Security investigation at Tennessee nuclear site

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From YubaNet.com

US

Security Investigation at Major U.S. Nuclear Weapons Facility in Tenn.[/size]

Author: Service Employees International Union
Published on Thu, 3 Mar 2005, 08:08


There is an ongoing investigation involving the U.S. government's largest security provider, Wackenhut, at the Tennessee facility housing the nation's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stated on February 18, 2005 that there is "an ongoing law enforcement proceeding" at the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about Wackenhut's training obligations and billing practices at the facility. The FOIA request was submitted in January by SEIU, the nation's largest security officers' union.

"Given the security problems there involving Wackenhut, it doesn't come as a surprise," said Stephen Lerner, Director of SEIU's Building Services Division. "The growing number of security problems at sensitive DOE nuclear sites guarded by Wackenhut probably warrants an investigation."

In the latest security lapse at a DOE nuclear weapons facility guarded by Wackenhut, security guards at the Nevada Test Site performed poorly during an attack by mock terrorists on what was supposed to be the most secure part of the facility. Wackenhut security guards and government security guards at the Nevada Test Site also were found to have "systematically" violated weapons inventory and handling policies, according to a report released February 16, 2005 by the DOE's Office of the Inspector General. In early 2004 the DOE Inspector General reported that Wackenhut had cheated on a security exercise at the Y-12 facility in Tennessee. Then in a September 2004 exercise at Y-12, armed guards were sent to intercept a mock attack team whom they mistakenly believed were intruders. In a separate September 2004 incident, guards accidentally discharged live ammunition into a refrigerator.

In December, the New York Times reported that local union officials [not affiliated with SEIU] from Y-12 said that investigators from the DOE's Inspector General's Office had been questioning guards about their training, "to determine whether Wackenhut had provided all the training that it told the government it had."

Wackenhut is the chief U.S. subsidiary of the London-based global security conglomerate, Group 4 Securicor. For more information, visit SEIU's website www.eyeonwackenhut.com/.

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