FoxNews reports that Senator Mark Dayton, D-Minn., has decided to shut down his Senate office on Capitol Hill until after the November election because of "an unacceptably greater risk" to the safety of his staff and constituents. Senator Dayton made the decision based on a top secret intelligence briefing he and other members received on national security:
"I do so out of extreme but necessary precaution to protect the lives and safety of my Senate staff and my Minnesota constituents who might otherwise visit my office in the next few weeks. I feel compelled to do so because I will not be here in Washington to share in what I consider to be unacceptably greater risk to their safety," he said.
I'm sure we will be hearing more about this.
UPDATE: The Associateed Press reports that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, told reporters that he didn't know of any other senator who had closed their Capitol Hill office:
"There has been no new information over the last five to six weeks," he said, referring to intelligence.
Brian Roehrkasse, a Homeland Security Department spokesman, said the department had no intelligence indicating al-Qaida intends to target any specific U.S. locations.
FBI officials said while there still is concern al-Qaida wants to disrupt the upcoming election, there is no new information indicating the Capitol or any other location is a target.
Added Capitol police spokesman Michael Lauer: "There's been no specific threats against the Capitol complex. We continue to be on guard now, all the way up to the election and all the way through the inauguration."
The Kerry campaign must be PISSED that a Dem senator is drawing attention to domestic security threats in the leadup to the election.
Posted by: Steve | Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 06:33 PM