Y-12 Security: Time to Give Federalized Guard Force a Shot?

August 6, 2013

The protective force at the Y-12 nuclear site continues to struggle with the most basic safety and security operations. On July 28, two security officers were injured in the accidental discharge of a firearm.

Local Y-12 journalist, Frank Munger, reported that the incident happened just after midnight, “when a security police officer was ‘repositioning’ his weapon inside a hardened patrol vehicle, which he shared with another security officer.” A single round was discharged, hitting the wall of the patrol vehicle, fragmenting it and injuring the two officers. They were transferred to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, though reportedly their injuries were minor. This accident raises questions about the safety policies and training at the site. Was a round chambered, and what is the policy on this? Was the safety on, and what is the policy?  Will safety training be adjusted to prevent these kinds of accidents in the future?

Steven Wyatt, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, confirmed that the incident is under investigation and a site-wide “safety configuration check” was performed at the Y-12 site.

This incident occurred on the one-year anniversary of the worst nuclear security breach in recent history. On July 28, 2012, an 82-year-old nun and two other nuclear protestors broke into Y-12 and made it all the way to the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility before they were discovered by the protective force, a full 20 minutes later.

Despite countless efforts to review and improve security at Y-12 since then, including multiple independent assessments, congressional hearings, security tests, and the firing of security contractor, WSI Oak Ridge, the protective force is still struggling to prevent unwanted visits. While this may in part be due to WSI Oak Ridge’s history of cheating on security tests, security remains far from impregnable even with a new protective force in place. Just a month and a half ago, a confused woman looking for affordable housing drove right into the Y-12 complex with morning commuters without being required to show any kind of badge or credentials. She drove the length of the complex, directly past buildings containing uranium operations, before being stopped at the West gate.

These are the kinds of incidents that must not be allowed to happen at a facility that houses most of our country’s highly enriched uranium. The protective force officers are required to be able to defend against very real and serious threats to national security, but these repeated mistakes do nothing to inspire confidence in their ability to do so. How many more chances are we expected to give them before going to a federalized guard force?

Image from 1914 film "In the Clutches of the Gang."

Topics: National Security

Related Content: Y-12 /Oak Ridge National Lab

Authors: Lydia Dennett

Submitted by Dfens at: August 9, 2013

Not only should the police force be federalized, the whole facility should go back to being staffed by federal employees. What incentive do federal contractors have to do a good job? The contractors try to hire the people that meet only the very lowest standard of qualification so they can pay them the least amount possible and make the most profit possible. Is this how we want our critical nuclear research facilities staffed? Hell no! Get the damn contractors out of there and put the federal employees back in place.

Submitted by Need to fit it now. at: August 8, 2013

Anonymous said... Yes! All DOE LAB site's need Federal Security Police Officer, like the Federal OST. No more committee hearing and meeting in Congress. Each Lab has it own policy and rules if federal the CFR 1047 will be the same under one umbrella under DOE at all site's 1. Do Protective Force Officers (PFO) represent law enforcement for The Department of Energy (DOE). Example: If their is an active shooter in a laboratory building on site, does DOE Protective Force Officers (PFO) with federal credential, badges, emergency response officials, Q Clearance and wearing federal uniforms with Special Response Team (SRT) training have the authority to stop the shooter or do they wait for local police to arrive? 2. If something goes wrong, like the accidental death of a hostage will DOE give their PFOs 100% support or will DOE separate themselves from the incident and not accept responsibility of their officers? 3. An additional area that concerns all, is the disregard for safety and protection of the remaining security police force at the Laboratory. After the reduction in our numbers due to the removal of nuclear material, we are currently being trained to perform active shooter response and interdiction as required by the Department of Energy. We as a work force have no assurances of legal protection should a life threatening situation present itself. We as a much reduced work force have not been offered any safety package that would support our needs should an officer acting for the Department of Energy and National Labs., become maimed, crippled or killed while in the performance of his/her duties. We have no guarantees that protect officers and his/her family financially if they are injured or killed on duty. DOE, NNSA and Congress need to fix this NOW!

Submitted by dave at: August 8, 2013

Lydia, Please don't assert with a straight face that federal employees in comparable jobs have a history of performing better than the private sector, all other things being equal (budgets,strategy,priority, etc). The issue is investment profile in the security mission and then its execution, not pedigree. And, when federal employees fail at performance, it is virtually impossible to remove them.

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