In an embarrassing display of incompetence by the Department of Energy, a nun, a gardener, and a house painter broke through the fence of a secure nuclear weapons complex in Tennessee this past summer. A hearing was subsequently held in Washington yesterday to grill DOE officials and to try to ascertain the cause of the breach. Not surprisingly, the DOE was quick to assign blame to the facilities contractor and said that they were in the processing of cancelling their contract.
Regardless of the circumstances, we have yet another example of a potential national security disaster that fortunately didn't happen. More than a decade after the 9/11 attacks, we seem to be complacent about our nation's security and must never forget what is possible if we fail. If three protestors were able to breach the site of a secure facility, imagine how easy it would be for trained professionals or terrorists. There is no more important task than protecting our nation and securing our vulnerable infrastructure assets - let us hope this was a wakeup call that will prevent a future attack on US soil.
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