Steve Quayle News Alerts

May. 31, 2002
By SHARON SMITH, Daily Record staff

Pennsylvania National Guard troops patrolling Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and the state’s other nuclear power plants are doing so with unloaded M-16s.
The soldiers carry ammunition, but it is attached to their belts, said state Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver County. With a nuclear power plant in his district, Veon is concerned about whether the guardsmen’s weapons are loaded.

“It’s a conscious decision that the governor and the adjutant general made,” Veon said. “I don’t understand their philosophy on security, quite frankly.”

Since November, Veon has been trying to get the governor and Adjutant General Maj. Gen. William B. Lynch to change their position on whether the Guards’ guns should be loaded.

“They’re well trained,” Veon said. “Those precious seconds could cost some of them dearly.”

Veon is hoping Gov. Mark Schweiker will change his mind.

“If he doesn’t,” he said, “I think the public will demand it.”

Some of the people who live and work in Goldsboro, which sits across the Susquehanna River from Three Mile Island, are also hoping the governor reconsiders.

who works at Rick’s Pizza to Go.

“That’s absolutely crazy. They’re supposed to be protecting the public. It’s not good to know, but we need to know.”

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Pennsylvania National Guard troops who had been stationed at Pennsylvania’s 16 airports did carry loaded weapons.

“I don’t mind being in harm’s way, but let me react,” Staff Sgt. Bill Lawrence told the Inquirer.

That mission ended earlier this month. The Guard’s mission at Pennsylvania nuclear power plants continues.

Harris could better understand why the Guard’s weapons might not be loaded at the airports. He could not fathom, though, why they wouldn’t be loaded at the nuclear power plants.

“Are they trained proper?” he asked. “If they’re not trained, don’t put them in there.”

After Sept. 11, Guard units in Arkansas and Massachusetts stationed troops at their nuclear power plants. Those missions have since ended. The soldiers’ guns were loaded, according to public information officers in those states.

Maj. Cary Shillcutt, spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard, said that any time the Arkansas National Guard performs a mission the soldiers have rounds in their weapons.

“That’s a decision made by the governor and the command group,” he said.

Capt. Winfield Danielson, spokesman for the Massachusetts National Guard, declined to say what type of weapons soldiers carried while on their nuclear security mission. However, he did say the weapons were loaded. The soldiers had qualified on those weapons and received a rules of engagement brief prior to the mission.

Rep. Bruce Smith, R-Dillsburg, who asked the governor to the National Guard at TMI, said he was not overly concerned about the Guard’s weapons status.

The state police stationed at the plants, he said, carry loaded weapons. “I’m still comfortable with that.”

Efforts to reach Dave Hixson, Gov. Schweiker’s spokesman on the issue, were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon.

In a recent interview, Hixson said that if someone tried to breach security at the state’s power plants, the appropriate action would be taken. “If somebody comes up to the plant gate and starts firing, I don’t think they’re going to ask questions,” Hixson said. “They’re going to start firing.”

The Pennsylvania National Guard does not release its rules of engagement or its arming orders, said John Maietta, spokesman for the Guard. “Our soldiers are armed and fully capable of defending themselves and carrying out their assigned missions,” he said.

Pennsylvania National Guard troops have been stationed at the state’s five nuclear power plants for the last five months. Last week, the governor extended their stay until Dec. 31. In doing so, he also provided an additional $1 million to go toward protecting the state’s security. It is unclear if the money is being used to pay for the Guard’s presence at the nuclear power plants.

On Sept. 26, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent letters regarding security to 40 governors who have nuclear power plants in their states. The contents of the letters have not been made public.

The commission, which regulates the country’s nuclear power plants, does not have a list of states that have sent National Guard troops to power plants, said Sue Gagner, spokeswoman for the commission.

“We do not oversee their presence,” she said. “The Guard is not under our control. We did not ask for the guard to be sent out.”

Guardsmen from the 108th field artillery battalion have been stationed at TMI and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

“Basically, we’re a show of force at the main gate at Peach Bottom and TMI,” said Maj. Phil Aubel, a full-time Guard member with the battalion in Carlisle in an earlier interview. The National Guard protects the power plants around the clock. At least three guardsmen and two state troopers are at each plant at any given time.

The Guard, though, is basically the third tier of security at the plants.

The National Guard is subordinate to the Pennsylvania State Police, Hixson said. State police provide support to private security details hired by plant operators.

The three groups have worked together well, Aubel said.

“We understand we’re down there as a show of force, in case we are needed,” he said. “We pretty much listen to the state police. We work very well with the state police and security. We only provide assistance when called upon.”

During their shifts, the guardsmen do roving patrols, Aubel said. At Peach Bottom, they are allowed to check identification cards. They are not allowed to conduct searches, he said. The security firm does that, he said. “They carry weapons as well,” he said.

The guardsmen pulling security duty at the state’s power plants are doing so voluntarily, Aubel said. “We did not order anybody to do this mission,” he said.

Since November, 35 to 40 people have been on the Peach Bottom/Three Mile Island mission at one point or another, Aubel said. The volunteers do get paid by the Guard for their time at the plants, whatever their rank mandates. At least one employer continued to pay a soldier while he was stationed at a plant, Aubel said.

Reach Sharon Smith at 771-2029 or ssmith@ydr.com.
http://www.ydr.com/main/news/1main1020531.shtml