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CNN Live At Daybreak
D.C. Postal Site Tested for Anthrax
Aired January 15, 2003 - 06:02 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is deja vu in the worst sense this morning. Traces of anthrax have turned up on a letter sent through a Washington postal facility.
Kathleen Koch is live from the U.S. post office headquarters with the latest.
I have so many questions for you. So, this letter with the traces of anthrax made it through a mail sorting facility and through the Federal Reserve?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it never made it to the Federal Reserve, Carol. And the letter itself was addressed to a man named Roger Ferguson. He's vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board.
And what happened is that obviously since the anthrax attacks back in October of 2001, the postal service has very carefully screened and tested all mail, each and every piece that is destined for the federal government, particularly here in Washington, D.C. And what they found was that this particular letter in testing did have this preliminary positive result for the possibility of the possible presence of anthrax spores.
So, what they did is they shut down the postal facility on V Street in Washington, D.C. last night, where this letter had moved through, and they had a press conference to explain their, so far, preliminary findings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS DAY, V.P. OF ENGINEERING, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: The Federal Reserve routinely tests mail delivered to its headquarters in Washington in a secure facility. The suspect mail did not enter the Fed headquarters. Mail that is destined for the Federal Reserve normally passes through our government mail facility on V Street, and it's because of this that we are conducting these tests. Again let me emphasize, we have no evidence of any contamination and no evidence of any health risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, we're hoping for some preliminary test results this morning, but officials say they believe they're likely to clear this facility. There have been false alarms in the past. They expect that this is another one. They say they think it will be a nonevent, but with five people dying in the anthrax attacks more than a year ago, they're not taking any chances -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Are you hearing anymore about the letter as to like when it was dated, if it's an old letter, a new letter?
KOCH: Nothing about that whatsoever, only that the very test on the letter was conducted on January 3, so apparently it was mailed sometime prior to that date. But hopefully, Carol, we will hear more on that this morning, and hopefully we'll hear that this again was all just a false alarm.
COSTELLO: We hope so. Kathleen Koch reporting live from Washington, D.C. in the Northeast this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 15, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is deja vu in the worst sense this morning. Traces of anthrax have turned up on a letter sent through a Washington postal facility.
Kathleen Koch is live from the U.S. post office headquarters with the latest.
I have so many questions for you. So, this letter with the traces of anthrax made it through a mail sorting facility and through the Federal Reserve?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, it never made it to the Federal Reserve, Carol. And the letter itself was addressed to a man named Roger Ferguson. He's vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board.
And what happened is that obviously since the anthrax attacks back in October of 2001, the postal service has very carefully screened and tested all mail, each and every piece that is destined for the federal government, particularly here in Washington, D.C. And what they found was that this particular letter in testing did have this preliminary positive result for the possibility of the possible presence of anthrax spores.
So, what they did is they shut down the postal facility on V Street in Washington, D.C. last night, where this letter had moved through, and they had a press conference to explain their, so far, preliminary findings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS DAY, V.P. OF ENGINEERING, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: The Federal Reserve routinely tests mail delivered to its headquarters in Washington in a secure facility. The suspect mail did not enter the Fed headquarters. Mail that is destined for the Federal Reserve normally passes through our government mail facility on V Street, and it's because of this that we are conducting these tests. Again let me emphasize, we have no evidence of any contamination and no evidence of any health risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, we're hoping for some preliminary test results this morning, but officials say they believe they're likely to clear this facility. There have been false alarms in the past. They expect that this is another one. They say they think it will be a nonevent, but with five people dying in the anthrax attacks more than a year ago, they're not taking any chances -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Are you hearing anymore about the letter as to like when it was dated, if it's an old letter, a new letter?
KOCH: Nothing about that whatsoever, only that the very test on the letter was conducted on January 3, so apparently it was mailed sometime prior to that date. But hopefully, Carol, we will hear more on that this morning, and hopefully we'll hear that this again was all just a false alarm.
COSTELLO: We hope so. Kathleen Koch reporting live from Washington, D.C. in the Northeast this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
