Frank Munger: Y-12 security failures overshadow improvements

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jun/26/frank-munger-y-12-security-failures-overshadow/

By Frank Munger
Knoxville News Sentinel
June 26, 2013

It’s kind of hard to figure out the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant’s approach 
to physical security these days, and part of that is by design.

The folks at the National Nuclear Security Administration and its 
contractors don’t really want potential adversaries to know strengths and 
weaknesses, etc., except occasionally to advertise the plant’s 
capabilities as a potential deterrent to those who would intrude and do 
damage.

The NNSA has sent mixed messages about perimeter intrusions. Obviously, 
Y-12 was greatly embarrassed by the July 28, 2012, break-in by three 
Plowshares protesters (average age 67), and since then there have been 
others who have — to a lesser extent — made a mockery of the plant’s 
borders, including a bike rider who crossed most of the plant site (using 
a security patrol road for part of his trek) and a lost driver who 
recently showed up at the entrance and got waved in.

NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt has repeatedly issued statements that 
suggested Y-12 wasn’t particularly concerned about the plant’s outer 
fences, emphasizing those are boundary markers, with warning signs, and 
were not constructed in order to absolutely prevent folks from crossing.

[...]

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