On June 11, around noon, a report from a major US news outlet quoted sources saying that a false alarm from a hazardous material sensor system caused a partial lockdown and evacuation at the Pentagon that day.
The report cited insiders stating that the Pentagon’s sensors detected what they thought might be anthrax, triggering the alarm and subsequent lockdown and evacuation procedures. However, it turned out the system was experiencing a malfunction at the time, making it a false alarm.
Earlier that day, the fire department in Arlington County, Virginia, where the Pentagon is located, announced that its hazardous materials response team was handling an incident at the Pentagon. A Pentagon spokesperson explained that the building’s systems had detected an air quality issue, prompting these precautionary measures.
