The hits keep coming on G4S…. Wackenhut is a G4S owned company and are currently guarding this nuclear plant in Tennessee. Over the years, this particular contract has had some issues. For example, guards falling asleep on the job–which is particularly troubling when talking about securing a nuclear facility.
But this incident is not cool at all. This is what guards get paid for, their bread and butter, and that is to prevent folks from compromising the security of the facility they are guarding. How embarrassing, and especially since these protesters included an 82 year old nun in their force? lol Just imagine if these protesters were terrorists, and this embarrassing act would have instead turned into a major national security incident.
I have also heard from former guards on this contract that DoE and the government is partly responsible as well. That funding for security upgrades has been turned down because of budget issues. That and the government more than likely went with the lowest bidder for this contract. Although I am not privy to how it was determined that WSI got the contract, or what the contracting mechanism was. My guess would be LPTA or lowest bidder which is standard for the government and how they do business.
The other point here is that the government must do more to get a better value for the money spent. To actually act like a consumer who wants the best service they can get, and acts accordingly when they do not get the service that the contract stipulates. To fire companies who do poorly and replace them with companies that actually care about doing a good job. It is the strength of private industry, and yet government does a horrible job of taking advantage of this.
Perhaps we can also learn a few things from Bruce Power security, and the contracts that they have put together there? Who knows, and I am sure WSI is doing all they can for damage control and getting this contract squared away. –Matt
New security leaders at Tenn nuclear weapons plant; protesters broke into high-security area
August 8, 2012
The security contractor at a Tennessee plant that stores the nation’s supply of weapons-grade uranium has replaced its general manager almost two weeks after three protesters, including an 82-year-old nun, got into a high-security area.
Security firm WSI Oak Ridge confirmed to the Knoxville News Sentinel Wednesday that Steven C. Hafner is taking over the position from Lee Brooks.
Protesters on July 28 were found hanging banners in the dark, singing and offering to break bread with the security guards at Y-12 Oak Ridge National Security Complex in Knoxville. An affidavit said that before security guards apprehended them, they spray-painted the building with protest slogans and threw blood on it. They were arrested and officials say all nuclear materials are safe.
Afterward, security contractor WSI said it was looking at its procedures and it removed Brooks and Y-12 Protective Force director Gary Brandon from their posts. WSI named John Garrity to replace Brandon. Brooks and Brandon are awaiting reassignments by G4S Government Solutions, the parent company of WSI.
The newspaper reported that the halt to nuclear operations at the plant was still in effect. The plant originally said the stand-down was expected to be lifted by this week and that security personnel would undergo training and refresher instruction.
A spokeswoman for Y-12 did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment.
The Y-12 plant also makes nuclear warhead parts and provides nuclear fuel for the Navy and research reactors worldwide. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office is responsible for oversight of the security contractors. Last month, WSI-Oak Ridge said it planned to cut as many as 51 jobs, including about 34 security police officer positions at the complex.
The plant produced the material used in the first nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. At annual protests tied to the anniversary, a few protesters have staged deliberate acts of civil disobedience to provoke their arrests including blocking the road into the plant or defying trespassing signs by deliberately crossing a blue line that marks the beginning of federal property.
But on July 28, three protesters went much further, officials said. An affidavit was filed in federal court this week by the Department of Energy’s inspector general. The News Sentinel reported that the affidavit alleges that Megan Rice, a Roman Catholic nun, Michael Walli, 63, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, climbed a ridge before dawn, set off alarms as they used bolt cutters to get through three wire fences and made it to the exterior of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.
They have been charged with federal charges of trespassing, a misdemeanor, and willful and malicious destruction of property, a felony.
Federal energy officials and the two U.S. senators from Tennessee said the latest breach troublesome.
At previous protests, arrests peaked in 1989, when 29 people were charged with trespassing at the plant gates. Ten more were arrested in 1990. Then the arrests stopped, because the local district attorney declined to press state charges.
Arrests resumed in 1998 and over the next 10 years, less than two dozen were taken in annually and charged in state court with trespassing. The harshest punishments were fines or jail sentences of up to 10 days.
On New Year’s Day 2002, a few months after the 9/11 attacks raised terrorism worries, a dozen protesters made it onto the property carrying 14-foot flags and lighted candles. The activists told The Associated Press that they stopped three times for prayers and spent about a half-hour on the grounds before they were noticed and detained.
Department of Energy officials said the group in 2002 wasn’t a serious threat because they never reached sensitive areas.
The complex upgraded security, adding guards, building concrete barriers and adding intrusion detectors to meet standards described as three times tougher than before 9/11.
In 2002, authorities for the first time charged four protesters who crossed the blue line with federal trespassing, still a misdemeanor. They were convicted and sentenced to two months in prison.
At the largest rally ever at the plant, on the 60th anniversary of the bombing in 2005, more than 1,100 turned out and 15 were arrested on state charges. Arrests have dwindled since then.
Story here.