...Employee Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Atomic Energy Data

Former Oak Ridge Complex Employee Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Atomic Energy Data

WASHINGTON – Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, a resident of Harriman, Tenn., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, to count one of an indictment charging him with unlawful disclosure of Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act, in violation of 42 U.S.C., Section 2274(b).

The guilty plea was announced today by Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and James R. Dedrick, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Oakley had been scheduled to start trial today, but appeared instead before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas A. Varlan, to enter his plea of guilty. Oakley had formerly been employed as a laborer and escort by Bechtel Jacobs at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The ETTP, formerly known as Y-25, had previously been operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium.

According to the plea agreement, while employed at the ETTP in 2006 through 2007, Oakley had a security clearance that permitted him to have access to classified and protected materials, including instruments, appliances and information relating to the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium. Some of the materials and information to which Oakley had access were classified as "Restricted Data" under the Atomic Energy Act, any disclosure of which was illegal. While he worked at the ETTP, Oakley had been instructed and informed that this Restricted Data could not be disclosed.

The plea agreement further states that based on the investigation the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determined that Oakley may have been in possession of protected materials that belonged to the DOE and was offering to sell the materials to a foreign government. The FBI initiated an undercover investigation and, in January 2007, the FBI contacted Oakley using an undercover agent assuming the role of an agent of a foreign government.

In recorded calls and during a face-to-face meeting with the FBI undercover agent, Oakley stated that he had taken certain parts of uranium enrichment fuel rods or tubes and other associated hardware items from the ETTP work site and that he wanted to sell these materials for $200,000 to the foreign government. Once Oakley handed over the pieces of tubes and associated items to the undercover FBI agent and received $200,000 in cash, he was confronted by agents of the FBI and admitted to his efforts to sell these materials to a foreign government.

The materials Oakley had tried to sell to a foreign government were, in fact, pieces of equipment known as "barrier" and associated hardware items that play a crucial role in the production of highly enriched uranium, a special nuclear material, through the gaseous diffusion process.

The maximum penalty for violation of the Atomic Energy Act by disclosing Restricted Data is a maximum of ten years imprisonment and a criminal fine of $250,000. A sentencing hearing has been set before Judge Varlan for May 14, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

Matthew G. Olsen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said, "Today’s guilty plea should serve as a strong warning to anyone who would consider selling restricted U.S. nuclear materials to foreign governments. The facts of this case demonstrate the importance of safeguarding America’s atomic energy data and pursuing aggressive prosecutions against those who attempt to breach those safeguards."

U.S. Attorney James R. Dedrick said, "Vigorous enforcement of the law controlling the protection of national security information, especially that involving materials associated with atomic energy and weapons, is of the highest priority for the Department of Justice and is a vital part of our duty to protect national security and the nation’s defense system. The exposure of Oakley’s conduct and subsequent investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Department of Justice reflects the Department’s dedication to combating any threat to the security of our nation’s atomic secrets wherever it may happen."

The indictment was the result of an investigation by the FBI, DOE’s Oak Ridge Counterintelligence Field Office, and DOE’s Headquarters Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Assistant U.S. Attorney A. William Mackie from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Trial Attorney Anthony P. Garcia, from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, represented the United States in this case.

For additional information, please contact U.S. Attorney James "Russ" Dedrick, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Mackie or Public Information Officer Sharry Dedman-Beard at (865) 545-4167.

Here
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jan/26/janitor-change-plea-nuclear-parts-theft/

And Here
http://www.oakridger.com/breaking/x403278521/Janitor-to-change-plea-in-nuclear-parts-theft

former Bechtel Jacobs employee admitted this morning that he tried to sell uranium enrichment equipment to the French government for $200,000.

In a deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Roy Lynn Oakley will receive a six-year prison term if U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan approves the deal at a hearing in May.

Oakley admitted that in September 2006, while working as a laborer and security escort at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge, that he stole tubes known as barrier after being told that governments, including France, would be interested in acquiring such equipment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie said Oakley called the French consulates in Atlanta and Chicago as well as the French embassy in Washington, D.C., to try to the sell the uranium-enrichment equipment.

The embassy contacted the FBI, which in January 2007 set up a sting operation. An agent posing as a representative of the French government recorded phone calls with Oakley, who had bought a pre-paid cell phone using a false identity for the purpose of selling the restricted equipment.

The agent ultimately set up a meeting at an undisclosed location in East Tennessee. He brought with him a bag containing $200,000 in cash. Oakley brought the stolen equipment and two loaded guns.

Other FBI agents arrested Oakley when he exchanged the equipment for the cash.

