Army still doesn't get it at Umatilla

[this_side_up]

12/11/03 Karen Zacharias

O K, gimme a big Y-A-W-N. Officials at the U.S. Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot did it again. They failed to follow proper protocol in notifying local emergency officials about a security problem at the Northeastern Oregon chemical weapons depot ("Intruder eludes security to get in Umatilla depot," The Oregonian, Dec. 5).


Perhaps you missed it. I suspect that's exactly the reaction Army officials were hoping for when they delayed notifying police, emergency managers and county officials that an intruder was sighted wandering around K-block at 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 3.

(snip)


Notably, the Army did a much better job of alerting public officials when a puff of sarin nerve agent was released outside a storage bunker on Monday. Depot employees were ordered to immediately mask up. Yet, the public wasn't aware of the vapor release until news folks reported it. Army officials maintain there was no reason to alarm the public since there was "no threat to the public or environment."

The Army has earned a bad rap for its performance in situations like this. Remember that incident in 1999, when dozens of workers at the depot keeled over vomiting and suffering severe headaches? The Army didn't notify the local community until hours later.

Then there was that incident in 2002 when an employee stuck a vial of highly diluted sarin nerve agent in his coat pocket and -- oops! -- traveled across the Columbia River. Officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, who are also responsible for protecting the public, didn't get word of the event until 15 hours afterward.

(snip)

"If it's pitch dark outside," I asked, "how is it the Army is able to determine that the 'unknown individual' (i.e., intruder) did not pose a threat to the nerve agent stockpiles?"


http://oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/107114760081690.xml

(Umatilla is in northeastern Oregon. High desert, not
very populated, big Republican ranches)

[xchrom]

1. they can do what they want

and they know it.