WAR: Illegal Immigrants Accessed Nuclear Weapons Grade Facility

A recently released Inspector General's Report says 16 foreign born construction workers with counterfeit immigration documents were able to enter the Y-12 weapons plant in Oak Ridge TN. Oak Ridge (Y-12) makes parts for nuclear warheads and is the nation's principal storehouse for weapons grade uranium. The report further stated that the sixteen individuals have since been turned over to ICE for deportation.



Maybe it’s just me but what in the hell are we doing with "foreign construction workers" in a nuclear weapons grade facility to begin with?

Am I saying we should discriminate and bar any but US citizens from that sort of work?

You bet I am. It's called "security".

The more stories I see like this, the more I'm convinced that upgrading security in the US has been nothing more than lip service ever since 9-11.

If this is what's happening at nuclear weapons plants, can you imagine what its like in places and facilities that don't have their kind of security?


Related News Links:
news.yahoo.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
NEWS: 32% of all Foreign-Born in the US are undocumented!

[edit on 6/21/2005 by shots]

[edit on 6/21/2005 by shots]

Yep...
the many civil rights we have had removed haven't helped much...
except to make the government more powerful and dominant in Americans lives

if you want lip service...
remember the airlines security... it only works if the terrorist volunteers for a strip search... they aren't allowed to search them otherwise...

so unless they walk up with a frikin loaded rifle... they will not be searched...

to many lawsuits for profiling...
------------------------------------------
as to this issue...
I am amazed....
no background check, no confirmation of citizenship... AT A NUKE WEAPONS PLANT!
shame shame... what are they thinking? I would imagine that we would have been at least that careful BEFORE 9-11

you know im american as they get but what you said is racist and just plan ignorant because any body can be baught off etc. etc.

The inspector general, Gregory Friedman, also found that although security was compromised, access controls at the plant have since been tightened.

And he found no evidence that classified or sensitive information was compromised.

This is what i can't work out.

These people or "illegal immigrants" gained access to the Y-12 weapons plant and they were turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency?

Why deport them? I would be detaining them indefinitely and politely asking them what exactly were they doing there. Deporting them is simply 'exporting' new found knowledge in my opinion.

Unless, of course they are being deported to a detention facility.

Further evidence that the Bush administration is FAILING Homeland security 101 classes. We're throwing Billions away in some foriegn country to organize some form of security, yet our very own homeland security is easily comparable to Swissssss Cheeeeese!..

Don't forget to factor in the Southern Boarder issue...



Can someone dial up the 'Donald' to FiRE you know who!

[edit on 21-6-2005 by syntaxer]

Originally posted by sanctum

Why deport them? I would be detaining them indefinitely and politely asking them what exactly were they doing there.

I'd say they were there trying to earn a paycheck. Most of these illegals don't get to bid the jobs they work on and merely look for the best paying ie.. a federal funded project.

It is a security breach and its my opinion that only US citzens with valid IDs that have undergone a background search be allowed in these facilities and then only on a limited basis to carry out their work under supervision.

However, I can't blame someone for trying to earn their bread. Who am I to say I can have money and you cannot if you're willing to earn it as I do?

It doesn't seem like they just drove a pickup past the local hardware store and loaded up the workers hanging out looking for jobs.

They did check up on them, counterfeit documents often look real. Hell, most of them are real for all intents and purposes using stolen materials and identities.

I can't really see any way around this barring extreme measures such as "growing" a workforce and keeping them isolated.

Originally posted by themegaman
you know im american as they get but what you said is racist and just plan ignorant because any body can be baught off etc. etc.

Can you kindly show us just what LazarusTheLong said that is racist?

Illegal is illegal and there was no mention of any race or nor was it even implied.

Just in case you are not aware, there are many Caucasians from Canada and Europe in the US working without green gards.

Originally posted by astrocreep
However, I can't blame someone for trying to earn their bread. Who am I to say I can have money and you cannot if you're willing to earn it as I do?

Point taken, astrocreep.
But, within a supposedly secure National Security Complex.

If you ask me it's the company's fault. They wanted to save money by hiring cheap labor and paying them as little as they could. It's happening all across America. It's about time cheap labor starts biting them in the a**

Just to help,
This has also been diuscussed on PTS a about a month ago.

politics.abovetopsecret.com...'

