Oak Ridge Today

Closed-circuit TV may be used for jury selection in Y-12 protester case

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

There could be 70 potential jurors during jury selection for the May 7 trial against three protesters accused of breaking into Y-12 National Security Complex last summer, so supporters and reporters might not be allowed in the courtroom.

One defense attorney said there would be a problem fitting everyone into even the largest courtroom in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, but another said jury selection is part of the trial and should be open to the public.

U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said federal officials may try to set up a closed-circuit television system for jury selection, which could last several hours. [Read more…]

Former U.S. attorney general, civil rights participant can testify at Y-12 protester hearing

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

A federal judge will allow a former U.S. attorney general and civil rights sit-in participant to testify at a Tuesday motions hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July.

The two witnesses are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker.

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists are accused of cutting through three fences in the high-security Protected Area at Y-12 on July 28 and splashing human blood and spray-painting messages on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters submit witness list, want extra time for jury questioning

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above at U.S. District Court in Knoxville are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July want to call a retired bishop, a doctor, a former U.S. attorney general, a civil rights leader, and a retired military officer and diplomat as witnesses in a Tuesday hearing and May 7 trial in Knoxville.

The proposed witnesses include former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker, doctor Ira Helfand, retired Col. Mary Annette Wright, and retired U.S. Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—also want six hours, and not 1.5, to question prospective jurors for their May 7 trial in U.S. District Court. [Read more…]

Trespassing at Y-12 costs U.S. government thousands of dollars, NNSA says

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There is a greater threat of trespassing at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the National Nuclear Security Administration said last week when it announced plans for a new fence that would block a traditional protest area at the plant’s main entrance.

And the costs of responding to those threats are increasing, the NNSA said.

“Responding to these illegal acts of trespassing has cost the U.S. government thousands of dollars of additional expenses above and beyond what we have to spend to protect the plant during major protests,” the NNSA said in a statement released by spokesman Steven Wyatt on Saturday. “The security-related costs required to respond to protests is very large, but we cannot discuss our specific costs.” [Read more…]

Workers erect fence around Y-12 area once used for protests

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Y-12 Fence

After several recent trespassing incidents, workers put up a new temporary fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday. An Oak Ridge peace group objects to the fence because it encloses an area traditionally used for protests.

Workers started erecting a temporary fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday, enclosing an area that has traditionally been used for protests by an Oak Ridge nonprofit group.

Federal officials said they are installing the fence along Scarboro Road after three trespassing incidents involving five people in the past year. In one of those incidents, three anti-nuclear weapons activists penetrated a high-security area and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

On Thursday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said recent events have shown a greater threat of trespassing, and the response costs are increasing. [Read more…]

Y-12 to install new fence to reduce trespassing

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OREPA Protest at Y-12 National Security Complex

A new fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex would enclose this field near the entrance at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads, and the nonprofit organization that organizes demonstrations and vigils here plans to challenge the fence.

After three trespassing incidents involving five people in the past year, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced plans on Thursday to extend the boundary fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex along Scarboro Road.

The new fence will be relatively close to the road, an NNSA spokesman said. A field traditionally used for protests near the Y-12 sign at the entrance on Bear Creek Road would be behind the fence. The new fence would run along Scarboro Road from Bear Creek Road to New Hope Road, and it would also enclose New Hope Center, which is often used for public events.

The new fence, which would run along the U.S. government property line, is expected to be in place by April 4, the NNSA said.

“Events of the past several months have shown that there is a greater threat of trespassing on the site, and the costs for responding to this threat are increasing,” the NNSA said in a Thursday afternoon press release. “Y-12 is taking conservative and appropriate measures to make such illegal actions more difficult.” [Read more…]

After 13 years guarding federal facilities, WSI leaves Oak Ridge

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WSI Oak Ridge

Friday was the last day for many employees at security company WSI Oak Ridge, which lost its contracts to protect federal facilities after the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

After 13 years of protecting federal facilities, WSI Oak Ridge has left the Secret City.

Friday was the last day for many employees at WSI, and the contract ended Sunday, spokeswoman Courtney Henry said.

