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A Northeastern University lab tech’s suspected suicide by cyanide - 30 miles away from campus - is raising public safety fears over easy access to deadly chemicals days after the ninth anniversary of 9/11.
The 30-year-old NU lab tech - identified by the school as Emily Staupe - was found dead early yesterday morning in her Milford bedroom along with what initial tests show was a plastic bag filled with crystallized cyanide, according to Milford and state police.
Neil Livingstone, a Washington, D.C., terrorism expert, said Staupe’s apparent method of suicide shines a light on the problem of lax security at universities across the country.
“This should be a wake-up call,” said Livingstone, president of ExecutiveAction. “What if her name were Mohammed Atta (a leader of the 9/11 plot) instead?
“If she’d been a bad guy and gotten hold of a significant amount of cyanide . . . who knows?” Livingstone said. “Cyanide is a good weapon of assassination or for killing a small number of people.”
David Procopio, a spokesman for the state police, which is probing Staupe’s death, said it’s unclear how Staupe got the cyanide to Milford.
She is believed to have taken a train from Boston to Westwood on Saturday before her family picked her up for home, but Procopio said said it’s unclear to police when Staupe got the chemical and whether she removed all of the cyanide at once or in steps. Police also are probing whether she smuggled it from Northeastern. Procopio said investigators will look at the school’s reserves to see whether any cyanide is unaccounted for.
Family told police she had recently lost her job, leading Jim Walsh, director of security studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to say a red-faced Northeastern must review how it deals with disgruntled former workers.
“This will cause Northeastern to review its policies for dismissing employees,” Walsh said. “I’d be surprised if there’s not an investigation.”
A Northeastern spokeswoman, Renata Nyul, declined to comment on the matter beyond expressing condolences to Staupe’s family and refused to make university officials available.
“The Northeastern community mourns the tragic and untimely loss of Emily Staupe,” the school said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Emily’s family and friends during this difficult time. As there is an ongoing investigation of Emily’s death, it is inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Colleges and universities are targets of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups looking to gain chemical weapons to use against American targets, Livingstone said. That’s because they don’t screen their students and they’re often careless about who has access to dangerous chemicals, Livingstone said.
“There isn’t adequate screening of who has access to chemicals or biological weapons,” Livingstone said. “They’re reluctant because of ‘academic freedom.’ ”
The risk of cyanide falling into evil hands is an old worry of terrorism watchers, said Paul M. Maniscalco, an expert on cyanide terrorism at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
“Cyanide is still being used by people with bad intentions,” Maniscalco said.
He pointed to a domestic terrorist, Joseph Konopka, aka “Dr. Chaos, ” a left-wing extremist who was caught in 2002 with a cache of cyanide hidden in an abandoned Chicago subway tunnel.
The 30-year-old NU lab tech - identified by the school as Emily Staupe - was found dead early yesterday morning in her Milford bedroom along with what initial tests show was a plastic bag filled with crystallized cyanide, according to Milford and state police.
Neil Livingstone, a Washington, D.C., terrorism expert, said Staupe’s apparent method of suicide shines a light on the problem of lax security at universities across the country.
“This should be a wake-up call,” said Livingstone, president of ExecutiveAction. “What if her name were Mohammed Atta (a leader of the 9/11 plot) instead?
“If she’d been a bad guy and gotten hold of a significant amount of cyanide . . . who knows?” Livingstone said. “Cyanide is a good weapon of assassination or for killing a small number of people.”
David Procopio, a spokesman for the state police, which is probing Staupe’s death, said it’s unclear how Staupe got the cyanide to Milford.
She is believed to have taken a train from Boston to Westwood on Saturday before her family picked her up for home, but Procopio said said it’s unclear to police when Staupe got the chemical and whether she removed all of the cyanide at once or in steps. Police also are probing whether she smuggled it from Northeastern. Procopio said investigators will look at the school’s reserves to see whether any cyanide is unaccounted for.
Family told police she had recently lost her job, leading Jim Walsh, director of security studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to say a red-faced Northeastern must review how it deals with disgruntled former workers.
“This will cause Northeastern to review its policies for dismissing employees,” Walsh said. “I’d be surprised if there’s not an investigation.”
A Northeastern spokeswoman, Renata Nyul, declined to comment on the matter beyond expressing condolences to Staupe’s family and refused to make university officials available.
“The Northeastern community mourns the tragic and untimely loss of Emily Staupe,” the school said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Emily’s family and friends during this difficult time. As there is an ongoing investigation of Emily’s death, it is inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Colleges and universities are targets of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups looking to gain chemical weapons to use against American targets, Livingstone said. That’s because they don’t screen their students and they’re often careless about who has access to dangerous chemicals, Livingstone said.
“There isn’t adequate screening of who has access to chemicals or biological weapons,” Livingstone said. “They’re reluctant because of ‘academic freedom.’ ”
The risk of cyanide falling into evil hands is an old worry of terrorism watchers, said Paul M. Maniscalco, an expert on cyanide terrorism at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
“Cyanide is still being used by people with bad intentions,” Maniscalco said.
He pointed to a domestic terrorist, Joseph Konopka, aka “Dr. Chaos, ” a left-wing extremist who was caught in 2002 with a cache of cyanide hidden in an abandoned Chicago subway tunnel.
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