The U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened four offices Wednesday, including one in Jefferson County, W.Va., that had been closed Tuesday after an unspecified email threat.
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USDA spokesman Matthew Herrick said offices in Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina and Kearneysville, West Virginia, will open Wednesday with additional security enhancements.
The spokesman says the Hamden and West Virginia offices are waiting for security improvements. “Personnel at these locations have been made aware of the threats and will not report to these offices until further notice”.
The USDA said the messages were received by the agency on Monday and concerned officials about the safety of department personnel.
“When it comes to the safety and security and USA personnel, military or civilian, we take that quite seriously”, said Earnest here during the daily briefing.
In total, about 1,500 employees are affected by the closures, the USDA says, including roughly 200 in Fort Collins.
AG secretary Tom Vilsack says local authorities are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the credibility of the anonymous threats.
The Raleigh office, located at 4407 Bland Road, employs about 50 people, according to the USDA website.
The closed facilities include offices for eight USDA agencies, including the Forest Service and the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Among the sites affected was USDA’s sprawling agricultural research center and library in Beltsville, where employees were informed of the threat Tuesday morning and sent home.
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“Along with individuals at other universities and the USDA, two faculty members at NC State received an email that included a general, unconfirmed threat to campus”, the school said in a statement.
