False Alarm Over Suspicious Substance at Wyden’s Senate Office

The United States Capitol Police investigated a “suspicious substance” found in the office of Senator Ron Wyden on Monday evening, and less than an hour later announced in an email, “All tests are negative, and the area is now open.”

An earlier email alert, sent by the police shortly after 5 p.m., said officers were “continuing to investigate a suspicious substance” in Mr. Wyden’s office, and advised all staff members and other personnel to avoid the area in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Wyden staff members who were in the office had been advised to stay there while the investigation was underway.

Mr. Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance efforts, especially the National Security Agency’s spying practices.

He is not the only senator who has recently been sent a suspicious substance. Last April, a letter sent to Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, tested positive for the poison ricin.