Bomb threats called in at two locations in DC

[RavenSky]

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said after the briefing resumed that the room was carried out as a precaution taken by the Secret Service, adding that the threat was made before 2 p.m.

Earnest also said the briefing room was the only room evacuated within the White House complex. He also said that, while President Obama was on sight, he was not moved from the complex.

"Based on a threat that the Secret Service received from another law enforcement agency, the press room was evacuated, [and] they quickly searched and determined that it was safe and we all came back in the room," he also added.
At one point, dogs were searching the briefing room before guards appeared to be covering the cameras.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102730171

 

[dismal]

See, this is what happens when you don't record everyone's phone calls.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Shouldn't they have done all the bomb checks before people came into the press room in the first place? The response to the threat should have been "No, there isn't a bomb in there".

 

[ronburgundy]

See, this is what happens when you don't record everyone's phone calls.

Nah, Obama has been the most threatened president in history since the day he was elected.
This is what happens when you have a black president in a nation full of racists with one of the only two major political parties and their media cronies actively trying to fuel racist fears and hate every minute of the day.

 

[dismal]

See, this is what happens when you don't record everyone's phone calls.

Nah, Obama has been the most threatened president in history since the day he was elected.
This is what happens when you have a black president in a nation full of racists with one of the only two major political parties and their media cronies actively trying to fuel racist fears and hate every minute of the day.

LOL @ Obama showing up in the press room.

 

[RavenSky]

See, this is what happens when you don't record everyone's phone calls.

Nah, Obama has been the most threatened president in history since the day he was elected.
This is what happens when you have a black president in a nation full of racists with one of the only two major political parties and their media cronies actively trying to fuel racist fears and hate every minute of the day.

Perhaps, but these two threats were directed at the press and at a TSA Senate hearing, not at the President

A Senate hearing about the challenges facing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was evacuated Tuesday after a bomb threat was phoned in.

The threat led U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) to investigate a suspicious package in room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, prompting them to clear several floors in the building. The room was cleared and no hazardous materials were found, said USCP spokeswoman Lieutenant Kimberly Schneider.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-hearing-evacuated-after-bomb-threat/

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Is it just me or do threats never actually amount to anything? Attacks always happen when you don't expect them.

 

[ronburgundy]

Nah, Obama has been the most threatened president in history since the day he was elected.
This is what happens when you have a black president in a nation full of racists with one of the only two major political parties and their media cronies actively trying to fuel racist fears and hate every minute of the day.

Perhaps, but these two threats were directed at the press and at a TSA Senate hearing, not at the President

Ah, I assumed these were simply among the 70,000 death threats made against Obama (that the Secret Service keeps track of) since he first took office. That's 30 every day and 400% higher than Bush W. got. Those started years before the manufactured outrage over the NSA, and before he really did anything in office other than be black.

 

[dismal]

Is it just me or do threats never actually amount to anything? Attacks always happen when you don't expect them.

I'll invoke Keith&Co's axiom that people who really want to kill someone with a bomb probably will conceal the fact they planted a bomb.

Thus these threats should probably just be ignored.

 

[bilby]

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said after the briefing resumed that the room was carried out as a precaution taken by the Secret Service, adding that the threat was made before 2 p.m.

Earnest also said the briefing room was the only room evacuated within the White House complex. He also said that, while President Obama was on sight, he was not moved from the complex.

"Based on a threat that the Secret Service received from another law enforcement agency, the press room was evacuated, [and] they quickly searched and determined that it was safe and we all came back in the room," he also added.
At one point, dogs were searching the briefing room before guards appeared to be covering the cameras.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102730171

Those are some seriously sturdy Secret Service personnel, if they could carry an entire room out of the White House.

There also appears to be a word missing; What, exactly, did they do to Obama when they sighted him? Should that perhaps read "while President Obama was shot on sight, he was not moved from the complex"? (or perhaps the less alarming "...Obama was on site..." would have been better)?

Personally I prefer my news to be well written, even at the expense of not getting it published for an extra thirty seconds; But apparently the supposedly professional journalist of the 21st century has other priorities.

 

[Metaphor]

The threat led U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) to investigate a suspicious package in room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, prompting them to clear several floors in the building. The room was cleared and no hazardous materials were found,

Does anyone else get curious about what suspicious looking packages end up containing? In my head, that sentence should have ended 'no hazardous materials were found; instead staff were delighted by a box full of kittens'.

 

[Sarpedon]

I'll invoke Keith&Co's axiom that people who really want to kill someone with a bomb probably will conceal the fact they planted a bomb.

Thus these threats should probably just be ignored.

The IRA would frequently plant a bomb, call in a threat to get the building evacuated, and then the bomb would go off, destroying the building. Best not to ignore them.

This confused me the first time I heard about it, but then I realized the goal was not to kill people, but to break their spirits. By calling in the threat, everyone who was saved must go through their lives knowing that they owe it to the mercy of the terrorists. And if the authorities ignore the warnings and the bomb kills many, the strife caused will be most effective.

People have this simplistic notion that war is about killing your enemies. This is not correct.

 

[bilby]

I'll invoke Keith&Co's axiom that people who really want to kill someone with a bomb probably will conceal the fact they planted a bomb.

Thus these threats should probably just be ignored.

The IRA would frequently plant a bomb, call in a threat to get the building evacuated, and then the bomb would go off, destroying the building. Best not to ignore them.

This confused me the first time I heard about it, but then I realized the goal was not to kill people, but to break their spirits. By calling in the threat, everyone who was saved must go through their lives knowing that they owe it to the mercy of the terrorists. And if the authorities ignore the warnings and the bomb kills many, the strife caused will be most effective.

People have this simplistic notion that war is about killing your enemies. This is not correct.

Actually the stated aim of IRA bomb warnings was to kill soldiers and policemen, rather than civilians.

Remember, in an evacuation, civilians all leave; but the bomb squad and security forces all come running.

The idea was to terrorise the civilians and kill the authorities, rather than the other way around. To achieve that, a warning phone call is the obvious thing to do.

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

I'll invoke Keith&Co's axiom that people who really want to kill someone with a bomb probably will conceal the fact they planted a bomb.

Thus these threats should probably just be ignored.

That would be rational. I guess the difficult thing here is the rate of wildly irrational people is probably substantially higher in the people-who-want-to-kill-people-with-bombs population than it is in the general population. Probably.