FBI Continues Senate Ricin Probe

The FBI is continuing its investigation into ricin-laced mail sent to the Washington office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) a year ago, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 7, 2004).

“We’d love to see it solved,” said FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman.

No one became ill after the powdered toxin was found on a mail-opening machine in Frist’s space in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, but more than 12 staffers had to be decontaminated.

Meanwhile the U.S. Postal Service said “serious lapses” in communication between the agency and its workers — including the failure to inform employees at the Chattanooga, Tenn., postal facility that they had processed a ricin-laced letter intended for the White House — have been fixed.

“I think it would be fair to say there’s been an enormous improvement,” said Postal Service spokesman Jerry McKiernan (Associated Press, Feb. 3).

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