Struggle, the country's most deadly active guerilla group.

In recent months police have made major breakthroughs against Revolutionary Struggle and another militant organization, Conspiracy of Fire.

Dr Drougas said Revolutionary Struggle was sending a message that it was not defeated and was still capable of striking at the heart of the Greek government.

Prison For West Virginia Man Whose Mail Bomb Failed To Go Off In Minnesota  (Star-Tribune, 6/25/2010)

Minneapolis, MN--A 57-year-old West Virginia man has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for mailing a faulty explosive to a home in the southeastern Minnesota community where he once lived.

Mark S. Anderson, of Marmet, W.Va., was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to sending a package that included two sticks of dynamite to a resident in Houston, Minn., last summer.

When the recipient, identified in public court documents only as J. Lee, tried to open the package, the device failed to detonate.

In the course of this case, federal authorities have not revealed why Anderson targeted Lee.

In his plea agreement in February, Anderson admitted sending the package on July 22. Along with the dynamite, it contained gunpowder, matches, cardboard tubes, a striker plate and fuses, was designed to detonate upon opening.

Postal investigators traced the package to West Virginia, and Anderson was arrested at his home less than a week later.

Blast Rocks Greek Public Order Minister's Office  (AP, 6/24/2010)

ATHENS, Greece — A bomb disguised as a gift exploded inside the Greek public order ministry in Athens Thursday night, killing a police officer who was a close ministerial aide, in Greece's highest profile attack in years.

"It was a terrorist act," government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis told The Associated Press.

A number of small extreme left wing and radical anarchist groups operate in Greece, and have carried out bomb attacks and shooting in the capital. But the vast majority are small devices planted outside banks, foreign companies or car dealerships late at night and do not cause any injuries. It is very rare for bombings in Athens to cause fatalities.

Police said the package exploded about 25 meters (yards) away from Public Order Minister Michalis Chryssohoidis' office on the seventh floor of the heavily guarded ministry, which is located just outside the capital's center.

Chryssohoidis, who was unharmed despite being in his office at the time of the blast, said he had "lost a valuable and beloved associate."

The police officer who was killed, Giorgos Vassilakis, was a 50-year-old father of two. Authorities said there were no other injuries, but that the powerful explosion had caused extensive damage inside the ministry.

"The cowardly murderers will be brought to justice, to be tried in accordance with the constitution and our laws," a visibly shaken Chryssohoidis told media outside the ministry shortly after the explosion. "We will continue our struggle to keep our citizens, neighborhoods, and cities safe."

The minister said the package had been meant for him.

"We say one more time that we are not afraid and we will not be terrorized," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

Authorities sealed the ministry building, barring anyone from entering or leaving. Officials said it was not immediately clear how the package had been delivered — whether it had been hand delivered or sent by a courier or in the mail.

Attacks in Greece increased after the fatal police shooting in December 2008 of an Athens teenager, which sparked Greece's worst riots in decades. Over the past nine months, police have arrested more than a dozen people accused of belonging to two small militant groups that claimed responsibility for a string of bombings.

In March, a 15-year-old Afghan boy was killed when he opened a bag containing a bomb that had been planted outside a management institute in an Athens neighborhood. The boy's 10-year-old sister suffered serious facial injuries that damaged her sight. The boy was the first person to be killed in a bomb attack in Athens since 1999, when a blast outside a hotel killed a conference worker.

Unions Rally Against Royal Mail Sale  (Mirror, 6/25/2010)

UK--Government plans to sell off part of Royal Mail would lead to more savage cuts to jobs and services, union leaders claimed yesterday.

The warning came after Business Secretary Vince Cable asked Yell director Richard Hooper to update his controversial 2008 report on how to secure the group's future and tackle its £10billion pension deficit.

The ConDems plan to sell shares in Royal Mail to inject "private capital" into the business.

Hooper will explore how this should be done and report in the autumn.

Cable said: "Royal Mail risks being laid low by falling mail volumes, low investment and a huge pensions' time bomb."

But Billy Hayes, leader of the Communication Workers' Union, told Your Money the review was a backward step that would cast a "fog of uncertainty" over the business.

He said: "These are old ideas, which have been discredited, dressed up in new clothes. Privatization would mean more cuts to jobs and services as management face demands to squeeze shareholders' dividends out of the business." Labour abandoned plans to sell a stake in the business after bitter opposition from the public and within the party.

More than 62,000 jobs have already been lost since 2002, including around 10,000 since Hooper's report 18 months ago, while profits jumped to £404m last year.

The company, hit by a bitter strike last year, now has a three-year agreement with the CWU paving the way for modernization.

Hayes added: "We've agreed to modernize and the company is making a lot of money. It can stand on its own two feet."

George Thomson, leader of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, believes the "pendulum is swinging" towards 2002 full privatization of Royal Mail. If that happens he favors selling shares to the public rather than seeing "another part of our industrial heritage fall into foreign hands".

He is anxious that the close working relationship between Royal Mail and the Post Office is safeguarded. He said: "We got around £340million of income from Royal Mail last year and around half of all customer visits to Post Offices are mail related. It is our umbilical cord. It must not be cut."

Potential New Postal Service Boss Tied To Anthrax Scare Worries Workers  (Washington Post, 6/24/2010)

Washington, DC--The former manager of a U.S. Postal Service plant that employed two workers who died during the 2001 anthrax attacks is under consideration to serve as vice president of operations for the District, Maryland and Virginia, according to sources familiar with the selection process. But such a move would upset workers who remember he assured them of their safety just days before two workers died of anthrax exposure, union leaders said.

Timothy C. Haney currently oversees postal operations across most of New York, New Jersey and New England and sources said Postmaster General John E. Potter may soon move him to manage the District, Maryland, Northern and Eastern Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Postal Service delivers more than 9.9 billion pieces of mail annually to more than 10.7 million addresses in the region.

The Postal Service would not comment. Calls to Haney's office in New York were not returned. He would replace Jerry D. Lane, who left earlier this month after an altercation with a female plant manager at the agency's Sterling distribution center. Lane is due in court on Aug. 26 to face misdemeanor assault charges and if convicted faces up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Haney joined the Postal Service in 1977 as a clerk in Pasadena, Md. and has managed seven distribution centers, including the District's Curseen and Morris Processing and Distribution Center.

The facility, formerly known as the Brentwood Processing and Distribution Center, was renamed for Joseph Curseen and Thomas Morris, who died of anthrax exposure in 2001.

Ray Robinson, executive vice president of American Postal Workers Union Nation’s Capital Area Local 140 said Haney's promotion concerns some colleagues.

“We didn’t feel that they were straight with us,” during the anthrax scare, Robinson said of Haney, Potter and other top Postal officials.

"They left us in the building and we believe that they had information that showed it might have been dangerous," he said.

APWU filed suit against Haney, Potter and other officials after Curseen and Morris died, arguing the Postal Service kept Brentwood open despite the anthrax exposure. A federal court dismissed the case, ruling that workers could only seek recourse through the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Potter later promoted and transferred Haney to the Northeast region.

Local 140 President Dena Briscoe said her members have several workplace concerns that need addressing by whoever takes the regional position.

“We’re hoping Mr. Haney comes with a good heart to address employee concerns, because there are a lot,” Briscoe said.

Postal Service officials would not comment on the workers' concerns.

White-Powder Scare At Scott Air Force Base Turns Out To Be False Alarm  (News-Democrat, 6/24/2010)

A building at Scott Air Force Base was briefly closed Thursday morning in response to a possible hazardous material scare.

A secretary in building 1961, which houses part of U.S. Transportation Command, was opening mail when she found a white, powdery substance in one of the envelopes around 9 a.m., according to information provided by Scott Air Force Base. The letter was addressed to a senior leader who works in the building.

Parts of the building were evacuated and the area cordoned off.

 Hazardous-material and bioenvironmental technicians as well as fire and medical teams responded to the report of the substance.

The powder was tested and found negative for biological or chemical material.

The area was declared safe around 11 a.m. The substance will undergo additional testing and the Office of Special Investigations will continue to investigate the incident.

Royal Mail Suspend Deliveries To Seaside Street After Up To 20 Aggressive Gulls Attack Postmen  (Daily Mail, 6/24/2010)

UK--Royal Mail has been forced to suspend deliveries in a coastal street because posties are being attacked by seagulls.

Bosses say postal workers are being dive-bombed by up to 20 birds that are so aggressive they pose a health and safety risk.

Several residents in Berry Drive, Paignton, Devon, have now been told to collect their letters themselves from the main sorting office.

In a letter, local Delivery Office Manager Martin Hudson said the 'level of threat' means residents must provide an 'alternative delivery site' for postmen to drop off their mail.

He wrote: 'I'm writing to let you know that we're experiencing difficulties in delivering mail to your address because of the actions of seagulls nesting at your property.

'As a result, a health-and-safety risk assessment has been carried out and has determined that the level of threat requires action to be taken to ensure the safety of our delivery staff.

'While Royal Mail is committed to providing a consistent daily delivery to all addresses, we also place the highest priority on the safety of our employees.'

The problems started after the birds nested on the roofs of properties and began swooping to mark their territory.

No postmen have reportedly been hit so far but two neighbors have been left with gashes to their heads after gull attacks.

People in the street say they are confused about what to do and are angry at the Royal Mail for halting deliveries to their homes.

Resident Teressa Lamble said she is 'bewildered' by the ruling.

She said: 'My problem is not with the gulls or with the postmen - it's with the Royal Mail. Why are we being picked on? They say I have to make alternative arrangements for my mail to be delivered, but they haven't specified what they could be.

'I'm bewildered. What do they expect me to do? I'm quite happy to meet the postman up the road if they ring me.

'There are at least three nests on properties here. We've tried everything to get rid of the gulls, but each year they are here. We all go out with our umbrellas up.'

Another resident added: 'I've never heard of deliveries being stopped because of seagulls. It's ridiculous. The gulls have been a problem here, but we all manage to get by. We can provide the postmen with a helmet and umbrella if they want.'

A Royal Mail spokesman said deliveries had only been halted to certain addresses in the street near to where seagulls were nesting.

He said: 'We continue to make deliveries to customers in Berry Drive, but there have been recent incidents where our staff have been attacked by up to 20 seagulls, making it difficult to access all addresses in the street.

'We continue to make every effort to get mail to customers and there are no plans to suspend deliveries to Berry Drive.'

Ted Kennedy FBI File Reveals Mail Threats  (MSNBC, 6/14/2010)

NEW YORK - After the violent deaths of his brothers, the youngest Kennedy, Teddy, lived under constant threat that he too would meet an assassin's bullet. As he put it bluntly, “They're going to shoot my ass off the way they shot off Bobby's.”

We are learning more about these threats, as the FBI has released 2,352 pages from its file on the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

The new file is dominated by investigations of threats against Ted Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 at age 77. "These threats originated from multiple sources, including individuals, anonymous persons, and members of radical groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, 'Minutemen' organizations, and the National Socialist White People’s Party," the FBI said. "The file also contains threats from individuals angered by Kennedy’s stance on politics in Northern Ireland and allegations of an alleged Mafia plot to kill President Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy."

In 1977, the FBI received a report that Sirhan Sirhan, who had been convicted of killing Robert Kennedy, had tried to hire a fellow inmate to kill Ted Kennedy. The file doesn't say whether the claim was substantiated.

The file was requested by msnbc.com and other news organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. After a kerfuffle over the FBI's decision to let the Kennedy family review the file before release, the FBI said today that no information was withheld from the file.

"At no point do these files suggest that the FBI investigated Senator Kennedy for a criminal violation or as a security threat," the FBI said. A smaller file will be released later, with information from various field offices, an FBI employee said, and that could include material on investigations of the senator.

The bureau long ago released its main file on Sen. Kennedy's traffic accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass., which killed Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to his brother, Robert. Contrary to much speculation before this new material released, only a small amount of material on Chappaquiddick is included, and at first glance it appears to contain no new information, mostly newspaper articles.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian whose husband worked for the Kennedy family for years, told msnbc.com that she recalls the subject of assassination being discussed openly as Ted Kennedy began to seek the presidency in 1980.

