More than 30 U.S. governors by Friday had received letters containing an apparently harmless white powder, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 10).
Initial testing indicated the material posed no threat but local laboratories were conducting additional analyses, the FBI said. Meanwhile, additional letters were anticipated.
“Once these letters start showing up, they’ll keep showing up for days because some delivery of mail takes longer than others,” said Mark White, an FBI special agent in Dallas, where the letters are believed to have originated.
The typewritten letters are "similar in nature" and make some sort of threat, officials said. They have ended up in governors' offices in Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico, South Carolina and other states.
“Unfortunately this sort of hoax letter is phenomenally common,” said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko. “In the last two years, we’ve had over 900 responses to white powder or WMD issues, and that doesn’t account for the countless number of incidents that don’t make it past the local police and fire departments."
The number of powder hoaxes increased following the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people (see GSN, Nov. 26).
“We get them from a variety of people,” Kolko said. “A lot of times we find they are people in jail sending them to judges and lawyers, disgruntled citizens and kids. It runs the gamut. The problem is that people out of ignorance think if they send sugar or flour, ‘What can they do to me?’ Well, it’s a federal crime. A hoax is not a joke, and they will go to jail" (Malcolm Gay, New York Times, Dec. 14).
Some arrivals have provoked strong responses.
Authorities in Santa Fe evacuated the New Mexico state capitol on Thursday and quarantined and decontaminated 20 people who had been inside the building, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Another 12 people were quarantined and cleansed with a bleach solution after exposure to what turned out to be Sheetrock powder at a nearby building. All of the people also underwent examination at a hospital (Steve Terrell, Santa Fe New Mexican, Dec. 12).