Clowns (Try To) Sabotage Nuke Missile

[Ryan Ruck]

Clowns (Try To) Sabotage Nuke Missile

On Tuesday morning, a retired Catholic priest and two veterans put on clown suits, busted into a nuclear missile launch facility, and began beating the silo cover with hammers, in an attempt to take the Minuteman III missile off-line. Seriously.

The trio -- members of the Luck, Wisconsin group Nukewatch -- said the break-in was part of "a call for national repentance" for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombings in 1945.

The activists used bolt-cutters to get into the E-9 Minuteman II facility, located just northwest of the White Shield, North Dakota. "Using a sledgehammer and household hammers, they disabled the lock on the personnel entry hatch that provides access to the warhead and they hammered on the silo lid that covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead," the group said in a statement. "The activists painted 'It's a sin to build a nuclear weapon' on the face of the 110-ton hardened silo cover and the peace activists poured their blood on the missile lid."

This was all done while wearing face paint, dunce caps, misfitting overalls, and bright yellow wigs.

"We dress as clowns to show that humor and laughter are key elements in the struggle to transform the structures of destruction and death," the statement said. "Saint Paul said that we are 'fools for God's sake,' and we say that we are 'fools for God and humanity.' Clowns as court jesters were sometimes the only ones able to survive after speaking truth to authorities in power."

Guards responded within minutes. And when they arrived, the protesters "ate a lot of gravel," DefenseTech was told.

"The individuals were taken from the area and brought to the McLean County Jail," the AP notes. "The three are being charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both Class A misdemeanors, and bond was set at $500 each.... The FBI is involved in the case and federal charges are pending."

Sounds like it might be a good idea to step up security around our nuclear missile silos if these jokers can get in. What would happen if it were a special forces group with a suitcase nuke?

[Sean Osborne]

It would appear that the response time of the silo security force was somewhat tardy...

Why is a minimal security detail not stationed at the silo itself?

And what of the video surveillance of the silo...

With no security detail on-site 24/7/365 wireless video surveillance should have been the minimum physical security requirement. Motion and other sensors as well. "We have the technology."

It's obvious this group performed close reconnaissance on the silo site and knew what they had to do and to bring with them to gain access - that was their agenda - they knew that's as much as they could achieve from the get-go. Their initial recon should have been detected and increased secuirty protocols implemented.

And, of course why was access to the silo itself gained with mere hardware store bolt-cutters?

What did we have at this silo, a common chain link fence with a hardware store chain and American keylock on the access gate?

Pathetic. This event sounds like the plot of a B-grade tinsel-town movie.

[Ryan Ruck]

With no security detail on-site 24/7/365 wireless video surveillance should have been the minimum physical security requirement. Motion and other sensors as well. "We have the technology."

Precisely! If the seismic and motion sensors can be set up around "Area 51" to scare off lookey loos, why isn't the same security applied to one of our most important mainstays of national defense?