“I remember in 1980, when he was running in the presidential primaries, we were at his house on Cape Cod and the questions came up,” Goodwin said. “As friends, the question came up, and it may well have been that some of his kids were worried about it. He said he just couldn't live his life that way. I think Lincoln said, 'I can't live my life looking around corners.'

“At a certain point you just make that decision that you will not allow yourself to be afraid, that life would be diminished if they allowed themselves to live that way.”

Previously released FBI files document a spate of threats against Ted Kennedy in the weeks after Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968, and five years after their older brother, President John F. Kennedy, was killed. Several of the letters appeared to be written in the same hand. They were postmarked in Boston. 

One letter was sent to Ethel Kennedy, Robert's widow, at her home, known as Hickory Hill, in McLean, Va. It said only this: “If Ted runs for Pres. or VP he will be killed. We hate Kennedys. Stop him.”

Two letters received by the senator's office, said, “Don't run for President or Vice President or you will be shot dead too.” And, “You will die if you run for Pres or VP. We hate Kennedys.”

The letter-writers also targeted the senator's invalid father, former Ambassador Joseph Kennedy Sr. One said simply, “Do you propose 'Tedd' [sic] to be the next victim?"

A longer letter to the elder Kennedy, who had suffered a stroke and the assassination of two sons, began, “Your suffering has hardly begun. Teddy is next on the Kennedy 'hit parade.'  And we won't rest until he gets his. We are sick of the Kennedy's [sic] and all the damn Kennedy crap.”

After attacks on the elder Kennedy as a “crook,” the letter continues, “You thought you could buy the presidency — and did once.  America doesn't like or want dynasties. Jack had to die. Bobby had to die. Teddy has to die. We hope you live long enough to see total destruction of the Kennedy's [sic] and to suffer again and again before you die and go to Hell for all eternity.”

An FBI memo says an assistant U.S. attorney gave the opinion that the letters to the father were not illegal, because they were vague, not making a specific threat.

Another letter was sent in June 1968 to Adlai Stevenson III, the Illinois state treasurer, who was involved in preparations for the Democratic convention in Chicago. “You will have blood on your hands. If he accepts the VP nomination he will die. A few of us Americans love our country enough to protect it from all threats and the Kennedy family is a terrible menace to America.”

Previously released FBI files revealed that the FBI investigated threats to kidnap the former president's son, John F. Kennedy Jr., in 1985 and 1995. He died in an airplane crash in 1999.

That summer a different sort of letter was sent to Joseph Kennedy, demanding $1 million. The letter, from a Merrilli Syndicate in Boston, claimed that the group conducted assassinations for hire and had received a bid for $500,000 to kill Ted Kennedy. “The only method of saving your son is by outbidding the proposed deal.”

It gave specific instructions: “The money should be placed in a modern breifcase [sic] and placed behind a telephone pole accross [sic] the road from the newly-built home on Pleasant Hill Road in Orange, Connecticut. Our corporation will expect the currency by noon of Thursday, June 20. A guard will be posted to assure of no foul play. The money will most preferably be accepted in fifty dollar bills. Certainly a man with one son left cannot risk or foolishly gamble his life.”

The FBI reported that this extortion letter wasn't noticed until September, long after the scheduled payoff, because of the great volume of mail received by the family after Robert's murder. The FBI investigated in Boston, New York and Orange, but turned up nothing. The FBI said it had no information on a Merrilli Syndicate.

Former Kennedy aide Richard E. Burke, who started working in the mailroom at the Senate office in 1971, describes the frequency of hate mail in his tell-all book, “The Senator: My Ten Years With Ted Kennedy”:

“Once I opened an envelope to find a mouse leg inside. Another correspondent sent the Senator a used condom. All of this aberrational material went into the box labeled HATE MAIL. If there seemed to be a truly alarming threat in the mail, the letter and envelope were turned over to the FBI and the Secret Service.”

Always on alert, the receptionist at the Kennedy office had an alarm buzzer to alert the staff to bolt the doors protecting the inner office, where Ted Kennedy sat at a desk used by John and Robert before him, Burke wrote.

In 1979, a stalker got into Ted Kennedy's house in McLean twice, roaming the empty house.

“The incident was a reminder of how vulnerable the Senator was, and it was perhaps the most serious argument against a presidential campaign,” Burke said. “The Senator had to face the reality that someone might take a shot at him. Hickory Hill, with Ethel and her eleven fatherless children, was a stark reminder of the price of being a candidate.”

New York Times reporter Adam Clymer, in his “Edward M. Kennedy: a biography,” described how Kennedy said in 1972, “They're going to shoot my ass off the way they shot off Bobby's.”

Kennedy decided he would risk getting shot to enter the 1980 campaign, Clymer wrote, but after the threats he received, the fears of Kennedy's children and nieces and nephews were a major factor in his decision not to seek the presidency in 1984.

His first wife, Joan, told the Ladies' Home Journal, “Frankly, I worry all the time about whether Ted will be shot like Jack and Bobby.” Her husband, she said, “tries to keep things from me — serious threats against his life ... that kind of news — but I know what's going on.”

As the Kennedy family was well aware, the most dangerous people were not necessarily the ones sending threats. A 1999 Secret Service study of 83 people who made assassination attempts against public figures in America found that only 27 had conveyed a direct threat to anyone, and only eight of those had communicated such a threat to the target or to law enforcement. Most attackers don't make threats, and most threateners don't attack.

Powder Scare at Cheyenne, WY City Hall  (Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 6/12/2010)

CHEYENNE, WY --A powder scare shut down the city clerk's office for three hours on Friday.

Initial tests show that the powder does not contain biological agents, such as anthrax.

Around noon, a clerk's employee opened an envelope with a letter and an unknown powder substance, interim fire chief Jim Martin said at a news conference.

"(The letter) didn't appear to be (threatening), but it was over 30 pages long," Martin said.

The employees had to stay locked in the office under quarantine for three hours as hazmat officials kept them "as calm and as comfortable as we could" until tests were finished.

"We treat anything that comes as an envelope with a powder or a suspicious package as a credible threat," Martin said. "That's our policy because of the powder scares of several years ago."

The letter is at the state crime lab where officials will continue tests and try to grow cultures from the powder. Results should available Monday or Tuesday, Martin said.

Once testing is complete, the letter will be passed along to law enforcement.

Martin said he did know if the letter was sent to an individual or if it was mailed in Cheyenne.

The hazmat team also evacuated three nearby offices: human resources, purchasing and risk management. The fans of the city's HVAC system were also shut down.

The powder scares of several years ago that Martin referred to were the anthrax scares of 2001.

Five people died after several letters containing anthrax spores were sent to several New York media organizations and two U.S. senators.

Swiss Post Solutions Digitizes Suva Documents  (Hellmail, 6/13/2010)

Source: Swiss Post--The Swiss postal service is no stranger to the world of digitized documents. Swiss Post Solutions (a subsidiary of Swiss Post), already handles electronically processed documents using the latest IT platforms, and has recently been working on a large digitization project for the Swiss accident insurance company Suva.

The work involves scanning the correspondence received by the Suva agencies – around 12,000 documents each day, classifying them by document type and allocating them to e-dossiers.Digitization is one of the core competencies of Swiss Post Solutions and increases the service quality and efficiency of the insurance company’s case management processes.

With its digital document management services, Swiss Post supports its customers in integrating physical correspondence into electronic business processes and information flows.Media discontinuities and associated error sources can thus be avoided, while productivity and the quality of data management can be enhanced.The digitization of incoming mail offers Suva additional advantages.The branches receive a wide variety of documents and enquiries on a daily basis, which have to be classified quickly.As the largest provider of compulsory accident insurance, Suva is also subject to the requirements of the federal GEVER (electronic business management) programme, which requires digitization and electronic archiving of business-related documents by the end of 2011.

Swiss Post collects the incoming mail for the Suva agencies throughout Switzerland, sorts personally addressed items and scans the remaining correspondence.This amounts to around 12,000 documents each day from the 19 branches.Letters that cannot be scanned are delivered as usual, and the digitized mail is delivered electronically.The digitization process will be rolled out gradually at all agencies by mid-2011.The plan is also to subsequently implement the procedure at the Suva head office and at the two rehabilitation clinics in Bellikon and Sion.Digitization of correspondence includes automatically breaking down the scanned items by document type, assigning them to the responsible processing team and allocating the documents to the correct e-dossier via the Suva mailbox solution.

For Suva, the system means that the e-dossiers increase the ability of advisors to provide advice about claims, customer dossiers, and the variety of prevention and rehabilitation services and healthcare programmes as part of accident insurance.The data are available digitally and are therefore location-independent.They provide employees at the agencies with comprehensive search and filter options.As all of the Suva correspondence is highly confidential, digitization and subsequent destruction of incoming mail is subject to stringent confidentiality requirements.It is processed in an access-controlled room dedicated exclusively to Suva at the Kriens mail service centre.

Bomb At VA Hospital In Massachusetts Ends With 2 Arrests  (WBZ, 6/11/2010)

BEDFORD, MA--A state bomb squad detonated a six inch long pipe bomb Friday afternoon at the VA Hospital in Bedford.

Police say that two men arrived at the hospital Friday afternoon, with the intentions that one of them would go to detox.

A VA police officer said the men were acting suspiciously so he went to talk with them.  He says there was alcohol in the car and when he asked their names, he found that one of them, Sean Carney, was wanted on an outstanding warrant out of Salem.

Carney was taken inside to the VA police station.

When the officer returned outside, he asked the other man, Christopher McDonald, if he had anything he wanted to turn over. 

Authorities say McDonald gave the officer some marijuana and a six inch pipe bomb.

The officer placed the bomb in a grassy area away from the hospital, and called in Bedford police and a state bomb squad.

The bomb squad detonated the bomb, and no one was hurt.

Christopher McDonald was arrested on a charge of possession of a bomb.

Both he and Sean Carney are expected to be on Concord District Court on Monday.

Federal Building in Arkansas Evacuated After White Powder Found In Envelope  (KOLR News, 6/11/2010)

Fayetteville, AR-- Folks are still on edge after the anthrax white powder scare of earlier this decade.

Thursday, a federal building in Fayetteville was briefly evacuated after a letter containing a white powdery substance was sent to the location by a state prison inmate.

Police spokesman Corporal Rick Crisman says in the previous incidents, the powder was nothing more than laundry detergent.

House Lawmakers Look to Strengthen Security at U.S. Biolabs  (GSN, 6/11/2010)

WASHINGTON -- Members of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee yesterday unveiled their version of legislation aimed at overhauling security at the country's biological research facilities and enhancing federal efforts against the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.

"Our legislation concerns all weapons of mass destruction threats but will give special emphasis to the emerging threat of biological weapons," Representative Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), one of the bill's co-sponsors, said during a press conference on Capitol Hill. He said the proposal "offers an extensive blueprint to address the greatest catastrophic risk we face."

The 95-page "WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2010" requires the homeland security secretary -- in consultation with the heads of the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments and other agencies -- to convene a "negotiated rulemaking committee" to develop enhanced security rules for individuals or institutions.

The panel would also create a tier of disease agents that are considered top material threats to the United States, dubbing them "Tier 1 Material Threat Agents." The committee will consider criteria such as whether the agent or toxin can be used effectively in a biological attack in making their determination.

The Agriculture and Health and Human Service departments would then be required to conduct inspections at designated facilities and to enforce the rules established by the negotiating committee. Information collected from examinations of laboratories working with first-tier materials would be submitted to the Homeland Security Department "to ensure uniformity in enforcement" of the regulations, according to the bill's executive summary.

Agriculture and HHS officials would also be assigned to develop training programs for personnel at those facilities, the summary states.

The proposals are aimed toward implementing biosecurity recommendations made by the congressionally chartered Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism led by former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.), Pascrell said.

That panel concluded that an attack involving a weapon of destruction is likely to occur somewhere in the world by 2013 in the absence of significant security improvement. It further determined a biological strike was more likely to occur than a nuclear or chemical attack because of the prevalence of deadly pathogens and other disease materials around the globe.

The commission issued a final "report card" in January, giving the Obama administration an "F" for failure to adopt a comprehensive strategy to rapidly recognize, respond to and recover from a disease-based attack.

