CDC tightens security after bomb threat
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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Friday beefed up its security precautions after receiving a bomb threat, a spokeswoman said.
Authorities from a number of agencies were investigating, said Lori Nuce, a CDC press assistant.
The agency was remaining open, but "we have a liberal leave policy in effect," Nuce said. That meant that any of the 5,600 Atlanta-area employees, who were told about the threat in an e-mail, were allowed to go home if they desired.
Nuce said she did not know how many had opted to leave early.
"Most have been on spring break," she said. "CDC's looked a little empty all week."
Precautions include increasing security at the perimeters of the Atlanta-area campuses, heightening security awareness at all Atlanta facilities, closing the front entrance to a main building at the headquarters off Clifton Way, restricting access to the Chamblee campus to a single point of entry, restricting access to laboratories, stopping deliveries and restricting visitors.
Nuce said she did not know who received the threat or how it was delivered, but said it was the first bomb threat in her two years at the agency.
