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Orlando gunman a security guard, for a firm that guards US nuclear sites

safety-symbol1Flag-USASecurity Firm That Employed Orlando Gunman Guards U.S. Nuclear Sites  The news has inflamed concern about the threat of insider attacks at America’s most critical infrastructure. US News By Alan Neuhauser | Staff Writer June 13, 2016  The security firm that employed the Orlando gunman behind the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history says it’s guarded “90 percent of U.S. nuclear facilities” – raising concern that would-be terrorists could easily gain inside access to the most sensitive sites on American soil and release untold devastation.

Omar Mateen, who slaughtered 49 people early Sunday at a popular gay nightclub and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, worked as a guard for G4S, an enormous multinational security firm that’s previously faced scrutiny for safety and management lapses.

Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police, was employed at a “residential community in South Florida,” not a nuclear site, the company said in a statement. Nonetheless, nuclear safety and private security experts say his employment at G4S – which included an initial background check when he was recruited in 2007 and another in 2013, according to the company – highlights potential vulnerabilities at the nation’s nuclear sites, especially in light of successful break-ins and apparent sabotage in the past four years alone.

“If you’re a guard, you have free run of the facility: You know how the facility operates, you know the level of attack the facility is set up to handle, you may know where sensors may have failed, you may know where weak points are, you know other folks in the workforce who would be vulnerable to coercion or blackmail,” says Howard Hall, governor’s chair professor of nuclear security at the University of Tennessee who has consulted with nuclear plants on security issues.

“From an insider’s perspective, this is concerning.”

Although the chances a terrorist could acquire enough material to build a nuclear bomb remain relatively low – enriching uranium is a delicate and highly complex process – recent breaches at nuclear sites in the U.S. and abroad point to other risks, experts say……http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-13/security-firm-that-employed-orlando-gunman-guards-us-nuclear-sites

June 15, 2016 - Posted by | general

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