The proposed House measure received the top commissioners' seal of approval yesterday.

"Moving this bill quickly through the legislative process, and to the president's desk for signature, will be an incredibly important step in improving America's biodefense posture," the former lawmakers said in a statement. "Our years of experience in Congress tell us this bill will require vigorous support from congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle."

The oversight plan outlined in the House bill differs from similar legislation passed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last November.

The upper chamber's version -- sponsored by committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) -- would require the Homeland Security Department to prepare security regulations for laboratories and separates the government's list of select agents and toxins into three tiers.

Today there are 82 "select agents" -- pathogens and biological toxins such as anthrax declared to pose a severe threat to human or animal health by the Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments.

Under the Lieberman-Collins bill facilities that handle the eight to 10 most dangerous materials would be placed in the first tier, be required to implement the highest security and be regulated by the Homeland Security Department. The Health and Human Services Department would oversee facilities listed in the remaining two tiers.

That approach drew opposition from the American Association for the Advancement of Science which claimed the new oversight hierarchy would hamper the ability for laboratories to conduct biodefense work. Many in the biological research community have raised concerns that laboratories already must use time and resources that could be employed for research to deal with government security rules.

A staff person with AAAS today called the proposed inspection plan in the House bill an "improvement" over the Senate's take.

Under the lower chamber's outline "the existing leadership, the connections and relationships built since the select agent program came into its current form are maintained and there is greater consistency," Kavita Berger, associate program director at the AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy, said in an interview.

The association, though, would withhold views on the proposed policies in the legislation until it has consulted with other members of the scientific community, she told Global Security Newswire.

A spokeswoman for the Senate homeland security panel said in a statement to GSN that "Senator Lieberman is reviewing the House bill, but he is pleased the House Homeland Security Committee adopted central components of his bill, including a substantial role for the Department of Homeland Security in bolstering security at labs that work with the most dangerous biological agents."

It was not clear Friday when the Lieberman-Collins bill would reach the full Senate and then be merged with its House counterpart.

"Where will the trains meet? I can't answer that question," Pascrell said yesterday of the two bills. "But we would hope that we would all be on the same page when we get finished."

"If we go to conference, we will get a final package," House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Peter King (R-N.Y.), who is co-sponsoring the legislation, told reporters.

Pascrell said panel members had consulted with scientists from U.S. laboratories as well as others in the biodefense field and concluded that the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments are the best equipped to perform inspections and evaluations of disease research facilities.

"We think that the inspections would be best done by folks in place right now, as long as we provide them with different protocol," the New Jersey lawmaker said.

The homeland security secretary would be charged with producing biennial "bioterrorism risk assessments" that identify and assess evolving biological risks to the country, the bill's executive summary states.

The legislation proposes to provide $50 million annually between fiscal years 2011 and 2013 in security grants for high-containment laboratories -- those that handle the most lethal pathogens.

Under the measure, the national intelligence director would receive the authority to coordinate with other federal offices to develop and implement strategies for countering biological and other WMD threats and expand efforts to create a "national cadre" of experts to support biodefense efforts, the summary states.

The Health and Human Services Department would be required to develop and implement a national strategy for distributing medical countermeasures in the event of a WMD crisis. House lawmakers determined that first responders, not federal or state government officials, should be vaccinated first, according to Pascrell.

In addition, the secretary of state must work to address biosecurity in international forums such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Biological Weapons Convention. Specifically, officials should support sharing of information among nations regarding biological attacks and events with major health consequences.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel's Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee would consider the legislation Tuesday. The full panel is slated to take up the measure June 23.

The Mississippi lawmaker predicted there would be some "jurisdictional issues" with other national security committees but that those panels would be pressed to take up the newly minted bill as soon as possible. A floor vote is likely to occur shortly after the bill passes through the committees, he said.

"We think the fact that the WMD commissioners support what we're doing gives significant credibility to the likelihood of bringing it up," Thompson told reporters. "Everything is subject to a legislative calendar," he added.

"We cannot afford to get into the usual turf issues that have really been like a ghost on a lot of things we've attempted to do," Pascrell said.

Thompson said the White House is expected to issue an executive order on federal coordination against weapons of mass destruction attacks.

"We're hoping that it goes in the direction we're about" in the bill, he told reporters, declining to elaborate further.

Berger said the order is expected to be issued in the next few weeks but it is unclear what it will contain.

A White House spokesman did not respond to questions submitted yesterday about such a document.

Letters Threatening Death To Children Sent To School in California  (The Press-Enterprise, 6/11/2010)

Murietta, CA--Police were posted outside a Murrieta elementary school and nearby streets Thursday after numerous residents were mailed anonymous, ranting eight-page letters that included death threats against their children.

The letters, which began arriving Wednesday and apparently also were sent to registered sex offenders, urge sex offenders to terrorize Murrieta's Hillsboro Circle neighborhood and Tovashal Elementary School, and suggest specific ways to murder local children.

The letter writer claims to be a registered sex offender disgruntled over the profusion of laws restricting the lives of "ex-sex offenders" and the "harassment" they receive. He writes that he is targeting Hillsboro Circle and the school a couple of blocks away because a group of residents launched a strident effort earlier this year to run a registered sex offender out of the neighborhood.

Murrieta police Lt. Dennis Vrooman referred to the letter as a "terrorist manifesto."

"We're taking this very seriously based upon the specifics in the letter," Vrooman said.

A copy of the letter was provided to The Press-Enterprise by one of the neighbors who received it.

"They seem to think that antagonizing us to the breaking point is somehow making children safer," the letter states. "It's time we show them they're not safer ... we should kill as many children as we can. You don't need a gun either. Just walk up to a group of small children on their way to or from school and stab as many as you can."

It also suggests planting razor blades in sandboxes, firebombing residents' homes and other violent acts.

In addition to the neighborhood residents, the writer claims to have sent the letter to all of the registered sex offenders in the Murrieta area and some others. And he lists what he claims are the home addresses and other personal details about the radio talk show personalities John Kobylt and Kenneth Chiampou, of KFI's "The John and Ken Show," who frequently use their program as a platform to rail against sex offenders.

A message left with the radio station Thursday was not returned.

After a registered sex offender moved into a home on Hillsboro Circle earlier this year, some neighbors staged angry protests in the street and posted signs with the sex offender's name and photograph. They also raised their concerns at a City Council meeting and called the Police Department. Robert Bean, a protest organizer specifically named in the anonymous letter, went on "The John and Ken Show" to talk about the effort.

Bean did not return a phone message Thursday.

Vrooman said that extra officers will be deployed at the school today -- the last day of the school year -- and in the coming days on Hillsboro Circle.

Police also have enlisted the help of regional and federal law enforcement agencies to assist with the investigation.

Officers went door to door Thursday afternoon on Hillsboro Circle -- a quiet cul-de-sac with about 30 newer tract homes -- collecting the letters from residents and confiscating them as evidence in individual brown paper bags. The letters arrived in white legal-sized envelopes and were written, single-spaced, on white computer paper.

Children rode bicycles and skateboards in the street while parents gathered in their driveways talking about the unfolding investigation.

Brian Brase, the 29-year-old registered sex offender whose presence touched off the protests, moved out of the neighborhood weeks ago.

Brase declined to comment for this story. But Roger Wallace, a friend and the owner of the home where Brase had been staying, said he now lives in San Bernardino County.

Brase left not because of the protests but to be closer to his new job as a chef, Wallace said.

Wallace said Brase, too, received a copy of the letter and was very upset by it.

"This guy is a psycho," Wallace said of the letter writer. "I hope they catch the guy, because this guy is trying to incite terrorism in the neighborhood."

Some parents who live on the cul-de-sac said they disapproved of the protests outside Brase's home. Now, they said, they are beside themselves with worry over their children's safety and angry at the neighbors who spoke out against the sex offender.

Retrieving a small package from her mailbox Thursday, Christine Morphew scrutinized the address before cautiously lifting the lid.

"This is how paranoid I am," she said with a nervous laugh. "It's just dog shampoo!"

"This has just been a nightmare," said Starla Church, another parent.

Church said she was so embarrassed by the mob mentality of some of her neighbors that she apologized to Brase in person.

"He was doing his own thing. He wasn't bothering anybody," Church said.

Church said her 10-year-old son couldn't sleep after they received the letter Wednesday, and Thursday he was afraid to go to school.

"It's a good neighborhood. I loved it when I moved in," Church said. "Now we don't know when we'll breathe easy again."

Scottish Separatist Found Guilty Of Heathrow Bomb Scares  (Guardian, 6/11/2010)

UK--An infamous hardline Scottish nationalist who has lived in exile in Dublin since the 1980s has been convicted of making hoax bomb threats against transatlantic planes flying from Heathrow airport.

Adam Busby, 61, was found guilty of sending the hoax threats warning of alleged bombs on board two aircraft in May 2006 by a jury at Dublin circuit court after a seven-day trial.

Busby, a former soldier originally from Old Kirkpatrick near Clydebank, has described himself as a founder of the self-styled Scottish National Liberation Army and achieved notoriety for his role in orchestrating bomb hoaxes against senior political and legal figures.

He fled Scotland in the early 1980s after facing arrest for terrorism offences and became an influential figure for a small number of young hardline nationalists on the fringes of the Scottish nationalist movement who were attracted by his mixture of republican socialist and revolutionary nationalist rhetoric.

In the latest in a string of convictions, Busby was found guilty today of hoax threats to cause "annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety" in emails to BAA by claiming bombs were on board two separate flights due to land in New York. A BAA security manager said that in both cases they were assessed as low risk threats.

Among the SNLA's early targets for its primitive letter bombs, death threats and hoax bomb threats were sent to Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister, the Prince of Wales and Douglas Hurd, who was home secretary.

The SNLA claimed responsibility for a hoax anthrax attack against Prince William at St Andrew's university and against Jack McConnell when he was Labour first minister of Scotland. It was linked to an attack targeting Cherie Blair at Downing Street in 2001 when aromatherapy oils were spiked with caustic soda.

His son Adam Busby Jr, from Paisley, was convicted in May 2009 of carrying out a campaign involving suspect packages targeting the Scottish National party leader, Alex Salmond, SNP headquarters, Glasgow council and the English-born Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbes.

Busby Jr was arrested by armed police after sending out six suspect packages containing shotgun cartridges and threats of future bomb attacks; like his father he telephoned journalists to claim the campaign was the work of the SNLA. He had a previous conviction from 2001 when he was jailed for six years for carrying out petrol bombings.

Busby Sr was linked to the cases of several radical nationalists who carried out bomb attacks, letter bomb attacks and hoax bomb attacks in the SNLA's name in the late 1980s and 90s.

In 1993 the former army reservist Andrew McIntosh was jailed for 12 years by the high court in Aberdeen for placing bombs outside oil industry offices and sending letter bombs to the Edinburgh address of the Scottish Office, which was the Whitehall ministry in charge of Scotland.

After his release in 1999 McIntosh was later arrested with two other men on firearms charges on the day of the official opening of the new Scottish parliament building at Holyrood in October 2004. He was found hanged in his jail cell a week later, hours before he was due in court to face the charges.

In 2008 Wayne Cook, an Englishman from Manchester, was convicted of sending miniature vodka bottles spiked with lethal levels of caustic soda to various public figures in the SNLA's name. A Scot, Steven Robinson, pleaded guilty to similar charges at an earlier hearing.

After their convictions, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of Greater Manchester police's counter-terrorism unit, said: "Be in no doubt these men are terrorists. This was not some clumsy joke – it was a serious attempt to cause real harm and intimidation.

"Robinson and Cook's actions would have caused serious injury to anyone who came into contact with the chemical. Had anyone drunk the contents they would in all likelihood have died."

Seattle Man Charged In Suspicious Mailings To Republican Senator  (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/10/2010)

A Seattle man is facing federal charges following allegations that he sent letters laced with white powder to a South Carolina senator.

In charging documents, federal prosecutors in Seattle claim Blake Howe mailed a letter containing white powder, staples and paperclips to the office of Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., in an attempt to cause damage.

