Report critical of Y-12 security

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 6/28/5 | Frank Munger

[SmithL]

OAK RIDGE — A federal inspection found that Oak Ridge guards routinely worked excessive overtime and, in some instances, received less training than recommended for high-security nuclear installations.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General released the report today.

The IG reviewed the Oak Ridge training program because of an allegation that a security police officer had received credit for training never received. The report said that allegation was confirmed and that an inspection turned up a number of other shortcomings.

However, Wackenhut Services Inc., the government’s Oak Ridge security contractor, hotly disputed the IG findings.

"We train to a standard, not to time," Jean Burleson, Wackenhut’s general manager, said in a telephone interview. "This report is flawed."

Wackenhut provides training for about 650 security guards at the federal facilities, including the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Burleson said the Oak Ridge training program is the best among all DOE sites in the United States.

The IG report said, "Protective force personnel at the Y-12 National Security Complex routinely worked in excess of 60 hours per week, despite a 60-hour maximum threshold for safe operations established in the DOE Protective Force Program Manual. There was evidence that working excessive overtime negatively impacted the ability or willingness of some protective force personnel to complete required physical fitness training."

Burleson acknowledged that excessive overtime is a long-time issue, one that the Oak Ridge contractor has fought to control.

When Wackenhut took over the Oak Ridge security contract in January 2000, the overtime for guards was about 50 percent, Burleson said. The company attempted to get that to less than 25 percent and was successful until the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

"We shot right back up," he said.

Since then, the overtime numbers in Oak Ridge have fluctuated, Burleson said. Each time overtime goes down, the government’s security requirements change and send the numbers back up, he said.

The Wackenhut official also noted that DOE orders allow for more work hours for guards, depending on the contract with guard unions. The Oak Ridge contract allows security police to work up to 76 hours a week, he said.

The IG report also found that Oak Ridge security police spent, on average, about 40 percent less time on "combat readiness refresher training" than was specified in the 2004 training plan.

Inspectors found that some "planned" training time was formally reported as "actual" training time to DOE. Also, some guards reportedly signed attendance rosters for training sessions without receiving the training, the report said.

Burleson said he was upset because this is the third Inspector General report on Oak Ridge security in the past couple of years, and he said each of them was "fraught with problems."

The Wackenhut executive said IG auditors wanted the Oak Ridge contractor to do physical-fitness training on site, even though that would increase the amount of overtime — one of its primary concerns.

[SmithL]

Uh-0h!

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping....

Trouble will come from this if true.

Did they check for illegal aliens?