SecDef Mattis and CNO Richardson targeted in suspected ricin mail attack Update- SS Intercepts Suspect Package Addressed to POTUS

Department of Defense employees inside the Pentagon’s mail screening facility inspect envelopes and packages, one step in the Pentagon’s mail screening process, before the items are released to their addressees. (Tara Copp/Military Times)

Two packages mailed to the Pentagon this week are believed to contain the poison ricin, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The packages were addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, a defense official said on the condition of not being named. The packages triggered alarms Monday as they were undergoing security screening at a mail processing center that is on the Pentagon campus, but not inside the building.

Ricin is produced from the seeds of the castor oil plant, and is a highly potent toxin. A dose of purified ricin powder the size of a few grains of table salt can kill an adult human. The median lethal dose of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight if the exposure is from injection or inhalation. Oral exposure is far less toxic, as some of the poison is inactivated in the stomach.

Later Tuesday the Pentagon allowed reporters to view the facility where every piece of inbound mail is inspected and screened before it is allowed to move on to its intended recipient. Inside, more than two dozen Department of Defense employees work 24 hours a day, screening the more than 500,000 pieces of mail sent to the Pentagon each year, a DoD official said on the condition of anonymity. In addition to the employees’ physical screen, there are additional tests that the official would not elaborate on.

Nor would the official say whether the facility had ever previously had a positive result like Monday’s ricin results, only stating that it was extremely rare.

The entire article may be viewed Here.

Low tech but potentially lethal, and ‘they’ only have to be right once. Glad this fan mail was discovered early and the attack failed.

Castor Seeds

UPDATE
Secret Service Intercepts Package with Suspected Ricin Addressed to President Trump

“The Secret Service can confirm receipt of a suspicious envelope addressed to the President on Oct. 1, 2018. The envelope was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter the White House,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “As a matter of practice, the Secret Service does not comment regarding matters of Protective Intelligence. However, in this instance, we can confirm that we are working jointly with our law enforcement partners to fully investigate this matter.”

Breitbart News Link

This story is developing.

Update
Pentagon: Suspicious substance in envelopes was castor seeds, not ricin itself

A Pentagon spokeswoman says the suspicious substance found in envelopes turned over to the FBI contained the substance from which the poison ricin is derived, but not ricin itself.

Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Brussels that the substance was castor seeds.

On Tuesday, Pentagon officials said two envelopes that had been suspected of containing ricin were isolated at a Pentagon mail screening facility, then sent to the FBI. They said one envelope was addressed to Mattis, the other to the chief of the U.S. Navy, Adm. John Richardson. No one was injured.

Category: Terror War