Federal investigators contend Howe admitted to the mailings, saying he was angered by "propaganda" sent to him by DeMint's office. Contacted by phone Thursday, Howe declined to comment on the allegations.

Writing the court, a Seattle-based postal inspector said the U.S. Postal Inspection Service launched an investigation following a May 8 incident in which a postal employee's face was dusted with the white powder while handling Howe's letter to DeMint. Postal inspectors opened the letter two days later.

"A business reply letter was found addressed to Senator Jim DeMint from Blake Howe with a handwritten message stating, 'I hope you choke on your own excrement such as this,'" the postal inspector told the court. "The envelope also contained staples, paperclips, a prong fastener, and loose white powder."

The powder was later determined to be baking soda.

Joined by an FBI agent, the Seattle postal inspector contacted How across from his home in the 600 block of Wheeler Street, located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood.

Speaking with the federal investigators, Howe is alleged to have complained of receiving "propaganda" from DeMint. The envelope, he allegedly said, was an attempt to "gum up the works."

"There is nothing dangerous in that envelope, period," Howe told the investigators, according to the postal inspector's statement.

The inspector added that Howe claimed to be unaware of the 2001 anthrax mailings, which killed five people and injured 17 when letters laced with the powdered biological agent were sent to various locations.

Continuing, the inspector said Howe told him his letter "was not designed to cause fear but rather to cause problems for the Senator's mail processing equipment."

Records filed with the U.S. District Court for Western Washington show Howe was arrested Wednesday and released on bond later in the day. He has pleaded not guilty to a single count of attempted destruction of government property and is expected to return to court June 30.

The allegations came to light the same day a Selah man pleaded guilty to threats against Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. That man, Charles Alan Wilson, is expected to be sentenced in October.

College in Maine Evacuated Due To 'White Powder' in Envelope  (Portsmouth Herald, 6/10/2010)

PORTSMOUTH, ME — Emergency officials were called to Great Bay Community College Thursday afternoon for a report of an envelope filled with a “suspicious white powder,” just a week after a bomb scare at the same location.

The suspicious powder was reported Thursday at about 5:15 p.m. when the main building was evacuated at the college, located at Pease International Tradeport. Police, firefighters and an ambulance responded. According to emergency radio communications, a caller reported opening an envelope and getting the powder all over her hands.

Police Lt. Rodney McQuate said fire officials tested the powder and it was determined to be non-life-threatening. The case has since been turned over to police for further investigation, he said.

Officer George Williams recovered the powder and envelope evidence, which will be analyzed, according to police.

Last week emergency officials were called to the college for what McQuate described as a “bomb scare.” He said the building was searched and nothing was found.

Federal Government Must Focus More on WMD Response, Official Says  (GSN, 6/10/2010)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government must work harder to prepare for the consequences of a nuclear or biological weapon attack, a senior Homeland Security Department official said yesterday.

 While preventing a strike involving an unconventional weapon is "absolutely to be preferred, we do have to start thinking very seriously about what we would actually do the day after an attack," Tara O'Toole, the department's undersecretary for science and technology, said during an event at the University of California's Washington campus.

"We could recover from an improvised nuclear device attack but to mitigate the death and suffering and the economic and social consequences we have to start equating the American public with the notion we could recover," she told the audience.

Advance preparation "is something that we have to take seriously and is a very difficult point to sell to Congress, particularly in these highly pressured economic times," according to O'Toole.

"God knows these preparations must be affordable," she added.

Today, the government's responses to a nuclear or biological attack contain many similar elements. They call for the federal government to be in charge of the response and include immediate measures like medical attention for the sick and injured and detection of the source of the attack to properly training first responders to operate within a contaminated area. Longer-term issues include decontamination of the impacted zone.

The question of which agencies should foot the bill -- either within the federal government or at the state and local levels -- for transitioning new technologies in general from research and development to actual field use is a "continuing, nagging problem," O'Toole said.

In the nearly nine years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government has poured tens of billions of dollars into prevention and response for a potential WMD event -- programs such as Project Bioshield, which received roughly $5.6 billionto purchase medical countermeasures to safeguard U.S. citizens. Established in 2004, the program ostensibly provided biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with assurances that the federal government would purchase successful products against biological and other WMD agents.

The country's readiness level remains in question.

Earlier this year, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism gave the Obama administration an "F" grade for bioterrorism defense, saying the United States does not have the capability to rapidly recognize, respond to and recover from a disease-based attack. Last week, the Justice Department inspector general reported that the the agency's WMD response efforts are severely lacking.

O'Toole said the government has a "better shot" at preventing a nuclear attack than its disease-spreading counterpart.

"The difficulty of detecting, interdicting and attributing biological attacks is very, very serious and we have to, particularly in the realm of biological weapons, be prepared to respond to these attacks," she said, referring to pursuing the perpetrators of a possible strike.

The Homeland Security Department is helping forge a "National Strategy for Bioforensics" aimed at improving methods for determining the origin of materials used in a biological strike, O'Toole said without saying when the study would be completed.

O'Toole said there are several myths in Washington about biological terrorism, including that it is too hard to prepare for; that an attack would be similar in scope to the 2001 anthrax mailings; and that infection could be countered using the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.

"Not true," O'Toole told the audience, adding that the threat will only grow as living organisms respond and become resistant to existing treatments.

International attitudes toward the possibility of an act of bioterrorism have changed as well, according to the directorate chief. The United Kingdom is "very alive" to the threat, as is France, parts of Asia and the Middle East, O'Toole said.

"The level of interest has changed in the 10 years in which I have been working on bio," she said.

Threat Mail to Environmental Group Closes Australian Post Office  (Tasmanian Mercury, 6/10/2010)

Tasmania--POLICE are investigating threatening mail addressed to a Tasmanian environmental group.

The letter to the Wilderness Society, which contained a suspicious white powder, forced 11 postal workers into quarantine and crippled Hobart's mail deliveries.

A forensic examination revealed the powder was ash.

However, the Hobart CIB is investigating who posted it.

Inspector Glen Woolley said the envelope and its contents were being examined for DNA and fingerprints.

The postal workers' union said sorters' fears were heightened when they realized for whom the mail was intended.

"When the workers noted who the letter was addressed to, it did raise the alarm, and contributed to a more urgent response," Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union state secretary Peter Miller said.

Wilderness Society campaigner Vica Bayley confirmed the investigation, but would not comment on the content of the mail.

"It's now a matter for police investigation and making allegations about the intent or origin of the message would be unhelpful and inappropriate," he said.

The scare comes just a fortnight after a similar incident at the Launceston mail sorting center. Tests later revealed that powder found at the center was a vitamin supplement for racing pigeons.

Insp Woolley said Hobart postal workers discovered the powder when it spilled from an envelope during sorting at the GPO in Elizabeth St about 4.50am.

Two workers had direct contact with the substance, and eight others and a driver from a private freight contractor were also exposed.

Police, firefighters and paramedics responded to an emergency call, activating the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Response Plan.

The GPO was quarantined, the bus mall was shut down and the surrounding area was cordoned off as a potential crime scene for several hours.

"We deal with this as worse-case scenario until proven otherwise," Insp Woolley said.

The employees were forced to strip and shower within the building for decontamination, before leaving barefoot and dressed in overalls.

They remained in quarantine at the Royal Hobart Hospital for more than three hours while awaiting test results.

The forensic analysis at a Department of Health laboratory at Mt Pleasant, near Launceston, put the employees' minds at ease about 11am when the powder was revealed to be harmless, white ash.

Australia Post Hobart communications business manager Nick Connor said he was alarmed when he received a 6am phone call informing him of the incident.

He said the delivery of mail in the CBD was affected by the incident, but other areas would not be affected.

Bus services from the transit mall returned to normal about 10am.

Former Letter Carrier in Maine Gets Probation For Mail Theft  (Bangor Daily News, 6/10/2010)

BANGOR, Maine — A former letter carrier who earlier this year admitted stealing cash from cards and letters on his route in Orono was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to three years of probation but no jail time.

Lawrence A. Custis, 56, of Lincoln admitted stealing about $150 a week from people on his route over a period of 17 weeks from December 2006 to early April 2007.

“I wish I hadn’t done what I did,” an emotional Custis told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock moments before he was sentenced. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry I betrayed the trust of my family and my customers, and I’m sorry I betrayed the trust the Postal Service put in me. I’m glad my parents are dead. I wouldn’t want them to see how I screwed things up.”

Woodcock also ordered Custis to pay a fine of $2,150 and $430 in restitution — amounts the judge found was equal to the cash the defendant took.

Just five of the more than 10 estimated victims filed claims for restitution with the court. One of them, a former U.S. marshal, reported to authorities in March 2007 that money he had mailed to a child attending the University of Maine in Orono had not been delivered.

Custis paid the $430 in restitution Thursday.

A letter carrier since June 1986, Custis told Woodcock the first time he took any money he was putting an envelope that had become unsealed into a mailbox. The flap of the envelope cut his fingers. As he tried a second time to put it in the mailbox, the defendant said, he saw there was a $50 bill in the envelope, and he took it.

He continued taking cash from envelopes until he was caught and confessed in early April 2007, according to court documents. He waived indictment and pleaded guilty to theft by a postal employee in February of this year.

The thefts led to loss of his job — for which he earned more than $60,000 a year, Woodcock said — the end of his marriage and a conviction for a federal crime. The judge said that at one point last year, Custis lived in his car for three months because he was homeless and did not have a job. He works in Lincoln, Woodcock said, referring to information provided to him by U.S. Probation and Pre-trial Services.

Custis, who had no criminal record, faced up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, he faced zero to six months in prison or one to five years on probation and a fine of between $1,000 and $10,000.

Federal Building in Atlanta Evacuated for “Faberge Egg”  (Federal Times, 6/9/2010)

Atlanta, GA--The 31-story Peachtree Summit Federal Building in downtown Atlanta was evacuated yesterday after mailroom workers flagged a suspicious package that turned out to be a decorative egg.

Federal Protection Service authorities ordered the evacuation just before noon Tuesday after a routine X-ray spotted what appeared at first to be a grenade inside the package. The suspicious item later turned out to be a Fabergé-like egg.

About 1,900 federal employees from the IRS, Social Security Administration and other agencies work at the building, which also contains a daycare center.  Employees were allowed to return to the building about an hour and a half after the evacuation.

Powder In 'Anthrax' Bag Flushed At Capitol  (UPI, 6/9/2010)

WASHINGTON, DC -- A tour-guide supervisor flushed white powder from a bag labeled "Anthrax" down a U.S. Capitol toilet last weekend with hundreds of tourists nearby, police say.

The Hill reported Wednesday Capitol Police didn't learn of the Saturday incident at the Capitol Visitor Center until later in the day.

Police officials said the supervisor should have left the bag of unknown white powder alone and informed security rather than breaching security by disposing of it, the Washington publication said.

No evidence of dangerous biological substances was detected by a hazardous devices unit called to check out the area after police were alerted to the incident.

Although they can't be certain what the white powder was and don't know who brought the bag into the Capitol, police said people in the building were never in danger, The Hill said.

Police were still reviewing video tapes and talking to employees who were on duty at the time of the incident.

Package Sickens Immigration Employees, Prompts Evacuation in North Carolina  (WRAL, 6/8/2010)

Durham, N.C. — Durham police evacuated an immigration office Tuesday morning after employees found a suspicious package and three said they felt sick.

UPS delivered the package between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday to the U.S. Bureau of Citizen & Immigration Services office, at 301 Roycroft Drive. One employee said she felt nauseated and went home, police said.

On Tuesday, the employee returned to work, and she and two co-workers became ill, police said.

Police described the package as an envelope with an oily residue.

"We don't know what could be inside, and we don't know what the mindset of a person could be. With that, we have to make sure that safety comes first," said Capt. D.C. Allen of the Durham Police Department.

Authorities isolated the package and evacuated the building.

"We do know that there were no threats or anything that was attached to the package, and we do at this point have an idea where the package originated," Allen said.

The three employees underwent a decontamination process and were taken to a local hospital as a precaution after complaining of irritated eyes and upset stomachs, according to police. A fourth employee had already showered, so authorities said that person didn't need to go through decontamination.

