Multiple people at a military base right outside of Washington DC were rushed to the hospital after someone opened a ‘suspicious package’ that contained white powder and political propaganda.
The suspicious envelope was opened at around 1pm Thursday in a building at Joint Base Andrews that houses the Air National Guard Readiness Center, which had to be evacuated while several people were transported to the on-base Malcolm Grove Medical Center, CNN reports.
‘Joint Base Andrews first responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats and have turned the scene over to [the] Office of Special Investigations,’ officials said.
‘An investigation is currently ongoing.’
As part of the investigation, authorities are said to be looking into political propaganda that was sent along with the mysterious substance. Meanwhile, the room where the envelope was opened remains closed.
It remains unclear what may have caused the soldiers to fall ill, as one source told CNN that an initial field test conducted by a HAZMAT team did not detect anything dangerous.
It is also unclear whether anyone or any specific department was targeted at the base, from where the president, vice president and members of Congress take off for official trips.
But it comes one month after a federal office building in New York City had to be evacuated after employees found another envelope containing white powder.
The building houses the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office as well as the Department of Homeland Security, though it is unclear if the suspicious envelope was directed at either office.
Tensions across the country have only increased since then, however, amid the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown, which has seen federal employees like air traffic controllers working without pay for weeks and left millions of Americans without food stamps.
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