White House Press Room, Capitol Evacuated After Threat, Packages Found

Secret Service officials declared the White House briefing room clear after interrupting the daily news conference Tuesday and evacuating administration staff and reporters because of an unspecified security issue.

 

Secret Service personnel gave no reason for the evacuation. Officers brought dogs to check inside the briefing room, in the West Wing of the White House, and the area immediately outside. Reporters and photographers were sent to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the western end of the White House grounds.

President Barack Obama was at the White House, but it was unclear whether the evacuation affected other parts of the building.

It was the second evacuation of a government building on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, one floor of the Dirksen Senate Office building was evacuated after a bomb threat. It came during a hearing on the Transportation Security Administration.

The U.S. Capitol Police were investigating a report of a suspicious package in a room at the Dirksen building after the threat, a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Spokesmen for the Secret Service didn’t immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages.