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FBI Calls Suspicious Letter a Hoax

Aired January 03, 2002 - 14:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: And now for more on that letter discovered at the Capitol -- in the Capitol building this morning, a suspicious letter. There was a powdery substance inside. Preliminary reports said that substance is not has hazardous, but we do have a little more information on it, and for that let's go to our Susan Candiotti -- hello again, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Judy, happy New Year.

WOODRUFF: Same to you.

CANDIOTTI: A spokesman for the FBI is flat out calling this a hoax now, based on the preliminary tests of this letter, which they admit was indeed suspicious. We know a little bit more about the letter now. We know it was dated in late November. That it was postmarked London, England, and that it is now -- that it contained a threatening message.

However, we are told that they cannot release further information about that because the letter is currently being examined at this time after having been, in fact, tripled bagged and delivered over to the Army research lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland where investigators are going over it now.

Also, we understand that the person who opened the letter is being interviewed at this time by the FBI, according to sources. Now, we are also told by FBI sources that this piece of mail had been -- had been irradiated, as we want to remind you the procedure, ever since the first letters were discovered containing anthrax, all mail has been -- have been taken to various facilities, two specifically, and they are being irradiated.

Now, if this letter had, indeed, contained anthrax, it would still have tested preliminarily positive for anthrax, because even though it's irradiated and all the danger is removed, there still would have been a presence of spores. Therefore, FBI investigators say because this tested negative, preliminarily, it does not appear to be anthrax, and, in fact, they are calling this a hoax -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Susan, what about the postmark on this. Was this something -- they didn't put that out originally. Are they saying any more information about who sent it or anything?

CANDIOTTI: At this time, they are calling it unlike any of the other letters we have seen before, and certainly none of the other letters were postmarked from the outside the country. Whatever it was about the letter that raised suspicions to the people that received it, authorities aren't saying at this time.

We, of course, hope to learn more information as some of this information continues to come out in dribs and drabs, but at the same time it's being examined by scientists over at Fort Detrick, and they said that they are not clear exactly what procedures they are using, but they are taking care to open it, and examine it thoroughly, and then we hope to know more about the content of the threat.

WOODRUFF: And nothing more about wording of the threat, that's what they are not talking about?

CANDIOTTI: No. Trying to find out, for example, was it handprinted like some of the other letters, any more information like that, they are not forthcoming right now.

WOODRUFF: I think it's a relief to all of us, though to learn -- we may have been told this before, but to be reminded that there are now these two procedures that take place outside the Capitol before any letters like this --

CANDIOTTI: That's right, and that's what is particularly curious about this too, because, indeed, before any of these letters are supposed to reach the Hill, or any of the other offices, after they're irradiated, they first go to another off-site facility. They are examined, and in some cases, slit open.

Did that happen in this case? It won't appear to have happened in this case, but we are still waiting to get more information on what procedures were followed with this particular letter once it came back after being irradiated then was delivered to this off-site facility where it was presumably examined before it got to the hill. We need to know more.

WOODRUFF: Still had this powdery substance supposedly.

CANDIOTTI: Yeah.

WOODRUFF: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

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