Mackie did not disclose how Oakley managed to walk away from the former K-25 facility with the barriers, which were in working order. As part of Oakley's job, he was supposed to destroy the equipment.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jan/27/how-man-stole-doe-material-still-mystery/

There's still one secret in the case of a Harriman man hoping to cash in on used uranium enrichment equipment.

How did Roy Lynn Oakley manage to walk away from a highly restricted government facility teeming with nuclear secrets with pieces of tubes known as “barrier” used in the uranium enrichment process and involving “restricted data” on the production of nuclear material?

Oakley, 67, admitted at a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan that he tried to sell the equipment to the French government for $200,000. If Varlan approves the former Bechtel Jacobs Co. employee's plea deal, Oakley will spend six years in federal prison.

At Monday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie gave a detailed accounting of the crimes with one exception, giving no explanation as to how Oakley managed to steal the equipment in the first place.

After the hearing, federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, issued statements touting the plea as proof of the government's commitment to protecting atomic secrets, but not one discussed the security breach and what, if any, steps have been taken to make sure it won't happen again.

“This is a serious matter,” said Gerald Boyd, manager of the DOE’s Oak Ridge office. “We are pleased that the justice system prevailed and Mr. Oakley has been held accountable for his crime.”

June 18, 2009

Note: The following text SNIPPET is a quote:

http://knoxville.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/kx061809.htm

Former Oak Ridge Complex Employee Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Attempting to Sell Restricted Uranium Enrichment Equipment

KNOXVILLE, TN—On Thursday, June 18, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville,Tenn., U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan, Jr., sentenced Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, of Harriman, Tenn., to six years in prison for trying to sell parts of uranium enrichment equipment that he had stolen from a U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) facility in Oak Ridge. Oakley had illegally taken this equipment while employed at a building formerly known as the K-25 plant. The K-25 building, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), was operated by DOE as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium used in the manufacture of atomic weapons. Upon his release from prison, Oakley will be on supervised release for three years.

Oakley was sentenced today as a result of his guilty plea on January 26, 2009, to an Indictment charging him with unlawful Disclosure of Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2274(b), in connection with his attempt in 2007 to illegally sell this classified equipment to a person Oakley believed to be a foreign agent. Oakley had been employed in 2006 and 2007 by Bechtel Jacobs at the ETTP in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, when he stole the equipment from the ETTP facility.

When Oakley pled guilty in January, he admitted that he had tried to sell these materials for $200,000 to a person he believed was an agent of a foreign power and that the restricted items he tried to sell were, in fact, pieces of equipment known as “barrier” and associated hardware items that play a crucial role in the production of highly enriched uranium used for atomic weapons through what is known as the gaseous diffusion process.

Oakley’s conviction and sentence today stemmed from a 2007 undercover investigation by the FBI that began after information was discovered that Oakley was in possession of restricted DOE uranium enrichment equipment and was offering to sell these materials to a foreign government.

In January 2007, the FBI contacted Oakley using an undercover agent who assumed the role of an agent of a foreign government. In recorded calls and during a face to face meeting with the FBI undercover agent, Oakley stated that he had taken parts of the uranium enrichment fuel rods or tubes, and other associated hardware items from the ETTP work site, and that he was willing to sell these materials for $200,000 to the French government.

Oakley told the undercover agent that while he did not want to sell the materials to a country like North Korea, he was willing to sell them materials to the French government as he thought they might benefit from it. During a meeting with the FBI undercover agent as part of a “sting” operation, Oakley handed over the pieces of tubes and associated items and received $200,000 in cash. At that point, Oakley was seized by agents of the FBI and afterwards admitted that he had been trying several times to sell these restricted materials to the French government. Despite Oakley’s efforts, however, at no time did the French government ever actually agree or make any attempt whatsoever to purchase these restricted materials from him.

U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick stated: “Roy Lynn Oakley was a person who betrayed his country in order to line his pockets with money. His theft of classified nuclear materials for bombs, and his attempt to sell them for personal profit at the expense of his country’s efforts to protects its nuclear materials, clearly shows that Roy Oakley was a traitor to his country and had no regard for the safety of others. I am thankful for the FBI’s excellent investigation and detection of Oakley’s activities. The citizens of our country and East Tennessee owe a deep dept of gratitude for the FBI’s quick detection and response to Oakley’s attempts to compromise our nation’s nuclear program. I hope Oakley will serve as an example to what will happen to others who might be tempted to betray their country for personal profit.”

Rick Lambert, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Knoxville Division, stated: “Over the last 50 years, the torrent of global nuclear proliferation has only fomented that dread which President Dwight Eisenhower once shunned as hopeless finality - a belief that nations “are doomed malevolently to eye each other indefinitely across a trembling world.” In countering the tide of such proliferation, bringing to justice the trusted insider who would betray America for private gain remains the FBI’s highest priority.”

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