Initial tests to determine if the package contained hazardous chemicals were negative.

Allen said the oily substance on the package had an odor, which might have been what sickened the employees.

People were allowed back in the building by 1 p.m., and immigration officials said operations returned to normal.

Florida Muslim Group Wants Hate Crimes Investigation After Suspicious Powder Mailed  (Florida Times Union, 6/8/2010)

Jacksonville, FL--The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for an FBI hate crime investigation after an envelope of what turned out to be harmless powder was mailed to Muslim teacher Yusha Evans’ apartment Monday in Jacksonville.

But that’s not the only reason the Washington-based group wants the investigation.

The tainted envelope follows the May 10 firebomb attack on the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida and the late April controversy over the appointment of Parvez Ahmed, a Muslim scholar and University of North Florida professor, to Jacksonville’s Human Rights Commission.

Evans said he has never been threatened like this in six years of preaching and teaching and had a bit of a panic attack when he saw the powder — especially for his three children who were in the house.

“It has always been in the back of my mind since I am a prominent figure, but I never thought I would get anything like this,” said Evans, who was raised as a Methodist but converted to Islam in 1998. “… I have had lot of people call and e-mail saying they don’t like what I do.”

Ramzy Kilic, executive director of Tampa’s Council on Islamic-American Relations, echoes the request for a federal investigation into the crimes. He said Jacksonville’s Muslim community is clearly being targeted.

“We want to make sure the FBI is taking all of these seriously,” Kilic said.

Last week  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder mentioned Jacksonville in a speech on American and Muslim relations.

He said the Justice Department has opened several investigations on hate crimes and mentioned only one — the Islamic Center pipe-bombing.

“This case is a top concern for the FBI,” Holder said, according to CNN.

Through Evans’ website, yushaevans.com, he presents videos that teach about the Muslim faith and most recently “How the Bible Dishonors the Prophets.” It was just before 1 p.m. Monday when he said he opened a handwritten envelope from the mailbox in front of his Mandarin apartment at the Sugar Mill complex off Crown Point Road.

“There was no letter, just a small rectangle of tissue paper,” Evans said. “When I squeezed on it, there was some kind of powdery substance. I immediately knew this was negative so I stuffed it inside the envelope and threw it outside the door.”

He dialed 911, and the fire department’s hazardous materials team sealed up the envelope for testing at the state Health Department. Evans was tested for anthrax and other substances at Memorial Hospital Jacksonville and put on antibiotics as a precaution.

Fire department spokesman Tom Francis said tests Tuesday determined that “toxic substances were all ruled out.”

Special Agent Jeff Westcott of the FBI’s Jacksonville office said agents are looking into the Evans situation along with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Jacksonville’s recent anti-Muslim issues started in April. There was intense community opposition to Ahmed’s appointment due to his ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which detractors say has been linked to Hamas, a militant Palestinian organization designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

On May 10 someone put a pipe bomb behind the Islamic Center on St. Johns Bluff Road as 60 people were inside. A grainy security camera video image showing someone holding what appeared to be a gas can hasn’t generated substantial leads, however. The FBI continues to investigate the firebombing with a $20,000 reward for information leading to the bomber.

Now comes the envelope.

North Carolina Building Cleared After Suspicious Package Found  (News 14, 6/8/2010)

RALEIGH, NC -- There have been two suspicious packages forcing evacuations over the past two days in the Triangle.

Most recently, Tuesday morning at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building on Roycroft Drive off of South Miami Boulevard in Research Triangle Park. Three people went to the hospital complaining of itchy eyes and nausea.

“The first thing we do is look at the package and look at the substance and we look at components of the package that make us concerned there might be a threat,” said Dr. Julie Casani, director of public health preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health.

Health officials have determined the suspicious package was not toxic, but they are still investigating what might have made the employees sick.

The first evacuation happened Monday afternoon at the state Capitol. No one was injured in that case and health officials have now determined a suspicious powder found in a piece of mail was not dangerous.

“It was suspicious in nature, which warranted all the necessary response and precaution, but in the end, we found it was harmless,” said State Capitol Police Chief Scott Hunter.

Emergency officials say these type of investigations happen more often than most people realize.

“They can vary from a briefcase left in the middle of a park, to a cardboard box left at the front doorstep of a building,” Hunter said. “Anything that is left where it ordinarily is not can heighten to the level of a suspicious package.”

“It actually happens quite a bit,” Casani added. “In North Carolina, we see about two cases a month of suspicious substances. It can be a business. It can be someone who is a public figure, so they are a target. It could be a government agency that again, could be a target. It could be people who are involved in domestic disputes or they have made an enemy and that enemy is looking to maybe just make them nervous, make them scared, or maybe even to do real harm to them.”

Emergency officials say they treat every suspicious package as a threat because you never know when it could be dangerous.

“We never know whether its going to be real or not,” Casani said. “We never take these things lightly.”

Emergency officials say if you see a suspicious package, you should call 911. If you opened a package you believe might be dangerous, you should put it down, lay something over it, leave the area, wash your hands and wait for emergency crews.

Decorative Egg Prompts Evacuation Of Atlanta Federal Building  (Washington Post, 6/9/2010)

Atlanta, GA--A harmless package prompted a grenade scare and the evacuation of an Atlanta federal building Tuesday, law enforcement officials said.

Thousands of workers cleared out of the Peachtree Summit Federal Building midday, after workers in a mailroom spotted a suspicious package during a routine X-ray, Atlanta police said. A federal law enforcement official said the package contained a Fabergé-like egg.

The Federal Protective Service investigated the package and ordered the evacuation, spokesman Matt Chandler said.

The 31-story building houses about 1,900 federal workers and includes a day-care center and offices for the Agriculture Department, the General Services Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Marine Corps, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Secret Service and the Social Security Administration, the GSA said. Day-care workers were seen rolling cribs full of young children back into the building after the evacuation ended. The building is adjacent to a station of the Atlanta underground transit system and a hospital.

"It was scary. We were just doing our daily routine when we saw people start evacuating, and the fire alarm went off. They told us it was a bomb threat," said Marie Manley, 38, an SSA management analyst.

Housewife Star Jill Zarin Threatened With Hate Mail  (Shockya, 6/9/2010)

After her family was threatened, ‘Real Housewife of New York City’ star Jill Zarin contacted police, stating someone posted her address online and said to send her hate mail, Popeater.com reported on June 7.  Zarin took to her official Facebook page to vent her frustration over the ordeal.

“I will block anyone who is linked to them (the Chicago family sending her the mail) per postal service law enforcement until they finish investigation.  This is a serious crime and all evidence has been handed over.  If you are involved in any way, I suggest you stop,” Zarin wrote.

The threats came after an episode of the hit Bravo show recently aired, in which some viewers didn’t like the way Zarin handled her fight with co-star Bethenny Frankel.  Zarin then posted another Facebook message, saying “I will not tolerate haters on my Facebook and Twitter accounts anymore.  I will be blocking anyone following the serious haters as well.”

Substance in Florida Man's Mail Not Toxic  (First Coast News, 6/8/2010)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The substance found in one man's mail Monday is not anthrax and not poisonous, officials said today.

The tests of a suspicious substance found in one man's mail on Monday came back negative for anthrax today, said Jacksonville Fire and Rescue spokesman Tom Francis.

The tests were done for the Office of Emergency Preparedness at the Florida Department of Health labs downtown.

"A preliminary test revealed that no harmful agents were detected. However, a complete testing cycle typically takes 48 hours and is still on-going," said Susan Smith, with the Florida Department of Health.

JFRD and HAZMAT crews responded to a "possible anthrax situation" around 1 p.m. at a home in the 3800 block of Crown Point Road, said Francis.

Yusha Evans said he went to collect his mail from the mailbox around noon, and noticed an envelope with a handwritten address on it. He opened it inside the apartment and the only thing inside was a folded up piece of tissue; when he removed it, the white substance fell out.

"When I pulled it out, it felt like there was something powdery soft inside it. It puffed out a little, so right away I put it in the envelope and tossed it outside the front door and called 911," Evans recalled. He was there at the time with his three children and his wife.

Evans added the return address on the envelope was out of state. He was taken to Memorial Hospital and was released Monday afternoon with antibiotics, as a precaution.

The substance was tested twice, Francis said. Based on those results, it was double-bagged and taken to another lab for more thorough testing.

The FBI said even if the substance tests negative for anthrax, sending it through the mail is a federal crime.

Evans said he thinks the letter he received may have been a reaction to his beliefs and public message. He is a former Christian who converted to Islam in 1998. Today, he speaks publicly around the world on Christian and Islamic relations, historical problems and critical analysis of the Bible.

"If this was someone trying to scare me or something that was somebody trying to do some type of terrorism, terrorism has no religion," he said.

Evans attends the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, but he does not believe the substance sent to him in the mail is connected to the bombing at the Mosque last month. He's been speaking publicly for six years and has never been threatened before.

"This incident is a grim reminder that an individual of any faith, including Muslim, can become a target of hate and can become a victim," Muhammad Mansoori, a member of the Islamic Center, said. "Whenever a person known publicly for their religious belief and their faith is targeted in this way it should be a matter of concern for all citizens."

Mansoori does not believe the incidents, which fell exactly one month apart, are connected. Aside from the occasional phone call or email, neither the Islamic Center nor its members have witnessed any serious incidents like these in more than 20 years, according to Mansoori. He believes, instead, the crimes are occurring because of growing anti-Muslim sentiments nationwide.

He said members of the Islamic Center aren't scared, but do have to be more cautious.

"People are coming regularly but they are more vigilant. We have increased security with more cameras, hired full time security personnel who is there from the morning until the last night prayers," he explained. "What you can do is take more precautionary measures so you can prevent these types of events in the future."

Two Arrested For Threatening To Kill Congressman Bart Stupak  (News Review, 6/8/2010)

Bay City, MI--A West Branch man and his son in Colorado have been charged for allegedly threatening to kill Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, for his vote on the health care reform bill.

Russell Hesch, 73, of West Branch, and his son David Hesch, 50, of Loveland, Colo., were arrested Friday for mailing a letter containing death threats to 58-year-old Stupak and will be appearing in federal court in Bay City and Denver, according the United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of Michigan.

Among the multiple threats noted in the affidavit in support of complaint, Russell wrote:

"You wanted to get some Washington paint for the bridge? Not to worry I will paint the Mackinaw (Mackinac) Bridge with the blood of you and your family members. I will not say when and with who but I will save your blood for the high towers toward the end of this project."

Russell appeared in a U.S. District Court in Bay City on Friday and is expected to have a detention hearing tomorrow, while his son David appeared in federal court in Denver and is expected appear again Thursday, said U.S. District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Gina Balaya.

Stupak drew criticism and threats after changing his vote March 21, in favor of the health care reform bill in the House, following President Barack Obama’s executive order prohibiting federal funding for abortion. Following the vote, Stupak was among a handful of "Pro-Life" Democrats that drew threats after supporting the reform, including U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., who had a coffin placed near his home.

The two-page letter dated April 5, titled "Your Vote for National Health Care" and signed "Sincerely, the Devil within Us," was delivered to Stupak's Menominee office May 25. Although addressed to the "Stupak family," a local U.S. Postal Service worker — knowing the representative no longer lived at the residence listed — rerouted the letter to one of the Congressman's three post office boxes in Menominee.

"Actions and decisions carry consequences," the letter states. "Are you and your family prepared for those consequences?"

The letter goes on to question whether Stupak's wife and son's family is ready for the "consequences."

Besides stating Stupak's health care vote as motivation for the threat, the author references the Showtime television series "Dexter."

"I have been a faithful fan (of 'Dexter') and follower since its inception," the letter states. "I believe that this show stirs a primeval emotion that is within us all just waiting to be explored."

Stupak told the FBI that the suspect Russell Hesch was one of his most "critical constituents," having contacted his office numerous times to express his opposition to the health care bill and urging the Congressman to vote against it.

The affidavit notes that Stupak had met Hesch a "few occasions" in West Branch during community events and Hesch maintained the legislator could not be both a Democrat and "pro-life."

