Senate leader in anthrax scare

A suspicious letter was found today in the Washington office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, but police said an initial test on a powdery substance contained inside was negative.

The package contained a ‘‘threatening note and powdery substance,’’ said Lieutenant Dan Nichols, a spokesman for the Capitol Police.

He said police were ‘‘doing an analysis of the substance’’ to determine whether he was harmful. A second police official said the initial test was negative.

The letter had been irradiated as part of a programme to kill any anthrax spores, as is all mail entering the Capitol building since October 17, a government official said.

Even so, the letter instantly raised concern, since Daschle was the recipient of an anthrax-tainted letter in October that exposed more than two dozen people to spores and led to the closure of the Hart Senate Office Building across the street from the domed Capitol.

This time, the letter was opened in the Capitol building itself, somewhere in Daschle’s second floor suite. Daschle’s spokeswoman, said the senator was not present in the room where the letter was opened.

As a precaution, police cordoned off an area around Daschle’s office, as well as the area immediately above on the Capitol’s third floor.