WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- One of the anthrax spores found in a State Department mailroom this weekend was in the same location as a "suspicious white powder" found earlier this month, according to a classified e-mail whose contents were shared with United Press International.
The mailroom located on the sixth floor of the Harry S. Truman building was inspected by the FBI's counter-terrorism unit when white powder was found in one of the letters on October 10. The FBI later determined the substance to be a benign "talcum-like substance," which contained no anthrax.
"We don't see any relationship between that event and the later finding of anthrax at that location," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Should investigators eventually draw a connection between the earlier scare and the current results from anthrax testing inside the State Department, the timing of the two events would suggest there were two separate sources of anthrax.
"One mailroom where the spores were found was the same mailroom where one of the two suspicious substances were found," said the classified e-mail from the State Department's medical office, addressed to a wide group of employees in the building.
A senior State Department told reporters Tuesday that they don't know for sure if the two events were related but stressed that it seemed unlikely.
The State Department on Monday announced that hazardous material workers found trace amounts of anthrax in two of its mailrooms, a mail pouch at the U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru, and a batch of mail headed to one of its branch offices in Washington.
As a result, the State Department ordered the clean up of all of its mail facilities -- including those at more than 250 embassies and consulates overseas -- and placed all employees in contact with the mail, including those that distribute the mail within the State Department, on antibiotics to treat the infection.
In response to the precautions, Israeli specialists Monday removed five samples from mailbags that reached the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and sent them to be checked for anthrax, the Environment Ministry reported.
A spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv police said the embassy called them after receiving three sacks of mail. The specialists took several envelopes and specimens from the bags. The U.S. Embassy spokesman had no comment on the report.
Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed State Department employees in a town meeting on Tuesday. He assured them "we will not do anything to but you in danger" but also asked for patience.
"I ask you to understand there is a great deal of uncertainty. ... Give us the time to sort through ... to get the facts," he said. Powell added, "We have to do everything we can to show we are still functioning."
The State Department will be working in conjunction with the environmental branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the clean up over the weekend.
Hazardous materials workers found no anthrax spores in the ventilation system for the main State Department building in Foggy Bottom. All told, the team sampled 155 locations and there are results from 71 of those tests. Three have shown trace levels of anthrax inside the State Department at two different places. Boucher said the anthrax was found in mail rooms on the sixth floor and second floor.
Anthrax was also found in a bundle of mail destined for the State Department's "Rewards for Justice program," an office that disburses money for information leading to the capture of terrorists. But Boucher said investigators did not know if the spores came from a new letter in the State Department's system.
Anthrax was also initially discovered on Oct. 25 in a mail pouch at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru. Scientists confirmed the mail pouch contained anthrax in a subsequent test Monday. Boucher said the embassy was working in conjunction with the Peruvian authorities in disposing the mail pouch.
All mail handlers for the State Department have been instructed to take the Cipro antibiotic for 60 days.
The State Department on Friday sealed off all of its overseas and domestic mail facilities after a loading dock worker at a northern Virginia mail depot for the department was diagnosed with inhalation anthrax on Thursday.
So far, there has been only one known letter with anthrax sent to the Washington area -- a letter earlier this month to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Even so, two mail workers at the Brentwood Postal facility, which services most of the mail for the Washington area, have died from inhalation anthrax. Three other people in the Washington area have contracted inhalation anthrax.
Anthrax spores have been found in the Supreme Court, Justice Department, Congress and a letter-opening device used by the White House.
(With reporting by Joshua Brilliant in Tel Aviv, Israel.)
