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Anthrax Found at Off-Site White House Mail Site
U.S. president Bush said confidently Tuesday that ''I don't have anthrax'' after biohazard testing at the White House and the discovery of anthrax on a mail-opening machine at a screening facility six miles away.
All White House mail - more than 40,000 letters a week - is examined at military facilities across the Potomac River. ''Let me put it this way,'' Bush said. ''I'm confident that when I come to work tomorrow, I'll be safe.'' Asked if he was tested for the germ that has killed three people already this month, or if he was taking precautionary antibiotics, Bush replied simply: ''I don't have anthrax.''
At least some White House personnel were given Cipro six weeks ago. White House officials won't discuss who might be receiving the anthrax-treating antibiotic now.
On the night of the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House Medical Office dispensed Cipro to staff accompanying Vice President Dick Cheney as he was secreted off to the safety of Camp David, and told them it was "a precaution," according to one person directly involved.
At that time, nobody could guess the dimensions of the terrorists' plot.
Now, Bush said on Tuesday, "There's no question that the evil-doers are continuing to try to harm America and Americans."
The president spoke in an afternoon Cabinet Room meeting with members of Congress, minutes after his press secretary announced that a "small concentration" of anthrax spores were found on the slitter machine that opens White House mail at a Secret Service-controlled facility on property shared by the Anacostia Naval Station and Bolling Air Force Base.
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