The Prophets Of Oak Ridge (Fascinating story about break-in & people on both sides)
(This is a very long but fascinating read. The author did extensive interviews with many people. It is a window into Oak Ridge, our nuclear arsenal, and those involved on both sides. There is also info about about the guards who were first on scene and their consequences)
Mission
The devil was just over Pine Ridge.
From the deserted parking lot on the edge of town, the three servants of God looked into darkness.
They clicked on their flashlights, pushed through the initial thicket of brush and began their trek, aiming for the black wooded slope.
First, the house painter: bearded, calm, quiet.
Second, the Catholic nun: gentle, grandmotherly, short of breath.
Third, the drifter: alert, intense, shouldering supplies.
They crept across the marshy field, led by some combination of God and Google Maps. Behind them was the city of Oak Ridge, Tenn., 30 minutes west of Knoxville. On the other side of Pine Ridge was Bear Creek Valley — cradle of the Y-12 National Security Complex, the “Fort Knox of Uranium,” birthplace of the heart of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima 67 years earlier.
It was, the house painter would later recall, as if the Almighty were guiding each step, across 1,000 feet of open field and up an embankment.
By 3 a.m. on Saturday, July 28, 2012, two career peace activists, with eight years jail time between them, and an 82-year-old nun had reached the first obstacle in their two-hour, one-mile hike toward one of the country’s most secure nuclear facilities.Last summer, in the dead of night, three peace activists penetrated the exterior of Y-12 in Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear-weapons facilities in the United States. A drifter, an 82-year-old nun and a house painter. They face trial next week on charges that fall under the sabotage section of the U.S. criminal code. And if they had been terrorists armed with explosives, intent on mass destruction? That nightmare scenario underlies the government’s response to the intrusion. This is the story of two competing worldviews, of conscience vs. court, of fantasy vs. reality, of history vs. the future.
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Much more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2013/04/29/the-prophets-of-oak-ridge/
The government threw the book at them because they were embarrassed. In addition, they wouldn't plea bargain. The whole hot mess was then aired all over again.
