Posted on 10/05/2001 1:15:39 PM PDT by RoughDobermann
WASHINGTON -- America's 10 nuclear weapons research and production facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attack and have failed about half of recent security drills, a non-government watchdog group has found.
U.S. Army and Navy commando teams penetrated the plants and obtained nuclear material during exercises designed to test security, according to the Project on Government Oversight report, being released Friday.
In a drill in October 2000 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, "the mock terrorists gained control of sensitive nuclear material which, if detonated, would have endangered significant parts of New Mexico, Colorado and downwind areas," the report says.
In an earlier test at the same lab, an Army Special Forces team used a household garden cart to haul away enough weapons-grade uranium to build several nuclear weapons.
In another test at the Rocky Flats site near Denver, Navy SEALs cut a hole in a chain link fence as they escaped with enough plutonium for several nuclear bombs. They were discovered only as they left the facility.
Government security rules require the nuclear facilities to defend themselves against the theft of nuclear materials by terrorists or through sabotage.
A spokeswoman at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a branch of the Energy Department, declined Thursday to comment on the report.
The report is based on information provided by 12 whistle-blowers, according to Danielle Brian, the non-government watchdog group's director, as well as declassified Energy Department material that describes the security exercises.
The repeated security breaches are cause for serious concern, Brian said, because Energy Department employees were warned before each security exercise but still failed to stop would-be terrorists in more than half of the drills.
"These are tests where the security forces are necessarily dumbed-down so that they know the tests are coming," Brian said. "They are very restrictive tests [but] they're still losing half of the time.
"No one thought it really mattered, until two weeks ago," Brian added.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon have raised alarms about security concerns, from local community responses to chemical and biological weapons to the security at nuclear power plants.
Nine of the weapons facilities are within 100 miles of cities with more than 75,000 people. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is near the San Francisco metropolitan area, which has more than 7 million people. The Rocky Flats site is near Denver, home to 2.6 million people.
Eight of the 10 weapons plants contained a total of 33.5 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Experts say it takes only a few pounds of plutonium to craft a nuclear bomb.
The study has drawn the attention of the House Reform Committee, which has launched its own review of security measure at the nuclear weapons plants.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of a national security subcommittee in the House, declined to discuss the report. But he issued a statement indicating he was "deeply troubled" that the nuclear facilities failed security tests even though they had been alerted in advance.
"We want to know what DOE is doing to resolve this deficiency, both in the short term and in the long term," Shays' statement said.
Security tests at the nuclear weapons facilities are simulated on computers and run as drills between an invading terrorist force and the plant's security team. Participants strap on devices similar to those from a laser tag game.
When someone is "killed" by an opposing force, they must lie down and end their participation in the exercise.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of a national security subcommittee in the House, declined to discuss the report. But he issued a statement indicating he was "deeply troubled" that the nuclear facilities failed security tests even though they had been alerted in advance.
"If they didn't penetrate, they weren't trying hard enough. These folks are GOOD--and when both sides play to win in an exercise like this, lessons get learned. I would be MORE worried about SEALs not being able to breach security--unrealistic exercises to look good does NOT equal "training."
I apologize, ahead of time, if this offends anyone. The tragedy in New York has affected us all, and while we are still responding, when one thinks of security in light of what has been happening in the Klamath Basin, (federal agents standing guard against the American famer), one has to ask where our priorities lie.
Here ya go...
During an investigation by the Department of Energy to determine how secure U.S. nuclear facilities were against terrorist attacks it was determined that there are more than 5,000 pounds (two and a half tons) of plutonium missing or unaccounted for, 2,400 pounds alone from its Rocky Flats weapons factory near Denver.
To demonstrate his point a DOE investigator, McCallum, had turned in 1996 to a sophisticated computer-modeling program designed to simulate terrorist attacks against each of the country's nuclear labs. NEWSWEEK has learned that in every one of the scenarios that the computer devised, the hypothetical terrorists succeeded in penetrating security at the Rocky Flats weapons factory near Denver and blowing up some of the highly radioactive plutonium used to make bombs. In 80 percent of the simulations, the attackers were able to get through the razor wire and security checks and walk out with enough plutonium to build a nuclear bomb—or poison millions of people with the radioactive dust.
Source: Newsweek Magazine
Date: May 3, 1999
Posted on this anti-nuke website FWIW.
You can thank President Klintoon for the early retirement of much good top brass. He made a mockery of our military.
Care and Concern for the security of our country starts at the TOP!!!!!
Richardson was on O'Reilly the other night trying to explain why Clinton chose not to accept Sudan's gift of Bin Laden. His so-called explanation was pathetic, and reveals what a bunch of weak-minded fools were serving for the last 8 years.
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Maybe like some others who's job it is to "protect and serve," security was out getting some doughnuts...
ANANOVA
| Police in trouble over helicopter doughnut run |
Police in New Mexico say an officer and a pilot went on a midnight doughnut run in a helicopter.
Albuquerque police are investigating whether they broke any rules using the Kiowa OH-58 patrol helicopter.
Witnesses said the helicopter landed near a doughnut shop and an officer bought a box of them before they flew off.
Lieutenant Bob Huntsman said: "Between the two of them, I don't know how they decided that was a good idea.
"We're going to look into it. If they violated policy or procedure, they're going to get disciplined for it. We've worked too hard to make this a professional unit to let lack of common sense tear us down."
Witness Keith Turner, who works near the Krispy Kreme shop, said: "After it landed, I was like, 'No. They'd better not go and get donuts.'''
He said one of the people on board got out and went inside the shop while the helicopter waited and that the person returned to the helicopter 10 to 15 minutes later carrying a box of Krispy Kremes.
Keith said: "I was angry, and I'm still kind of angry. That's my tax dollars, your tax dollars. You've got no business flying in to get doughnuts."
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