Nuclear mattersRegulators: N.J. nuclear plant employee was an Islamic jihadist
A 26-year old American, Sharif Mobley, now under arrest in Yemen for terrorist activities, became an Islamic militant while working for six years at several nuclear plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; the man — who told fellow workers “We are brothers in the union, but if a holy war comes, look out” — had unescorted access to the interior of the plants; to have unescorted access to secure areas of a nuclear power plant, a person must undergo a background investigation, including a criminal record check and a psychological assessment — but the rules did not account for temporary workers who migrate from plant to plant, as Mobley did
Sharif Mobley, arrested in Yemen in March, 2010 // Source: nydailynews.com
A New Jersey man accused of joining al Qaeda in Yemen spoke openly of militant views while working at American nuclear plants, according to a report by the inspector general of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that proposes tightening personnel security rules.
The New York Times’s Scott Shane writes that the report from the inspector general, Hubert T. Bell, says that the man, Sharif Mobley, who is charged by Yemeni authorities with murdering a hospital guard during an escape attempt in March, said he told others in his labor union: “We are brothers in the union, but if a holy war comes, look out.”
Fellow nuclear plant workers said Mobley had referred to non-Muslims as “infidels” and had visited “unusual” Web sites on his personal computer, including one showing a mushroom cloud, the report said.
The report, prepared at the request of Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-New York), recommended improving plant employee training on how to detect and report “behaviors associated with terrorist intent.” It proposed that regulatory commission officials should get direct access to a nuclear industry personnel database and suggested more frequent matching of employee names against terrorist watch lists.
The inspector general also suggested requiring disclosure of any foreign travel by nuclear plant employees so that they could be questioned about their destinations and activities abroad.
Much of the report was withheld from the public release because it “revealed security vulnerabilities” at nuclear facilities, said Stephen D. Dingbaum, the commission’s assistant inspector general for audits.
Senator Schumer said in a statement on Monday that the Mobley case “showed that we had to devise and implement a much tougher security system to protect our nuclear plants from infiltration.” He praised the inspector general’s report for offering “concrete, actionable recommendations that can be put in place immediately.”
Holly Harrington, an NRC spokeswoman, said commission officials had been working for months on the issues identified in the inspector general’s audit.
Shane writes that the inspector general found that Mobley did have unescorted access to the interior of the plants but did not have access to computers or high-security information.
The portions of the report released publicly do not say what was revealed in background investigations of Mobley.
Edwin Lyman, who studies nuclear safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said existing rules did not account for temporary workers who migrate from plant to plant, as Mobley did, doing maintenance work during scheduled shutdowns. No new background investigation is required when a worker has been off the job for several months, he said. “This report does not go far enough to close that loophole, in our opinion,” Lyman said.