According to the FBI, Hesch sent at least 55 e-mails or letters to the Menominee representative between Feb. 25, 2003, and May 4, 2010.

Hesch e-mailed the letter in question to his son in Colorado, requesting that he mail the letter.

During an initial interview while FBI officials executed a search warrant at Hesch's home Wednesday, Hesch denied being the author of the letter.

The FBI used documents obtained by AT&T Midwest to verify three calls between Russell and his son David in Fort Collins, Colo., the day that the threatening letter was mailed.

A bureau special agent determined a "likely" association between similar biographical information, topics, tone and "significant linguistic similarities" between the death threat letter and Hesch's previous e-mails.

On Friday, Hesch signed a statement admitting to the being the author, while voluntarily undergoing further questioning at the Michigan State Police Post in West Branch.

Both men are charged with a criminal complaint for conspiring to threaten to assault, kidnap or murder a United States official, said U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

The investigation is on-going with the FBI, Capitol Police and the Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Colby Tanase.

Although not immediately responding to the News-Review, Hesch's attorney Robert Dunn of Bay City maintained that his client and his son are not guilty to the Associated Press.

“My family and I wish to thank the law enforcement officers involved in this case for their hard work – especially the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI, the Michigan State Police, Menominee County Sheriff’s Office, Menominee City Police, the Coast Guard, Custom Border Control and law enforcement officials in Colorado and California," Stupak said in a statement following the arrests. "I deeply appreciate their vigilance and professionalism throughout this investigation and in ensuring the safety and security of my family.”

On April 9, Stupak announced he would retire from his nine-term tenure in Congress.

Powder At Capitol Not Toxic, Preliminary Tests Show  (WRAL, 6/8/2010)

Raleigh, NC--A powdery substance found in a letter opened at the State Capitol on Monday afternoon prompting its evacuation has tested negative for hazardous materials, according to preliminary results from the North Carolina Division of Public Health.

The state laboratory will conduct further tests over the next 24 hours for final confirmation that no anthrax, ricin or other toxins or viruses are present in the substance, state officials said.

The Capitol Police have opened a criminal investigation into the incident, which caused the evacuation of the Capitol Monday after staffers in the governor's office opened the letter.

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The capitol building remains closed to the public today as a precaution until the final tests are completed, state officials said.

Staff from the governor’s office, Capitol Police and Department of Cultural Resources who normally work at the facility are back at work today

Ash Causes Post Office Powder Scare in Australia  (ABC News, 6/9/2010)

Police have confirmed the white powder found in the Hobart GPO this morning was non-toxic ash.

Postal wokers raised the alarm about 5:00am after a white powder spilled from an envelope in the mail sorting room.

Emergency workers in yellow hazard suits descended on the building and the city's main bus mall was closed.

Eleven workers were rushed to hospital for tests and they have been cleared and released.

Inspector Glen Woolley says the outcome is a relief but police are yet to determine if criminal charges will be laid.

"That's something we'll determine later during the course of the inquiries in relation to the reason it was sent, the intention it was sent to and also the people that were responsible for it," he said.

"It is just burnt wood which has gone into ash particles and part of those wood particles have been put into an envelope and put into the post."

Colorado Man, Father Accused Of Sending Threat Over Health Care Vote  (Loveland Reporter-Herald, 6/8/2010)

Loveland, CO--Threatening to kill a Michigan congressman and his family, a Loveland man and his father have been arrested and charged with conspiring to threaten to assault, kidnap or murder a United States official in connection with his official duties.

David Hesch, 50, was arrested for allegedly mailing a threatening letter written by his father, Russell Hesch, 73, of West Branch, Mich., to Rep. Bart Stupak.

The Lovelander appeared in federal court in Denver on Monday, where he requested a public defender. He is being held without bond until his next hearing, Thursday, when a judge will decide if he’s eligible for bond, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Colorado courts are handling the preliminary hearings before Hesch is extradited to Michigan to face the charges, he added.

Russell Hesch appeared in a Bay City, Mich., court hearing Monday, where he also was advised of the initial charges and temporarily detained without bond. He is scheduled to appear in another hearing Wednesday.

According to an affidavit released by the Eastern District of Michigan, citing accounts by FBI agent Travis Lloyd, a letter addressed to the Stupak family was received by the congressman’s office on May 25.

The typed, two-page letter was written to Mr. Bart Stupak and was titled “Your Vote for National Health Care.”

It was signed by “The Devil within Us.”

The letter criticized the congressman for his recent vote of approval for the March health care reform bill.

“You should be ashamed and embarrassed for the actions that you have taken,” it reads. “I have to believe that deep down you know that you have made a horrible and unconscionable mistake.”

On the second page, it goes on to read: “Actions and decisions carry consequences. Are you and your family prepared for those consequences?”

The author then writes in graphic detail what he would do with the family after he killed them.

After receiving the letter, Stupak told the FBI about one of his “historically most vocal and critical constituents,” Russell Hesch.

Hesch contacted the office many times and sent Stupak at least 55 e-mails and letters since 2003.

FBI officials determined it likely was Hesch who penned the letter based on biographical information and similarities in the tone and linguistics between it and the letters Hesch was confirmed to have written.

Officials executed a search warrant on Hesch’s home June 2, when he denied writing the letter. However, on June 4, he signed a statement admitting he indeed was the author.

Hesch further elaborated that after writing the letter from his home in West Branch, he e-mailed it to his son David Hesch in Loveland.

He gave his son instructions to mail the letter from Denver so it couldn’t be traced to either of them.

The father and son were arrested from their homes Friday. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Mail-Eating Dog Glues Own Jaws Shut  (Toronto Sun, 6/9/2010)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada--A Jack Russell named Toby had to be sedated by a vet and have his teeth cleaned when his jaws were glued together after he chewed an envelope from his owners' mail.

Owner Gill Bird told the U.K's Daily Mail she came home for lunch to find her mail destroyed and Toby with his mouth glued shut.

"All this paper was mashed around his teeth. It was absolutely stuck to it.

I tried to stick my finger in his mouth but he couldn't open it," she told the newspaper from her Lee-on-the Solent, Hampshire home.

Bird said Toby often attacks the mail as it comes through the slot in her door.

"Toby likes to attack the post. When we hear the letter box go we have to run and get to the post before he does," she told the newspaper.

When Bird realized she couldn't help Toby, she took him to a veterinarian who sedated him, then cleaned his teeth.

Vet Ian Wooding told the Daily Mail it took 10 minutes to scrape all the paper out of Toby's teeth and get his jaw open again.

"I've never seen anything like it. I hope he's learnt his lesson - but I doubt it," Wooding said.

Toby returned home shortly after and is reportedly doing well.

North Carolina Capitol Evacuated After Powder Is Found  (News Observer, 6/8/2010)

RALEIGH, NC -- Authorities evacuated the State Capitol on Monday after a staffer in the governor's office opened a letter that contained white powder.

The powder was discovered about 3p.m., said Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for the governor. Two staffers had contact with the letter.

Law enforcement authorities were notified and decided to evacuate the building.

 While the anthrax scare was under investigation, the Capitol grounds had all the trappings of a crime scene. Raleigh fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles crowded the street. Yellow tape and police officers kept the curious, including a cluster of reporters and photographers, at a distance. An empty stretcher sat parked next to one of the fire trucks.

Onlookers leaving state buildings gawked at the scene, uncertainty on their faces.

"The evacuation may have been in an abundance of caution," Pearson said. "No one seems to be feeling any ill effects."

Gov. Bev Perdue stuck around outside the building for some time until her security detail shuffled her away.

"She just wanted to make sure folks were taken care of," Pearson said.

Hazardous materials officials arrived to collect the substance. Pearson said the powder was taken to a state lab for testing, a common procedure in an anthrax scare.

Testing of the powder could take as long as 12 hours.

Pending the test results, the Capitol will remain closed until late this morning.

Florida Hazmat Team Investigates Possible Anthrax Scare  (First Coast News, 6/7/2010)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local man discovered a mysterious white powder in an envelope addressed to him today. This sparked an anthrax scare, sending him to the hospital as a precaution. The man said he believes it may have been an attack against his beliefs and public messages.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, and HAZMAT crews responded to a "possible anthrax situation" around 1 p.m. at a home in the 3800 block of Crown Point Road, said Tom Francis, spokesman for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue.

Yusha Evans said he went to collect his mail from the mailbox around noon, and noticed an envelope with a handwritten address on it. He opened it inside the apartment and the only thing inside was a folded up piece of tissue and when he removed it, the white substance fell out.

"When I pulled it out, it felt like there was something powdery soft inside it. It puffed out a little, so right away I put it in the envelope and tossed it outside the front door and called 911," Evans recalled. He was there at the time with his three children and his wife.

"I have three kids, all under the age of 5. So that is why I initially reacted very quickly and called 911. I have kids. It's something you have to take care of," he said.

Evans added the return address on the envelope was out of state. He was taken to Memorial Hospital and was released this afternoon with antibiotics, just as a precaution.

Francis said the substance was tested twice. Based on those results, it was double-bagged and taken to another lab for more thorough testing.

Investigators haven't released any information about the letter, or where it came from. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently working with other agencies on the case.

The FBI said even if the substance tests negative for anthrax, sending it through the mail is a federal crime.

Evans said he thinks the letter he received may have been a reaction to his beliefs and public message. He is a former Christian who converted to Islam in 1998. Today, he speaks publicly around the world on Christian and Islamic relations, historical problems and critical analysis of the Bible.

He said he has received a lot of flack for what he does and often hears from Christians who debate him in emails. However, he has never received a tangible threat before.

"If this was someone trying to scare me or something that was somebody trying to do some type of terrorism, terrorism has no religion," he said.

Evans does attend the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, but he does not believe the substance sent to him in the mail is connected to the bombing at the Mosque last month. He's been speaking publicly for six years and has never been threatened before.

"In today's world, it's not uncommon that this type of stuff could happen, but I never would have imagined it would happen to me, personally," Evans said.

The complex has not been evacuated and neighbors were allowed to walk around the complex. Firefighters and the HAZMAT team have cleaned the Evans' apartment.

The letter has been turned over to the FBI.

Police Protection For Family Of BP Boss Tony Hayward  (Telegraph, 6/7/2010)

Police have launched an operation to protect the family of Tony Hayward, BP's British boss, after they received hate mail and threatening phone calls.

The chief executive's wife Maureen said the material had made her and her two children feel "rather uncomfortable" at their home in Kent.

The family has been targeted amid growing hostility to the firm in the United States for the spill that has so far leaked about one million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaking at her house in a village near Sevenoaks, Mrs Hayward said: "Members of my family have had nasty phone calls and we have also had mail from groups.

"Tony is obviously away and we are miles away from him so it's upsetting."

Kent Police sources yesterday confirmed there was an "ongoing police operation" involving Mr Hayward's family home but did not disclose the nature and details. The family home is protected by a 12ft high perimeter hedge and has a private access road.

Mr Hayward, the face of BP during the 49-day crisis, was dubbed the "the most hated and clueless man in America" by one American newspaper after several insensitive or over-optimistic comments about the spill.

Amid complaints from affected business-owners that BP was not paying compensation quickly enough, President Barack Obama yesterday said he wanted to be sure that "the money flows quickly and on a timely basis".

His administration had assigned people to "ride herd on BP to make sure that's happening".

Shrimp processors or other businesses dependent on the sea should not go out of business "while BP decides whether to pay up".

BP said it had spent at least $1.25 billion on the oil spill that followed an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, with estimates that the final figure could be about $30 billion. It has strongly defended its performance in compensating local businesses.

The company said that a containment device lowered onto the ruptured well captured 11,000 barrels of oil with plans in place to increase that amount to 20,000 barrels. The government has estimated that up to 25,000 barrels a day are being lost.

Amid the outcry over the worst oil spill in US history, Mr Hayward and BP were offered a modicum of comfort by Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, who said that hysteria surrounding the leak was more damaging than the oil itself.

"The truth is we have had virtually no oil," Mr Barbour told Fox television. "We've had a few tar balls but we have a few every year", he added, because of natural seepage in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The biggest negative impact for us has been the news coverage," he said, as reports gave the misleading impression that the entire coast from "Texas to Florida" was "knee deep in oil".

