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June 27, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Call it another sign of the times: The first of 20,000 gas masks -- enough for all lawmakers, their aides and other employees and even tourists in the event of a chemical or biological attack -- have begun arriving at the U.S. Capitol.
One-hour training sessions for congressional employees on how to use the quick masks will begin next week when lawmakers are out of town for a weeklong July Fourth holiday, Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said Wednesday.
"It's simply an escape hood. It's not meant to do any work," Gainer said of the devices, explaining that the masks are intended solely to protect employees and visitors just long enough to evacuate the Capitol and nearby office buildings in the event of a biological or chemical attack.
Gainer said the devices, each costing about $100, are good for two minutes to up to an hour at filtering out anthrax spores or toxic gases, depending on the temperature and how hard a person is breathing. The masks are ineffective against radiological agents, he said.
The masks will be stored in each congressional office and at entrances to the Capitol and its office buildings. They would be issued only upon an alert and police officers will be trained to quickly instruct tourists on how to put them on, Gainer said.
Capitol Police officers have been equipped with the masks since 1997. The masks also have been in place outside the House and Senate chambers, but more were ordered after anthrax letters addressed to lawmakers were discovered in the Capitol complex last fall.
Gainer said a decision was made to order another 20,000 of them because the Capitol has been subjected to a bioterrorist attack and would be a likely target for another one.