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Bomb threat at CIA headquarters
A man claiming to have a truck bomb threatened a guard at CIA headquarters in Langley Feb. 22.
A federal police officer guarding the George Washington Parkway entrance to the complex observed a speeding white Chevy pickup equipped with a snowplow exiting the parkway.
The gate, called Gate 3, is separated from the main CIA campus and the road through the gate is blocked by reflective yellow barriers. According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed in U.S. General District Court, the truck slowed down on approach but collided with those barriers, swinging one of them open.
In 1993, a driver pulled up to the CIA gate and began firing an automatic weapon, killing two people and injuring three others before being apprehended.
Concerned about a similar threat, the officer guarding the gate leveled a shotgun at the driver, ordering him out of the truck. The driver was later identified as D.C. resident Antoine Lowery.
According to the affidavit, Lowery repeatedly told the guard that the truck contained a bomb and was going to blow up, occasionally counting down from five to zero. Based on Lowery's threats, the CIA closed Gate 3 and both the inbound and outbound ramps to the George Washington Parkway. The area and the truck were swept for explosives and declared safe.
“The CIA's security measures worked exactly as they should have. The individual did not gain access to the compound, and he was taken into
custody. There was no violence, and – beyond a gate that was closed for a time – no real impact on agency headquarters," said CIA
Email the Reporter at mtayloe@timepapers.com
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