Washington, D.C.: Gas masks ordered at Capitol

Capitol Police have ordered 25,000 gas masks to help protect tourists, members of Congress and their staffs in the event of a chemical or biological attack, a congressional official said Tuesday.

The so-called quick masks will be stored around the building as part of new safety measures put in place after Sept. 11, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The decision to buy the masks wasn’t a response to any specific threat, the official said.

“The reason we’re doing it is because the Capitol was targeted for a bioterrorist attack, the anthrax attack,” the aide said.

Anthrax-tainted letters sent to the Capitol killed two postal workers in October.

Philippines: President gives reward for Abu Sayyaf information

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday handed a $100,000 reward to a spy who led soldiers to Muslim extremist leader Abu Sabaya, believed killed in an elaborate military intelligence operation.

Arroyo ordered the military to hunt down the other leaders of the militant Abu Sayyaf group “to make sure that the cancer doesn’t grow again.”

She also directed officials to create jobs to help fight poverty in the group’s recruitment grounds in the southern Philippines.

Armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Eduardo Purificacion said the spy, identified as Gardo Ibrahim, received the reward on behalf of a group of military informants.

Washington, D.C.: Hijackers’ roommate detained

Federal investigators have detained a man they believe was a roommate of at least two of the Sept. 11 hijackers last summer, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Rasmi Al-Shannaq, a Jordanian citizen, was taken into custody Monday for overstaying his visa, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He was questioned about what he knew of the hijackers and any possible plans they might have discussed.

The official would not say where Al-Shannaq was being held. The men he lived with in the Washington suburbs Hani Hanjour and Nawaq Al-Hazmi are suspected of hijacking American Airlines Flight 77 just before it was crashed into the Pentagon.

Washington, D.C.: Coast Guard upgrades forces

The Coast Guard on Tuesday awarded a $17 billion contract to two defense contractors for new ships, aircraft and communications equipment to help guard U.S. shores against a terrorist attack.

The contract was awarded to Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The Coast Guard will buy deep-water ships, airplanes, helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft; upgrade some existing ships and aircraft; and buy sophisticated communications and surveillance equipment.

The new fleet and the equipment will allow the Coast Guard to stop ships away from the U.S. coastline; instantly run lists of crew members and cargo shipments through intelligence databases; and check for biological, chemical or radiological materials.