The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into whistleblower William McNeilly, who exposed horrid security lapses in UK’s trident nuclear program which make it easier for intruders to access some secured areas than enter “most nightclubs.”
UK authorities are
“concerned for the whereabouts” of the 25-year old
whistleblower, who went absent without leave and cooperated with
WikiLeaks to post a detailed 18-page report called The Nuclear Secrets.
William McNeilly, a weapons engineer, who allegedly served from
January to April this year on board the HMS Victorious, claims
that a number of security lapses and technical faults with the
Trident missiles carrier exposes the UK nuclear deterrent to
potential terrorist attacks that “would kill our people and
destroy our land.”
Possible attackers have “the perfect opportunity to send
nuclear warheads crashing down on the UK,” he claims.
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In his revelations, the whistleblower notes some 30 safety and
security flaws on Trident submarines that are based out of
Faslane on the Clyde, Scotland. McNeilly took his time outlining
the ease at which potential terrorist can infiltrate the secured
base.
“At a Base security brief we were told that thousands of
Royal Navy IDs go missing every year. A terrorist can use them,
or create counterfeits with them and easily gain access down the
submarine. Considering most of the guards barely look at them
from a few metres (couple of feet if they’re the rare ones) away
the fakes wouldn’t have to be too perfect,” the
whistleblower explains.
“I’ve shown a room card or nothing, at least once at every
check point,” McNeilly wrote.
An intruder could bring inside the secured facility any private
electronic device to potentially steal top secret data – or even
weapons and explosives, since the whistleblower claims,
contractors and their equipment are hardly ever being searched.
“You can carry anything through the security check points
without it being checked!” he says in the report. Personnel
Electronics should be banned yet the policy isn’t enforced. You
can bring whatever electronic devices you want onboard… They
use their own personal electronics right beside the
missiles.”
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UK’s Clyde sub base arms depot
Lack of security checks was not because McNeilly was among the
Royal Navy personnel, but because “that was a standard
procedure.”
“100’s of contractors go down the boat when it’s alongside.
Their equipment isn’t searched and they are not pat down. All it
takes is someone to bring a bomb onboard to commit the worst
terrorist attack the UK and the world has ever seen,” he
wrote.
Besides the evident security flaws, the weapons technician lists
a number of equipment problems, including a seawater leak, a
flooded torpedo compartment and defective toilets. His
revelations include missile compartment being used as an exercise
gym, and the communication system that was difficult to
understand.
“There were a lot of red tags on equipment in most of the
compartments we went into. I highly suspected a lot of them were
for defect rectification, rather than standard maintenance
Tagouts. Seeing the condition of the security and equipment made
me more than concerned, for the safety of the people,” he
wrote.
The state of affairs is so chaotic that McNeilly says any
“psychopath” can gain access to UK’s nuclear site.
“It’s just a matter of time before we’re infiltrated by a
psychopath or a terrorist,” he says. “There were some
people that I served with on that patrol who showed clear
psychopathic tendencies.”
In his testimony the runaway weapons engineer submariner also
claims that the missile launch tests failed on three occasions
during his serve time, meaning a successful launch would likely
be impossible.
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Trident removed from Scotland
“Basically they’re endangering the public and spending
billions upon billions of tax payers money for a system so broken
it can’t even do the tests that prove it works,” he wrote.
McNeilly also writes that there was a “massive cover-up” of the
HMS Vanguard submarine colliding with a French nuclear submarine,
Le Triomphant, in the Atlantic in February 2009. In his report,
he quotes a senior officer who was on Vanguard at the time as
saying: “We thought, this is it, we’re all going to
die.”
The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into McNeilly’s
report, calling his claims “subjective and
unsubstantiated,” adding that “submarines do not go to
sea unless they are completely safe.”
While acknowledging that McNeilly’s report does “not pose any
security risk to our personnel or operations,” the Ministry
of Defense is nonetheless working with the police to find him.
“The Navy is concerned for the whereabouts and wellbeing of
able seaman McNeilly and is working closely with civilian police
to locate him,” the Navy said.
The whistleblower who has not returned from his leave of absence
since taking off last week, acknowledged that “the penalty
for releasing this will be life prison if I’m lucky.”
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“The worst fear for me isn’t prison or being assassinated,
it’s the fear of sacrificing everything I have just to warn the
public and yet never be heard,” the 25-year-old wrote.
Some Scottish Civil Rights organizations have welcomed the
sailor’s courageous act.
“He should be commended for his action, not hounded by the
Royal Navy. He has exposed the fact that Trident is a catastrophe
waiting to happen – by accident, an act of terrorism or
sabotage,” John Ainslie, co-ordinator of the Scottish
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, told The Herald.
Meanwhile the leader of SNP in London, MP Angus Robertson has
called for full explanation and action remedy from the Royal
Navy.
“These revelations, if true, are extremely concerning. It
reads as a nightmare catalogue of serious safety breaches,”
Robertson said. “Failure to follow standard safety procedures
is unacceptable in any workplace but on a Trident submarine on
patrol it could result in extreme tragedy, not just for those on
board but indeed for the entire planet.”