Security measures imposed at the Nevada Capitol after a potentially threatening letter last week will remain while the FBI investigates, and possibly longer, officials said Friday.
Letters were sent to at least 30 governors, each signed by 26 people from that state demanding the governor resign within three days.
"You've got to take that seriously," said Dan Burns, spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons. "These people are being contacted."
Director of Public Safety Jerry Hafen said the added security wasn't just because of the letter, there have been other concerns and threats.
"I don't think they're extreme," he said of the measures, which include boulders blocking ungated entrances to the grounds, a metal detector and X-ray to examine packages. "We should have had them in place years ago."
He said most state capitols have been screening visitors for years.
"The potential threat last week was really just one more reason to start looking at the vulnerability of the Capitol complex," said Hafen.
Burns said the FBI investigation should determine the potential danger to Gibbons and governors around the nation. But until that investigation is completed, "there's no change in the security measures that you see and the ones you don't see planned at this moment.w
"We want an open Capitol. We want an open Legislature," said Burns. "These are the people's buildings. But until this gets cleared up, the governor needs to do what is prudent and he is taking the advice of his director of public safety."
Hafen said security needs to be tightened at the Capitol permanently. He said now that attention is focused on the vulnerability of the historic building, he is seeking federal and other funding to improve security. With the newest technology, those features can be nearly invisible to visitors while improving safety, he said.
"Frankly, I'm more concerned about a lone wolf attack on the Capitol than this group," he said. "We're going through a tense time in our history. People are angry at government, angry at each other. It's time for us to take this stuff seriously."
Just over a year ago, a package containing a suspicious powder - originally feared to be anthrax - arrived at the state mailroom. Scott Jackson, head of the Nevada Division of Investigations, said that led to training for mailroom and other employees and procedures for handling similar incidents in the future.
The most important key, he said, is intelligence. The goal, he said, "is to potentially head these things off."
"If we know about events ahead of time, we have a pretty good chance of preventing a catastrophic incident," Jackson said.
That effort, according to Jackson and Hafen, has been strengthened by the development of intelligence fusion centers in Nevada and other states to collect and share information on potential threats.