Trio Who Penetrated Nuclear 'Fort Knox' Convicted

I covered this startling incident--how's this for nuclear security at "The Fort Knox of Uranium"?--fully at the time and now it's reached a conclusion, of sorts.  AP reports:  "An 83-year-old nun and two fellow protesters were convicted Wednesday of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons facility and defaced a uranium processing plant. The three were found guilty of a charge of sabotaging the plant and of damaging federal property at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge in July 2012."

In testimony on Wednesday, the three, Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, said they had no remorse and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility. “My regret was I waited 70 years,” the nun said. “It is manufacturing that which can only cause death.” Defense lawyers said that federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in, in which the protesters hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortresslike Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.

Yesterday AP reported:  "Prosecutors argued the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge."

Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Hollywood Bomb,"  on how an epic MGM movie warning about nuclear weapons was thwarted and censored all the way up to President Truman.   He's also the author of "Atomic Cover-up."