Terror At the Washington 'Post'!

For those of you who wrote in wondering why the WashingtonPostbuilding was loaded with terrorism cops and Hazmat guys early this afternoon, it was an anthrax scare in the mailroom.

I wanted to let you know that we received a suspicious piece of mail this morning, and you may see the Fire Department responding here at the Northwest Building. An envelope containing a small amount of white powder was opened in the secure portion of the 4th floor News mailroom. The person who opened it immediately called Security. Security then placed the envelope in a ventilation hood and reported it to the FBI, who asked us to call the DC Fire Department. As you may recall the mail opening room has a specially designed ventilation system that is separate from the rest of the building system. We'll keep you informed.

Thankfully, it all turned out to be boric acid. Or crap from Rich Cohen's beard, we forget. Hilarious prank or no, the most important thing we've learned from this episode: Shoulda genuine bio-terrorism attack occur at thePost, the only person who will be killed is whatever non-union sap is opening the mail in that hermetically sealed death chamber.

"All clear" notice after the jump, if you're into that sort of thing.

Suspicious Mail - Update

12: 51 p.m.

This is in reference to my earlier email about the envelope we received in the 4th floor mailroom today, which contained a small amount of white powder. The FBI and a Hazmat unit of the D.C. Fire Department responded, and testing of the substance indicates that it is almost certainly boric acid, a relatively common insecticide powder. Further testing will be

conducted to confirm that result. I want to commend everyone who helped deal with this. The person who opened the envelope and members of our Security Department handled this situation in just the right way, ensuring that our operations wouldn't be affected by a hoax like this. Many thanks.

Mary Ann Werner