U.S. Capitol Police shut down part of the Senate wing of the Capitol Building in Washingon, D.C., Wednesday afternoon after a letter from former Surgeon General and current Dartmouth Medical School professor C. Everett Koop '37 regarding health care reform unexpectedly appeared in the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The mysterious letter contained no postage and had not been screened by security, according to a Thursday report in The Hill newspaper.
A Senate postal clerk who noticed the letter contacted Capitol Police and "a small swarm of officers" shut down both the hallway outside Reid's office and the nearby Ohio Clock corridor, according to The Hill. Hazardous material technicians came to test the envelope before opening it, which has been standard procedure since the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer told The Hill that the Senate has been particularly careful with unscreened mail since the anthrax scare.
Gainer could not be reached for comment by press time.
Koop, a Hanover resident, told The Hill that he delivered the envelope to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to pass on to Reid. A Hatch staffer then placed the envelope in a mailbox inside Reid's office.
Neither Koop nor a representative from Hatch's office could be reached for comment by press time.
Koop did not anticipate that his letter would cause such a stir, The Hill reported.
"I did write it, but I didn't mean anything nefarious, and I'm sitting here smiling because it all seems to be a big buzz about nothing," he told The Hill.
No more specific information about the letter or how it arrived was available as of Thursday evening, U.S. Capitol Police public information officer Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
"Office staff were not aware of how the letter arrived at their office," she said.
Gainer told The Hill, however, that the letter was addressed to Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and discussed Koop's concerns with the administration's progress on health care reform.
Koop, who served as surgeon general under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989, told The Hill he believes the administration is neglecting to speak with health care experts as it proceeds with reform efforts. While Koop does not oppose the current Democratic-proposed health care bills, he said the perceived lack of openness throughout the process has been troubling, The Hill reported.
"I don't favor any one approach, but I do think we've been misled by the president about transparency," Koop said in a phone interview with The Hill.
During the security scare, which lasted approximately an hour, several aides and staffers were unable to reach or leave their offices, and many of Reid's staff members were stuck in his suite.
"[Office staff] were temporarily moved out of the area while [U.S. Capitol Police] ran routine tests which were clear with negative results," Schneider said in her e-mail. "The immediate area was restricted until USCP cleared the suspicious letter."
Regan Lachapelle, the deputy communications director for Reid's office, declined to comment on the incident and directed all questions to the Capitol Police.
