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 December 9, 2002 Transcript ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA , 7:00 a.m.
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 DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS In the age of terrorism it is certainly one of the nightmare scenarios, an attack on a nuclear power plant. We're gonna tell you what one man says about the Indian Point Nuclear Plant 35 miles from New York City, the most densely populated area around any nuclear plant in America. The claims say that it's so vulnerable that terrorists could infiltrate it easily. And they come from Foster Zeh, who's an instruction who trains armed security guards at the plant. And he joins us now with Danielle Brian, who is Executive Director of the watch dog group, Project On Government Oversight. And we thank you both for being here. Mr. Zeh, as I said, it is a nightmare scenario. You say in a test made four months ago, terrorists could have penetrated the plant in 36 seconds, right? FOSTER ZEH, NUCLEAR PLANT WHISTLE BLOWER That's correct. We, we actually did a mock scenario where we were able to penetrate the fuel storage building, which is the most, one of the most vulnerable areas and one of the most, should be the most protected areas. And we were able to get to the building and simulate it. DIANE SAWYER And when you went to your supervisors with these results, what happened? FOSTER ZEH Well, they were, they were present. These drills are, are basically designed for, for the, for the security officers to, to enhance the security, obviously. But when we went to our, our supervisors with it, we were basically told to shut up. DIANE SAWYER To say nothing about it? FOSTER ZEH Say nothing about it. That's, that's correct. And during a more recent NRC Attachment inspection, the NRC inspector that, that was there, both for the physical and the tabletop drills, I think was pretty much amazed by what had occurred. DIANE SAWYER Other things you have said point to the guards themselves and what they say to each other, which really surprised me. That the guards themselves don't think they could repel an attack. FOSTER ZEH That's correct. The, the guards themselves, have, have made many, many claims in reference to their, they're under trained, they're understaffed. They . . . DIANE SAWYER You say at one, many of them are so out of shape that they couldn't even get in position to fire back if they had to. FOSTER ZEH That's correct. We recently did a, a transition to rifles, and about 20 percent of the guard force had to be actually physically lifted off the ground by the instructors 'cause they couldn't get up from the prone position. DIANE SAWYER You said you were told not to speak out. What's gonna happen to you now that you're speaking? FOSTER ZEH Well, that's a good question. I believe I probably won't have a job some time this week, and it's, that's not more important. It's, what's important is the protection of this plant and the people of New York City. DIANE SAWYER Ms. Brian, I want to turn to you, because, first of all, there's, there's been a statement issued, and we, of course, invited representatives of the plant to be on, and, and a spokesperson for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which runs Indian Point. But here is the written statement they gave us after declining to be on the show. "The dated report does not reflect the current state of security at Indian Point which had been, had been extensively assessed by several third party experts including the National Regulatory Commission and New York State Office Of Public Security. Even though this report was prompted by allegations made prior to Entergy's purchase of Indian Point two, Entergy accepted the findings and took appropriated actions to address the issues raised in it." DANIELLE BRIAN, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT And so, they say everything's fine now, is what they're saying essentially. Well, we're continuing to talk to guards, in addition to Foster at Indian Point, who continue to say, frankly, since September 11th, nothing of consequence really has improved there. They're gravely concerned about the lack of security at that facility. DIANE SAWYER We're talking about Indian Point. How true is this of other plants around the country? DANIELLE BRIAN Well, that's what's fairly extraordinary. We've, at this point, interviewed about 140 guards at about half the plants across the country, and three quarters of the guards believe at their plants they could not protect today against a terrorist attack. DIANE SAWYER But I come back to the question everybody has, why? This seems a clear, recognizable threat. If this one can't be fixed, what is it going to take? FOSTER ZEH Well, it's a, it's a bottom line issue. It's money. It has to do with money. We, we've asked for, we, we've had our budgets cut for training. We've had our training watered down so that, just with the requirements, just to hire people. The minimum requirement is that you have a pistol permit. That doesn't, necessitate that you're gonna do well against an armed attack. And, and it's ridiculous that these companies actually believe, and, and our elected officials believe that this is, is enough to protect a nuclear power plant, and it's not. It's really isn't. DANIELLE BRIAN One of the points you made in, in their statement is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that essentially they've passed their standards, and that's what's frightening is it's true. The government standards, frankly, are so pathetic that the companies are able to say, look, we've passed everything we have to pass. And so, from our perspective, until the government raises the bar and really demands serious security, that's what we're gonna get. FOSTER ZEH There, there was, we had our recent attachment three inspection, and I was able to circumvent the security system from the outside. And they .. . DIANE SAWYER Again? FOSTER ZEH Again, again, on five separate occasions in one, in one area. And it was, I was amazed at when we had our exiting interview that they said that we did well. The guards themselves are defeated. They're, they're morally defeated, physically defeated and, definitely not trained enough. DIANE SAWYER Well, again, Mr. Zeh, Ms. Brian, thank you so much for being here. And we will check up on you and see what happens with your job. Trying to issue a wakeup call to everybody out there. Thank you. FOSTER ZEH Thank you very much. DANIELLE BRIAN Thank you, Diane. DIANE SAWYER We'll take a break, and be right back. Home I Archives I Expose I Search I Donations I Investigations I About Us I Contact Us I Press Room
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