I did not see the following from the CNN article but it seems that the 16 workers were actually employed by Brock Enterprises from Beaumont, TX (go figure )

Below is a link to the ABCNEWS artilce on it.

abclocal.go.com...

This is the News Forum, please don't circumvent the censors.

Originally posted by intrepid
This is the News Forum, please don't circumvent the censors.

Sorry you felt that I was "attempting to circumvent the censors"
AS my postings stated Just to help I also attempted to clarify a point as to where the workers came from.

Originally posted by kenshiro2012

Originally posted by intrepid
This is the News Forum, please don't circumvent the censors.

Sorry you felt that I was "attempting to circumvent the censors"
AS my postings stated Just to help I also attempted to clarify a point as to where the workers came from.

You didn't, look one post above yours.

Sorry for the confusion.

This is ridiculous! I can't believe that they don't require an FBI background check to even step foot into the Oak Ridge facility.

The security protocols at the Department of Energy are in serious need of reform. There's been almost a nonstop flow of stories like this coming from the national laboratories for years.

In 1995-1996, I was a researcher at ORNL whose office was at the Y-12 facility.

I had a badge, of course, but as far as I know, I never had an FBI background check,
or any security clearance.

What is not made clear in the story is that there are distinctly different levels of security there, namely the unclassified area, where I was, and the secure area.

There is a pretty enormous difference, and it is almost certain that these workers did not have access to the secure area, rather they were doing general construction/cleanup etc on the other parts of the site.

For instance, the secure area is behind (electrified, and highly security wired) 20 ft+ fences all around, with very burly guards in the access kiosks, very high steel full-body turnstile entrances with electronic security codes. Apparently the sensor systems were extremely sensitive and about every 2 days there was a plant wide PA telling everybody in the secure area to not move until the security situation (always a false alarm when I was there) is resolved, which presumably meant looking at the sensor.

That was to walk into the secure area. If you needed to go to any building there was another security desk at each entrance, and you needed a pre-approved appointment ahead of time.
The security in the nuclear materials area was even higher and mostly classified, they did say something about weighing everybody on the way in and out.

I was never in the secure area; my advisor who had a standing Q clearance still needed an appointment and bureaucratic stuff to just go in there to their secured computer center in order to reset an ordinary password for some random computer system account.

Then there's the sniper towers, and guards driving in SUV's with assault rifles clearly fastened to the dash.

From what I've heard, security is higher now.

So, I think it would be exceptionally unlikely if any of these illegal immigrants had access to classified data or materials, or if they did, they could do anything about it.

Think about it: these guys want a job and they want to avoid all official government contacts.
Will they take any risk? Don't think so.

The security risk isn't about illegal mexican construction workers, it's from sophisticated people who are ideologically committed to helping enemies.

If I were to make a guess about what let this happen, I would half to agree with the posters who hinted tword it is the fault of the company who gave them there jobs.
To win a contract in a facility as senestive as that one is, I would guess there must be something in the contract to do even a basic background check on your workers, in this case that was obviously not done.
The workers were just trying to earn a liveing, no fault to them there, but I do hope the Fed. prosecuters hang that company out to dry.

Have they taken any weapons grade uranium off the site is it possible because it is highly radio active you know so they must have high tech equipment for starter and if they did take it where can they hide it, it is possible that they could have inside help because even a stupid may know that a construction worker in the ficility isnt allowed to take uranium out of the site thus gaurds may helped the spys/immigrants?

its quite a story about an security problem, so if it is possible to steal weapons grade uranium then it could be highly possible to steal a portable nuke missiles.

Well if lazy Americans would quit living off of welfare, doing drugs and drinking they'd probably want to work hard and make money.

I'm sick of people like Djjonston77 say make a wall between Mexico and USA.

This will never happen. For the mere reason that Americans have become lazy. They'd like the Mexicans to pick the fruit and till the crops while they're at home watching sattelite tv drinking a bud or an mgd while playing on ATS!!!

Foreign Born Immigrants come and do the work we won't. Want to change the problem? Motivate your country to regain its once strong work ethic.

End of story!

I had a drunk driving 10 years ago and no felanys but thay wont let me into
canada, and these guys get jobs like that wow.it must be becouse im white.

lol