The Pentagon expects next week to begin distributing more than 80,000 emergency hoods to the almost 25,000 Defense Department employees, journalists and service personnel who work in the 46 Defense Department buildings around Washington, D.C., defense officials announced Thursday at a “town hall” meeting. The hoods will protect victims’ breathing in the event of a gas attack for only about an hour — long enough to escape the building, but not close to the protection offered by the gas masks issued to troops in the field. The emergency hoods are called Survivair Quick 2000, and they sell for about $180 each. They are also stashed at the White House and on Capitol Hill. There will be enough hoods to outfit all Defense Department employees, plus contract workers, journalists and visitors. They will be handed out in increments of 500 hoods, beginning Monday. Full Story