Security at the Anniston Army Depot remains at post-Sept. 11 levels, unaffected by a possible breach in security Thursday at a heavily guarded chemical weapons stockpile in Utah, officials said.
Officials at the Tooele, Utah facility found no trace of a reported intruder after a terrorist alert was sounded there.
A guard at the facility reportedly spotted an intruder dressed in black on the facility property. The sighting was the first of its kind at the facility and triggered the terrorist alert warning, said Al Procaccio, an Army spokesman at Tooele.
Procaccio said it was unknown whether the intruder, if it was in fact an intruder and not an employee, merely had wandered onto the site or had a motive for being there.
"At this time we cannot confirm an intruder," said Col. Peter Cooper. "Right now we are pretty sure we have cleared the depot. We're not sure if it was an employee who was not in the right area."
Tooele houses the nation's largest chemical weapons stockpile, accounting for approximately 42 percent of the country's aging chemical weapons.
When seen, the intruder was in open desert terrain between fencing that divides the outer perimeter and the concrete igloos that hold the weapons. More than 6,500 tons of aging VX and Mustard agent are stored in the reinforced bunkers.
National Guard soldiers and civilian security guards converged on the site, but could not find the intruder.
"It is still a mystery at this point in time," Procaccio said. "There was someone between the fence perimeters, but we still haven't located anyone yet."
Local law enforcement assisted the military in the search and formed a blockade around the facility.
Incineration of chemical weapons at the Utah stockpile came to a grinding halt at 9:24 a.m. MDT, as workers were placed on stand-by because of the alert. Non-essential personnel were sent home at 3 p.m. MDT, said Marilyn Daughdrill, an Army spokeswoman for the chemical disposal program. She said disposal is scheduled to resume today.
Security at the nation's eight other chemical stockpiles, including Anniston Army Depot, was not affected by the breach.
"The depots remain on the same alert as they were before," said Miguel Morales, Army spokesman for the Soldier Biological Chemical Command, the body tasked with security and safe storage at the stockpiles.
About 10 percent of the nation's chemical stockpile, consisting of VX and Sarin nerve agent and Mustard agent, is stored at the Anniston Army Depot.
As in Utah, the Anniston facility is guarded by civilian security guards and activated National Guard troops. Both forces are trained to thwart terrorist attacks and are aided by an array of elaborate motion-sensing devices.
"This has not caused us to go to any higher state of alert
since we haven't had anything happen here," said Anniston Army stockpile spokeswoman Kathy Coleman. "The storage has been very secure from the beginning."
About 2,200 tons of nerve agent is stored in 155 earth-covered, concrete bunkers at the depot. "They are very secure," reiterated Coleman.
Army officials plan to destroy the nerve agent in a state-of-the-art incinerator at the Anniston site. Testing on nerve agent-filled rockets is scheduled for October, though the date could be pushed back.
"It is very important that we destroy the chemical weapons as soon as we can," said Army incinerator spokesman Mike Abrams. "We commit to doing that as safely as we can. The facility we have built has been built to do just that
"Then we don't have to worry about anything that could cause us to heighten our security."
There has been much local opposition to incineration, the Army's chosen method of destroying the chemical agent. Critics of the Army's plan favor neutralization as the method of disposal, a method that seems to be gaining momentum at sites in Kentucky and Colorado.
Protesters against incineration have organized a march for Sunday at 3 p.m. from the Anniston City Meeting Center on 17th and Noble Street to Zinn Park, where a rally will be held. Speakers include Martin Luther King III and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
