There’s not many high value terrorist targets in East Tennessee. Looks like risks remain at one of them:
Despite efforts to beef up homeland security since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, recent reports by federal investigators and a watchdog group suggest that the nation’s nuclear weapons sites are vulnerable.
The reports focus particularly on the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, an 811-acre site about 15 miles from Knoxville. The Oak Ridge facility is the country’s primary site for processing highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs. Tons of weapons-grade uranium are stored at the 60-year-old complex, one of the nation’s 12 nuclear weapons facilities.
Local representative John Duncan Jr. seems very concerned:
Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville, suggested that the problems at the Oak Ridge site have been overblown and that there is no reason for increased alarm. Duncan said the government is spending way too much on anti-terrorism activities.
”The truth is we’re going ridiculously overboard in regards to terrorism,” said Duncan, who also sits on Shays’ House committee. ”Almost every department in the federal government has exaggerated the threat of terrorism to get more money.”
Can we get Duncan to serve as a spokesperson for the Bush campaign?