Gods of Metal by Eric Schlosser

Author:Eric Schlosser [Schlosser, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141982274
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

sabotage!

During the second week of September 2012, congressional hearings were held to discuss the security at Y-12. Representative Michael Turner, a Republican from Ohio, opened one of the hearings by saying, ‘It is outrageous to think that the greatest threat to the American public from weapons of mass destruction may be the incompetence of DOE security … This must not happen again.’ Sister Megan Rice and Michael Walli attended the hearings but weren’t asked to testify. Nevertheless, Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, acknowledged that Sister Megan was in the audience. ‘Would you please stand up, ma’am?’ he asked. ‘We want to thank you for pointing out some of the problems in our security.’ Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was even more effusive. Addressing Sister Megan directly, Markey said, ‘Thank you for your actions. Thank you for your willingness to focus attention on this nuclear-weapons build-up … We thank you for your courage … you should be praised because that’s ultimately what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.’

Gregory Boertje-Obed finally sought to get out of jail that week. He wanted to see his family and start preparing a defense. He promised the judge that he wouldn’t break into Y-12 again or commit other acts of civil disobedience while awaiting trial. Assistant US Attorney Melissa Kirby opposed the release, claiming that such promises were ‘disingenuous’. Persuaded that Boertje-Obed would keep his word, the judge let him go see his family.

A federal grand jury had already handed down further indictments. In addition to the misdemeanour trespassing charge, the protesters now faced two felony counts. The first was for ‘wilfully and maliciously’ destroying property at Y-12. The second was for committing a ‘depredation against property of the United States and of the United States Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Y-12 National Security Complex … in an amount exceeding $1,000’. To ‘depredate’ means ‘to lay waste: plunder, ravage,’ according to Webster’s dictionary. The felony counts could lead to a prison sentence of fifteen years. And as lawyers representing the activists discussed a possible plea bargain with the US Attorney’s Office in Knoxville, the government threatened to file an even more serious charge: sabotage.

Although the Sabotage Act was passed in 1918, at the height of the First World War, when America was gripped with the fear of German spies, the law has rarely been used against people who’ve actually committed sabotage. Instead, it has been used against labour organizers, opponents of the Vietnam War, and anti-nuclear activists. The statute’s broad definition of sabotage – attempting or committing an act with the ‘intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defence of the United States’ – has made the law a useful tool for punishing acts of civil disobedience.

Walli, Boertje-Obed, and Sister Megan refused to accept a plea bargain. They wanted a trial by jury. The government quickly dropped the trespassing charge and added sabotage to the indictment. William P. Quigley, the attorney representing Walli, asked the judge to throw out the sabotage charge.

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