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U.S. Military Chemical Depot on Alert Following Intrusion
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An intruder set off an alert at the U.S. military Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A top security U.S. chemical weapons depot housing the world's largest stockpile of chemical and gas munitions where deadly nerve agents such as Sarin gas are stored and destroyed, was placed under a terrorist alert Thursday, September 5, 2002, after a possible intruder broke into the complex, officials said.
The complex in the western state of Utah, which was under a heightened security regime following last year's September 11 terror strikes on U.S. targets, is the largest of a handful of maximum security military-run centers in the country.
The Deseret Chemical Depot stores World War II-era chemical and gas munitions that are to be destroyed.
"Soldiers from the Utah national guard patrolling the depot spotted an unidentified individual 1.5 kilometers [one mile] from the chemical storage area," Colonel Peter Cooper, commander of the Deseret Chemical Depot, told a press conference.
"Forces responded to the sighting and we implemented measures to ensure that the chemical storage area remained secure," he said adding that the terrorist alarm was sounded at 9:24 am (1624 GMT) after a black-clad man was seen twice by four National Guard soldiers patrolling the area inside the base's outer perimeter fence.
When patrolling soldiers turned their Humvee (military vehicle) toward him, he ran off toward a creek, reports news agencies.
Officials said a serious breach of security at the highly sensitive facility could have "extremely serious consequences," but stressed that there was no threat to the facility or the public and that the reported trespasser's motives remained unclear.
Operations at the plant were immediately suspended as a massive security operation was launched at the remote site, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) south of Salt Lake City, which is under military protection.
The base was not evacuated, but the plant was sealed with staff not allowed to enter or leave the facility. Officials said it was unclear how the man managed to cross the base's barbed wire perimeter fence.
Military armored vehicles and a helicopter could be seen patrolling the area around the site Thursday, while local police set up roadblocks around the plant in a bid to track down the suspected interloper.
But hours after the terrorist alert was sounded, military officials could not be absolutely sure that the desert plant's security had been breached.
"At this time we cannot confirm an intruder," Cooper said. "It has been a reported sighting only.
"Right now we are pretty sure we've cleared the depot. We're not sure if it was an employee who was not in the right area."
And "right now we have no indication he is still there but we continue measures to sweep the depot to make sure he is not still there," Cooper told reporters.
"We treat all incidents like this very seriously," he said, adding that the suspected intruder had appeared to flee after being spotted by the patrols and that he "never got close to the chemical storage area at all."
In Washington, a senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no evidence that anything was stolen or that terrorism was involved, reports news agencies
The Deseret Chemical Depot has destroyed 42% of the United States largest stockpile of chemical weapons, including the country's biggest stockpile of Sarin, the same type of gas used in a deadly attack on the Tokyo underground in 1995 that killed 12 people and injured thousands, officials said.
The depot, run by the U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command and staffed largely by civilian personnel, is also storing and destroying chemical weapons such as mustard gas - a deadly agent that destroys human tissue on contact - and VX gas, another deadly agent.
The alert came just days ahead of the first anniversary of the airborne terrorist attacks on targets in New York, Washington and the eastern state of Pennsylvania, and amid a heightened state of alert across the United States to ward off further possible attacks.
Officials began destroying the U.S. chemical weapons arsenal, never been used in combat, at the Deseret plant in 1996 under a series of international arms limitation pacts signed by hundreds of countries.
But critics of the chemical weapons incineration program, due to end in 2004 but behind schedule, have complained that the practice exposed workers and the environment to deadly toxins.
The incinerator at the Deseret depot was shut down in July after two workers were exposed to small amounts of Sarin gas.
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