The Republican governor came as close as any elected politician has to arguing that the biggest oil spill in US history was being exaggerated, at least in regard to his state, which has a smaller coastline than Louisiana, which is closest to the origin of the spill.

Mr Barbour is known as one of the most vocal pro-oil voices on the US political scene, receiving almost $700,000 from oil and gas industries in his past two campaigns. From 2000 to 2007, his lobbying firm was also paid $2 million for representing oil and gas interests.

Ohio Hazmat Team Called To Statehouse Over Threatening Letter  (Columbus Dispatch, 6/4/2010)

Columbus, OH--An envelope that contained baby powder and threatening correspondence drew Columbus' hazmat team to the Statehouse this afternoon.

A person handling mail in the Statehouse's loading dock noticed the envelope at 3:15 p.m. after a regular delivery from the U.S. Postal Service, said Gregg Dodd, a spokesman for the agency that oversees the Statehouse. The envelope was addressed to the "Ohio Senate," had no return address and had a noticeable lump inside, all of which raised suspicion, Dodd said.

The person handling the mail notified State Highway Patrol troopers inside the Statehouse, and troopers contacted the Columbus Division of Fire. The division's hazardous-materials team tested the envelope and determined that a white powder inside was baby powder, Dodd said.

Dodd said the envelope contained "threatening correspondence," but he did not know what the correspondence said. The envelope had an Illinois postmark.

The Statehouse wasn't evacuated because the loading dock is a secure, non-public area, he said. The ventilation system was turned off as a precaution.

Because the envelope came through regular mail, the FBI is handling the investigation, Dodd said.

Threatening Note, Suspicious Powder Found At Ohio Statehouse  (10 TV News, 6/4/2010)

Columbus, Ohio — Investigators responded to a report of a suspicious package containing white powder shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday.

A package was discovered shortly after 3:30 p.m. at the Statehouse loading dock, 10TV's Glenn McEntyre reported. 

The package was addressed to the Ohio Senate and contained a suspicious powder. The package came from Illinois, McEntyre reported.

The powder was later determined to be baby powder, but because the package did contain a threatening note, investigators said they would turn the information over to the FBI.

Officials described the letter as "hate mail," McEntyre reported.

The Statehouse was not evacuated and no injuries were reported.

As a precaution, the Statehouse's ventilation system was shut off during the investigation.

Bolling Air Force Base Quarantined After Anthrax Scare  (The Washington Times, 6/3/2010)

Bolling Air Force Base was briefly quarantined Thursday morning after detectors in a mailroom triggered an alarm indicating anthrax was present in a piece of mail, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Hazardous material teams were sent in and conducted tests, but no anthrax was detected in three subsequent inspections, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

"It was a false positive," Mr. Whitman said of the incident, which included a heightened alert status for the base located south of downtown Washington on the Potomac River.

Further testing of a suspect material found in a letter is being carried out, he said.

The threat condition at the base was increased, and Mr. Whitman said it would likely be lowered in the near future.

Washington was among several areas nationwide that were hit with an anthrax attack in 2001, when letters containing deadly spores were to news media outlets and two Democratic senators.

In all, five people died and 17 others were infected.

The FBI has determined the attack was the work of Bruce Edwards Ivins, a biological scientist at the Army's Fort Detrick laboratory in Frederick, Md.

Angry Farmer Speaks Out After Being Investigated for Bomb Scare Sent to New Zealand Parliament  (NZ Herald, 6/4/2010)

Wellington, New Zealand--A semi-retired farmer and journalist has outed himself as the main suspect in a bomb scare in Parliament last month.

In the latest Farmers Weekly, Wairarapa resident Alan Emerson accused police of being excessive after his office was searched in relation to the incident on May 17.

The Beehive was evacuated after a box was sent to Agriculture Minister David Carter's office. The box was full of dead cluster flies.

Mr Emerson said he had nothing to do with the stunt, even though his name and address were on the box.

"I wouldn't be stupid enough to put my name on the box, and if I did, I would get the address right," he said.

Police met Mr Emerson and his wife at the airport on May 20 on their return from Australia, where they had been since May 17.

They were questioned separately and had their fingerprints taken. Mr Emerson also gave a DNA sample.

They were served with a search warrant, justified by the address on the box and an article Mr Emerson had written on the problem of cluster flies in the rural lower North Island.

Mr Emerson said police spent 15 hours going through his small office.

"In Farmers' Weekly next Monday will be a notice from police asking anyone for any leads to come forward. So convinced were the police of my guilt that they didn't bother looking anywhere else.

"I've been a police reporter and I am a Justice of the Peace. I have never seen such an over the top reaction by police.

"I attribute that to either political sycophancy or political interference."

A spokeswoman for Mr Carter said the incident was taken out of the minister's hands from the moment the box was removed from the office.

Mr Carter said he had not spoken to media or police about Mr Emerson, nor had anyone in his office, but Mr Emerson challenged this.

"[Mr Carter] is either lying or he doesn't know what's going on in his office.

"I was told by Carter's office that they told the media my name was on [the box], not necessarily that I had sent it."

White Powder In Envelope Causes Evacuation Of Phoenix Sheriff's Offices  (ABC News, 6/2/2010)

PHOENIX - Sheriff's employees were evacuated from their downtown Phoenix offices for about an hour after an envelope with white powder was delivered Wednesday.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Jesse Spurgin said the envelope addressed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio was delivered around noon and opened by a staff employee who found the white powder and nothing else inside.

A supervisor was notified and the 19th floor of the Wells Fargo building, at Washington Street and 1st Avenue, was evacuated.

Phoenix firefighters responded and tested the powder, determining it was non-hazardous.

Employees were allowed back into the building about an hour later.

Spurgin said Arpaio and a large number of the staff were at the funeral for Phoenix Police Officer Travis Murphy

Time To Stop Mailing Fully-Activated Gift Cards?  (CBS News, 6/4/2010)

True story: A North Pole postal worker was indicted last week, accused of stealing Christmas gifts from the mail. The defendant is actually a postal worker in Fairbanks, Alaska, but the town she lives in is honestly North Pole, Alaska. But this story didn't catch our eye because of the image of one of Santa's elves turning Grinch-like. It was what she stole: Wal-Mart $25 physical gift cards being sent via snailmail.

This begs the question: Why are we still permitting the mailing of fully-activated gift cards? People aren't sending $20 bills in the mail anymore, so why are they still sending the plastic equivalent?

Today's gift cards are quite different from those of just five years ago. Target, for example, is now accepting mobile gift cards, which only exist on a consumer's phone. And some chains are trying to crowd as many retailers as possible into one card, with a Connecticut gift card boasting of 100 competing retailers onto that one piece of rectangular plastic.

When someone sends someone a gift card, why not first send an E-mail alerting the recipient to the card's imminent arrival and have that E-mail include a password to activate the card after it arrives? If adopted, these are just some of the benefits retailers (and their customers) would see: "Heads Up That The Card Is Coming."

One reason that theft of gift cards is relatively easy to get away with-assuming the thief doesn't get caught at the moment of thievery, as apparently Mrs. Clause was-is that there is often no one in a position to notice the theft, even though there are quite a few players involved.

The gift-giver pays for the card and sends it away. Given the rarity of thank you cards today, the sender could simply assume that the card arrived. The retailer would have no reason to suspect anything. The bank and/or the card brand would similarly have no reason to get suspicious as the payment was completed before it was sent. And if the recipient isn't expecting the gift card, it could feel like the perfect crime, with no one in a position to sound the alarm.

The E-mail heads up would provide a mechanism for the recipient to quickly flag everyone when a card went missing.

An End To Not Knowing Who's Using Your Gift Card

One of the longstanding retail complaints about gift cards is that the chain typically has no idea who is using the card. It knows who paid for the card, but the value is in knowing who received it. Is that a potential new customer? Can you pitch them products based on what they used the gift card for?

Gift card exchanges have given retailers a small peek into knowing who received the cards, but could E-mail alerts work a lot easier and at almost no cost? As a service (free or paid), the retail could send an E-mail to the recipient to guarantee arrival. The customer is asked to provide the recipient's name, E-mail address, snailmail address and phone number.The nature of the service provides a legitimate reason for all four pieces of information. The E-mail address is needed to send the message the snailmail address could appear to be used to trace the errant gift card if it doesn't arrive on time and the phone number could simply be a way to contact the recipient to confirm receipt.

The name could be positioned as the only way to make sure that only the intended recipient uses the card. The fact that stores today do not check identities need not come up. But it's also true that changing that policy might not be such a horrible idea, given how popular gift cards are with cyberthieves.

It's still their favorite laundry technique when dealing with a stolen credit or debit card. They steal the card from the victim and then rush to the nearest store to purchase as many gift cards as possible, as long as it's below the limit set by the store to check identification. The gift cards can be used long after the stolen cards are deactivated, typically to buy goods that are then sold on Ebay or on street corners.

With that information-along with the gift card number-the chain now has the long-desired full gift card transparency.

Such a service would require a few changes, such as having only bogus cards on display. The real gift cards would be stored under the counter at POS stations and each card would need to have some sort of a fold over where the password for that card would be typed.

Once paid for, the cashier would give the gift card to the consumer, tear off the password and hand it to the consumer as well, suggesting that they put it away in a pocket away from the gift card. Alternatively, the POS could be modified to allow the consumer to type in his/her own preferred PIN for the card.

The store could even offer to mail the card as part of its service. If that's offered, then the password would be included in the E-mail sent before the card is received.

In the mobile world, gift cards raise yet more issues, especially in terms of security, as Target and Starbucks discovered last month.

One card payments firm, Dimpledough, is pushing a gift card delivery system, but only for digital cards online. They currently have no intention of doing anything about the physical cards. But Dimpledough CEO Shawn Barrieau said one retailer-identified only as having more than $15 billion in annual sales-has bought their virtual gift card service and plans to roll it out next year, initially as a free service, but it might move to a 50-cent-to-75-cent charge later.

Barrieau said he saw many attractions to offering this service for the physical cards, but said there were legal issues-changing from state to state-that might complicate the ROI. Unclaimed property rules, for example, might make some chains prefer ignorance to transparency. "For liability reasons, some retailers just won't want to know" who the recipients are, he said.

Colorado Authorities Collecting Suspicious Mail for Month Long Round Up  (KKTV, 6/3/2010)

Starting this week authorities in cooperation with the Colorado Attorney General's Office are asking Colorado residents to watch the mail closely. Investigators want to find out who's behind scams that come through the mail.

Starting this week authorities in cooperation with the Colorado Attorney General's Office are asking Colorado residents to watch the mail closely. Investigators want to find out who's behind scams that come through the mail.

A state-wide sweep to round up suspicious mail begins with what might turn up in the mailbox.

If the mail raises a red flag authorities would like to see it in one of two collection boxes in Colorado Springs. The mail will then be examined and investigated for leads to potential scammers.

All involved want to turn the tables on those who prey on those who would open their check books for a worthy cause.

"Whether it be kind of like the Nigerian scam or any solicitation they might think, whether it be a roofing offer, opened or unopened, you can bring it to us,” said Joe Breister, Bureau Chief with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

The boxes can be found at the Colorado Springs Senior Center at 1514 North Hancock Avenue, and at the Sheriff's Office at 101 West Costilla.

The mail scam sweep will last through the month of June.

For Five Years, Hoax Calls And Threat Letters Were This Prankster's Pastime  (The Times of India, 6/4/2010)

KARAIKAL, India: For 30-year-old Abdul Kareem, making hoax calls to the police and sending anonymous letters to police stations had become a thrilling pastime until the police, far from amused by his pranks, finally tracked him down and picked him up in Nagapttinam last week.

It started five years ago with an anonymous letter to the police warning them about a bomb blast in a police station. Since then Kareem, who occasionally did menial jobs in his native village of Thittachery in Nagapattinam district, has dashed off several anonymous letters and made phone calls threatening the police about bomb blasts in police stations or other vital points. Karaikal SSP Pradip C Hota said he had written anonymous letters to other official departments as well. His objective was to create panic and he became quite adept at evading detection.