Formerly known as Wackenhut Services Inc., the company once provided up to 1,000 security police officers and support staff at federal facilities that included East Tennessee Technology Park, the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

But WSI lost its contract to guard Y-12, a National Nuclear Security Administration site, after the July 28 security breach, and it did not win a separate contract to protect local U.S. Department of Energy sites, including ETTP, ORNL, the Federal Building, and the rest of the Oak Ridge Reservation. That contract was awarded to National Strategic Protective Services LLC, or NSPS. [Read more…]

Y-12 evaluation: Some excellent ratings, but unsatisfactory on security, UPF

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Y-12 National Security Complex

Y-12 National Security Complex (Submitted photo)

Although it received excellent and very good ratings in some areas, the contractor that manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge was stung by unsatisfactory marks for its performance before and during the July 28 security breach and the redesign of the new Uranium Processing Facility.

The National Nuclear Security Administration said the UPF redesign could add $539 million to the project cost and extend its schedule by 13 months. The UPF has been estimated to cost up to $6.5 billion, and plans have called for it to start operating as early as 2023.

The NNSA also said the Y-12 security system and protective force completely failed when three anti-nuclear weapons activists penetrated a high-security Protected Area before dawn on July 28. The three protesters were able to avoid detection and cut through three fences inside Y-12 before spraying paint and splashing human blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

But federal officials awarded “excellent” or “very good” ratings to the contractor, Babcock and Wilcox Y-12 Technical Services LLC, or B&W Y-12, for operations in areas that include environmental and waste management activities, infrastructure improvements, risk reduction initiatives, cyber security, and stockpile and nuclear nonproliferation work.

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Y-12 protesters ask court to dismiss sabotage charges

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Transform Now Plowshares

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above allegedly cut through fences and vandalized a high-security building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and now face federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and injuring national defense premises. From left to right the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)

In one of a series of motions last week, the three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28 asked a federal court to dismiss the new sabotage charges filed against them in December.

Attorneys for the protesters—anti-nuclear weapons activists Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael R. Walli—said the new charges, which could add up to 20 years in prison, are unconstitutional, vindictive, and selective. They said the new charges were brought because the defendants earlier refused to plead guilty to less serious crimes.

In addition, the sabotage charges are rarely applied to civilian conduct and should not have been used in this case because Y-12 is a private contractor site and not a military base, the four attorneys for the protesters said in a motion to dismiss filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Friday.

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Experts recommend federalizing guard forces at DOE nuclear weapons sites, nonprofit says

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Note: This story was updated at 12:42 p.m. Jan. 15.

Three experts have recommended that guard forces be federalized at federal sites where bomb-grade uranium is stored, according to a nonprofit watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C.

Peter Stockton, senior investigator at the Project On Government Oversight, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu asked the experts—Norm Augustine, C. Donald Alston, and Richard Meserve—to review the physical security of the entire nuclear weapons complex after the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

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Security breach costs B&W Y-12 $12.2 million

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Y-12 National Security Complex

Y-12 National Security Complex (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12, the company that manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex, lost $12.2 million in award fees because of the July 28 security breach, a federal report said.

B&W earned $35.9 million, about 59 percent of its available fee of $60.9 million, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a fiscal year 2012 performance evaluation of Babcock and Wilcox Technical Services Y-12 LLC.

The company lost 100 percent of its potential security-related fee, and there was also a $10 million “negative overall management fee adjustment,” the NNSA said.

[Read more…]

Security breach given ‘due consideration’ in Y-12, Pantex award

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The July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex was given “due consideration” in the competition to award a consolidated contract to a company to manage Y-12 in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, federal officials said Tuesday.

Federal officials said they evaluated past performance—both positive and negative. Although past performance was a key part of the selection analysis, it was not the determining factor, federal officials said during a Tuesday teleconference. Instead, it was one of a number of factors.

The Y-12 intrusion was given the same consideration as other incidents, federal officials said. During the intrusion, three anti-nuclear weapons activists sneaked into a high-security area at Y-12. They allegedly cut through fences and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

[Read more…]