Suspicious Package Temporarily Closes Pentagon Metro

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2010 – A suspicious package resulted in closure of the Pentagon station entrance of the Metro rapid-transit system for more than an hour this morning while security officers investigated the threat, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Security officers closed the station at 7:28 a.m. when a suspicious object was reported in a trash can on the station platform.

Pedestrian traffic was redirected to the Pentagon’s Corridor 3 entrance.

Officers from the Pentagon police department’s explosive ordnance disposal unit and the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives response division investigated the report, and K-9 officers and dogs swept the station for other hazards.

The suspicious object was identified as a battery-operated Christmas ornament.

The Metro entrance reopened at 8:44, the spokesman said.