The US Capitol was shut down briefly today after a man was arrested for racing past security into the building, Capitol police said.
The suspect breached security with his car first and then got out and ran past guards into the building, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.
He was captured just inside the building. The building was closed for a search but it was opened within an hour, the police said.
The congressional day had barely begun when the man was arrested and it appeared there were no members of Congress in the building at the time.
There have been a string of security alerts involving evacuations of the Capitol and various surrounding office buildings since the September 11th attacks five years ago.
Today's incident occurred near a construction site for the new visitors center being built at the Capitol, Sgt Schneider said.
The man's vehicle was being searched for anything suspicious, she said.
Capitol police also searched room by room, hallway by hallway, Eric Ueland, chief of staff for Republican Senate leader Senator Bill Frist, told CNN.
A congressional aide said she had received an email from the Capitol police saying the Capitol building was in "lock down" because of a security breach and that no one would be allowed access to the building pending a security sweep.