In the past five years, he had made phone calls to the offices of the superintendents of police of Karaikal, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts several times sending frustrated cops into a tizzy. Though his handwritten letters warning about bombs planted in vital places had all elements of a hoax tip-off, the police never took chances. In 2008, during the visit of President Pratibha Patil to Chennai, he had made a call threatening that terrorists have planted a bomb in Chennai airport and that it would explode. And, each time the bomb detection and disposal squad was summoned and a thorough search was conducted.

Besides warning' about bombs, Kareem would also alert' police about terrorist infiltration along the coast in these districts. Though the police smelled a pattern in the calls and letters, they could not nab Abdul since he made the calls and posted letters from different places.

On May 27, he had made an anonymous call to the control room at Karaikal SP office and warned that a five-member Al Qaeda gang had sneaked into Karaikal and they were about to trigger bomb blast in the police stations across Karaikal. But this time Abdul Kareem had used a mobile phone, the SIM card of which was traced to a shop in Thittachery. When police conducted enquiries with the shop owners, the mobile number was found belonging to Kareem. Police acted swiftly and arrested him. Kareem has been remanded and lodged in Karaikal prison.

Houston Mailman Faces Prison For Stealing Hundreds Of Netflix Movies  (Examiner, 6/2/2010)

Houston, TX -- People were expecting those familiar red envelopes in their mailboxes, but they weren't showing up in droves.

Now a 38-year-old US Postal Service letter carrier has admitted to stealing them, handful after handful, from his own mail route and other mail routes in the Spring area north of Houston.

Netflix Rudolph Luna, Jr. was indicted on a federal felony charge of Theft of Mail Matter in March and his guilty plea could now result in a five-year prison term.

Court records show US Postal Inspectors were called by Netflix security because some 114 movies that were destined for the 77373 zip code never arrived.   All of a sudden, families were complaining to Netflix throughout that area of north Harris County that their movies weren't showing up.

In late 2008 and early 2009, inspectors started undercover surveillance on Luna and he was spotted grabbing several Netflix movies from the delivery bins of other routes and placing them into his own delivery bin.

A Postal Inspector then prepared several Netflix movies to be collected and returned along Luna's route.   He was then spotted stuffing  some of those movies into his own backpack.

He was confronted by inspectors and one of the marked and prepared Netflix packets was found in his backpack.   He pleaded guilty to the single count of Theft of Mail Matter, even though investigators say they know he was stealing hundreds over a lengthy time frame.

After his January 26, 2009 arrest, the US Attorney's office in Houston says Luna confessed to stealing Netflix movies over a period of several months.

Luna was allowed to remain free on bail until his sentencing, which is now set for November.

Arizona Sheriff's Office Evacuated, Hazmat Called  (KTAR, 6/2/2010)

PHOENIX, AZ -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office in a downtown Phoenix high-rise was evacuated Wednesday after a suspicious substance arrived in the mail.

Phoenix Fire's hazardous materials crew was called to the 19th floor of the Wells Fargo Building to investigate.

"Some mail was received addressed to Sheriff Arpaio that contained a white powdery substance," said Lt. Brian Lee. "One of the administrative assistants opening up that envelope witnessed some white powder fall out of the envelope and he immediately evacuated the office."

No injuries were reported.

Documentary Tells Story of Anthrax Bombs Being Made in Canadian Lab During WWII  (AFP, 6/2/2010)

MONTREAL — A top secret military lab set up in Canada developed biological weapons for the Allies during World War II, according to a new documentary film aired late Tuesday by Radio-Canada.

In 1943 on Grosse-Ile, a small island in the Saint Lawrence seaway, Canadian scientists produced vast quantities of anthrax to be used in the fabrication of biological bombs.

The so-called Project N was one of three great secrets of the war, equal in scope to the Allies' cracking of German signal codes and the development of an atomic bomb, filmmakers Vincent Frigon and Yves Bernard opined.

During this period, the Allies were preparing to wage a biological war against Germany and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sought to obtain 500,000 anthrax bombs.

After a few missteps, the lab was closed in August 1944 after producing some 70 billion deadly doses -- enough to wipe out the world's population 30 times over -- and the research was moved to the United States.

Only 5,000 anthrax bombs would be sent to England before the end of the war.

"The (leftover) batches were mixed with solvents, left to sit for awhile and then dumped at the bottom of the Saint Lawrence seaway," one of the researchers who worked on the project, Thomas Stovell, said in the film.

New Jersey Election Worker Charged With Theft of $384K in Ballot Postage  (The Record, 6/2/2010)

Ridgefield, NJ--A Passaic County elections secretary was charged Tuesday with stealing $384,000 through an alleged fraud scheme in which she collected postage on ballots mailed to voters.

Yamira Martinez, 32, of Ridgefield, was charged with official misconduct and theft after agents from the U.S. Postal Service and the Passaic County Prosecutor's office raided the Passaic County Superintendent of Elections Office in Paterson. Martinez was being held in the Paterson Police Department lockup on Tuesday night on $50,000 bail, police said.

Martinez allegedly collected $384,000 in postage fees that Passaic County paid to the U.S. Postal Service beginning in February 2008. Authorities say Martinez deliberately paid more into the U.S. Postal Service accounts than Passaic County actually owed. She would then request a refund from the overbilling, and when the U.S. Postal Service sent her a check, she would deposit it in her own personal bank account, authorities said.

"She would fund the account with clearly more than what was owed," said Paul A. Di Lella, assistant Passaic County prosecutor. "And when she received the refund, she would put it into her own personal checking account. It wasn't very sophisticated."

If convicted of official misconduct, Martinez faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence and would be ineligible for parole for five years, Di Lella said.

Martinez's official title was confidential secretary to Passaic County Elections Superintendent Laura B. Freytes. The position entails various responsibilities, including office manager and accounting duties, Di Lella said.

Martinez has held the position since December 2006. Her salary was $44,645 in 2009, and she also earned $10,269 in overtime, county payroll records show.

Martinez was arrested at her Ridgefield home early Tuesday morning by agents from the county Prosecutor's Office and the U.S. Postal Service. Hours later, investigators arrived at the Superintendent of Elections office, located in the Farmer's Market section of Paterson. The investigators produced a search warrant and then began removing files and boxes from Martinez's office, witnesses said.

"They presented a search warrant and said they had access to all records in the office of the superintendent of elections," said Robert J. De Mers Jr., the deputy superintendent who spoke to the investigators. De Mers estimated that the search took "about 45 minutes."

Freytes was in her office when investigators arrived and later went to the prosecutor's office in Totowa, where she was questioned, Di Lella said.

Di Lella said the alleged fraud was simply a moneymaking scheme and did not harm the integrity of the election process.

The Passaic County Superintendent of Elections office is responsible for mailing out sample ballots to voters and maintaining more than 600 electronic voting machines used in balloting. At any given time during the year, the office is usually preparing for some kind of election. Party primaries are held in June, general elections in November, and school board balloting every April.

Over the course of the year, the office sends out hundreds of thousands of sample ballots, De Mers said. Passaic County mailed out 265,000 sample ballots in the last general election, De Mers said.

The U.S. Postal Service charges Passaic County between 8.5 and 11 cents per ballot, depending on where the ballot is delivered. Passaic County is charged 44 cents for each ballot that is returned by the U.S. Postal Service.

Case Continued For Maryland Inmate Accused Of Sending Powder-Filled Letter (Herald-Mail, 6/1/2010)

HAGERSTOWN, MD — A state prison inmate serving a 50-year sentence for murder could receive another 10 years in prison if convicted of sending a powder-filled threatening letter to a former Washington County Circuit Court judge who was the victim of a letter bombing in 1989, according to circuit court records.

Robert Douglas Turner, 38, was charged with manufacturing a phony destructive device, in the form of a letter sent in December 2008 to the law office of John P. Corderman, a former circuit judge, according to the application for statement of charges.

Turner’s case was continued Tuesday to allow time for completion of a report to determine whether he is not criminally responsible, Assistant State’s Attorney Brett Wilson said.

A determination of not criminally responsible differs from a finding of incompetence to stand trial, according to the Maryland Rules of Criminal Procedure. A person can be competent to stand trial, although found not criminally responsible at the time a crime was committed, according to the rules of criminal procedure.

Corderman did not immediately notify police when he received the letter at his Public Square office, but reported it Dec. 8, 2008, documents show.

When Corderman opened the letter and saw the white powder, he told police he thought he was “either dead or it was a hoax,” the application for statement of charges said. He called police after seeing reports of similar letters being sent to state officials, court documents said.

“Inhale deeply, Jean,” the letter read, according to court records. “The pipe bomb did not get you. This will ...” The powder was found to be harmless, records show.

On Dec. 22, 1989, Corderman, then a circuit court judge, was injured when a package delivered to his apartment exploded. Corderman spent three days in the hospital with injuries to his hand, abdomen and ear drums, according to published reports.

The envelope sent to Corderman in December 2008 had a return address with Turner’s name and his inmate number at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Md., the application for statement of charges said.

Investigators allege that a left thumb print found on the letter was Turner’s. A sample of Turner’s handwriting was provided by prison officials, documents show.

Turner pleaded guilty in 1995 to first-degree murder in the Sept. 7, 1994, stabbing death of Mark Lowery, according to court records. Lowery was found dead in his South Cannon Avenue apartment with a single knife wound to the heart, according to a published report.

In 1996, Turner sent a threatening letter to the judge who sentenced him for the murder, Judge Frederick C. Wright III.

“When I get out, I’ll blow your brains out,” Turner wrote in the letter, according to a published report.

Turner pleaded guilty to threatening a state official, and three years were added to his 50-year sentence, according to a published report.

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Mail Threat  (Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, 6/1/2010)

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A former Meyersdale resident was sentenced Wednesday in Pittsburgh’s federal court to serve six years and five months in prison for threatening local officials by mail.

Phillip C. Clayton, 36, is serving a three-year sentence at the Victorville, Calif., federal prison for failure to register as a convicted sex offender.

Federal authorities believe Clayton was upset by how his failing to register case was handled in Johnstown.

In a June 4 letter, Clayton, a California native, said he would run Johnstown-based U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson off the road and kill him.

Clayton also threatened his defense team.

In a rambling letter signed “Phillip Clayton,” the writer also said he would “place explosives around the fed. bldg., (and) blow it sky high.”

On Nov. 30, 2009, Clayton sent a letter threatening a Cambria County judge and employees at the Cambria County Prison.

Authorities said Clayton sent other threatening letters as well.

Clayton originally was convicted of performing oral sex on an unconscious victim in California. After his release from prison, he failed to register as a sex offender and was caught in Meyersdale.

U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone also sentenced Clayton to three years’ probation.

FBI Is Sole Justice Agency Prepared For Terror Attack, Report Says  (Washington Post, 6/2/2010)

The FBI appears to be ready for a chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attack, but the rest of the Justice Department "is not prepared," according to a blistering audit released Tuesday.

The report by Glenn A. Fine, Justice's inspector general, singled out the department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for particular scorn, suggesting that the bureau was only dimly aware that it had been designated Justice's "lead coordinator" in responding to an attack with weapons of mass destruction.

The rationale for giving ATF, and not the FBI, the lead role was not explained in the report.

Other Justice Department components did not escape the inspector general's wrath.

"[W]e found that no Department law enforcement component, other than the FBI, has specific WMD operational response plans. ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS) each have groups that manage all-hazards responses, but these groups do not include specific preparations for WMD incidents," the inspector general said.

Those agencies weren't even curious about what the FBI was up to, the report said.

"When we asked if they were familiar with the FBI's WMD response plan, officials from ATF, the DEA, and the USMS said they were not familiar with the plan and had not asked to see it," the report said.

"Our review concluded that only the FBI has taken adequate steps to prepare to respond to a potential WMD attack" including in the Washington area, it said.

The Justice Department took its medicine without complaint.

"We concur in all five recommendations and will implement" them, Associate Deputy Attorney General James A. Baker said in a written response.

The DEA, however, protested, saying that it did participate in drills, citing one every year between 2005 and 2008. But auditors said they were not the same kind of exercises under discussion in their report.

The ATF and Marshals Service did not offer a formal defense of their bad grades.