Streets Around White House Reopened
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 5, 2006; 11:22 AM
Streets around the White House were closed this morning after a 54-year-old woman threw an envelope into the courtyard of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Building, but the envelope turned out to contain "nothing threatening," according to the Secret Service.
Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford said that as a precaution, the envelope, which was thrown over the fence just before 8 a.m., was declared a suspicious package and several streets were closed from 17th Street NW to State Place NW as well as the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Two hours later, police determined that the incident posed no threat and the streets were reopened, Blackford said. President Bush was in the White House at the time of the incident, according to the Associated Press.
Police are questioning the woman, whose name they did not release, pending charges.
In another incident just after nine this morning, there was a call about a suspicious package at a U.S. Coast Guard building in the 2100 block of 2nd Street in Southwest Washington, police said. The package was quickly declared safe.
