The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bombs

We must ensure that terrorists

never acquire a nuclear weapon.

This is the most immediate

and extreme threat to global security.

One terrorist with one nuclear weapon

could unleash massive destruction.

And we know that there is unsecured

nuclear material across the globe.

To protect our people,

we must act with a sense of purpose without delay.

There's been a security breach at a U.S. nuclear facility

which is supposed to be one of the most

secure sights in the world.

They managed to break into the grounds

surrounding the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee,

triggering the highest security alert there since 9/11.

The target: The country's largest stockpile

of uranium for nuclear bombs in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Take a look at this picture.

Authorities say she is the reason why:

an 82-year-old nun who they say cut through fences,

got past high-tech security.

I am Megan from Nevada.

Sister Megan Rice and two others

did what no one should be able to do.

In the middle of the night using bolt cutters,

the three breached the perimeter fence

and then three more fences and motion detectors,

reaching the building holding all that uranium.

You have to be a little concerned

when it's an octogenarian nun who helps you

understand your nuclear weaknesses and security.

The complex holds enough uranium

to make 10,000 nuclear bombs.

The place that is supposed to be

one of the most secure places on the planet is not!

They walked right in.

They walked right up to the interior

storage facilities holding the uranium.

They got so far inside the complex

that they were able to lay hands

on the nuclear materials storage facility inside there.

And once they were inside, they prayed, they sang songs.

They were just waiting for somebody

to notice them in the shoot-to-kill zone.

They were there for an hour

before anybody came to arrest them.

We're talking about what the New York Times

described as the biggest security breach

in the history of the nation's atomic complex.

The three are all senior citizens, upper 50s,

one in his 60s, and Megan Rice, a nun in her 80s.

They didn't have any special knowledge,

any special highly advanced tools to break in.

Luckily, of course, they had no bad intent.

In fact, here's what they did:

I wouldn't have gone with the blood,

but I'm not a peace activist, right?

What do you think will happen?

I mean, we're talking about an 83-year-old nun

who says, "Look, I'm against nuclear weapons."

This was a way for her to protest.

What do you think the punishment should be for her?

Rap on the hand with a ruler!

Come on, old school Catholic.

The trio now face the possibility

of lengthy sentences in federal prison.

Sister Megan, you've not disputed

the fact that you breached security at Oak Ridge.

We don't consider it a breach of security.

I spoke to Sister Megan Rice

a few weeks following the Y-12 break-in.

She was free awaiting trial

after a judge released her from jail.

I don't think anyone was more surprised to hear

about the security breach at Y-12 than I was.

I'd been working on a film

about nuclear disarmament activists,

some of them Catholic nuns and priests who engage

in Plowshares protests involving hammers and blood.

But I never met Sister Megan before,

though I would soon learn there were far fewer

than six degrees of separation between us.

What does it say?

I mean, I think the fact that an 82-year-old woman

and two other people basically unarmed could get into

the most top secret allegedly high security atomic plant

that stockpiles highly enriched uranium.

What does it say?

This is the Y-12 National Security Complex.

We are absolutely essential

to the nation's security.

Y-12 inspects, refurbishes, dismantles

and non-destructively tests the nation's nuclear arsenal.

As the nation's Fort Knox for highly enriched uranium,

Y-12 uses more than 60 years of safety

and security experience to store special materials,

further reducing global nuclear threats.

Was it easier to get on the property

than what you thought it would be?

Far, we were led miraculously.

But it was difficult.

But not as difficult as officials had believed.

This is the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.

This is a brand new facility at Y-12

which was created for the safe, secure

and efficient storage of highly enriched uranium.

This facility is unique as it stores

12,000 drums of material and 12,000 cans of material.

Y-12 houses the nation's

main supply of highly enriched uranium.

Overall do you think the Y-12 plant

is safe against terrorists?

Absolutely.

Our people are well trained.

They're well equipped.

The American people can rest assured that this is

one of the most well protected facilities in the world.

How secure is this new facility?

Very secure.

Will it withstand an airplane crash?

It'll withstand everything that DOE has determined

to be an appropriate credible threat.

The three activists used bolt cutters

to cut through four chain link fences

to reach the outside walls of this very building.

Please rise and raise your right hand.

Do you swear the testimony that you

are about to give is the whole truth

and nothing but the truth so help you God?

This is one of those hearings

that we occasionally have in Congress

where we say together, Democrats and Republicans:

We're shocked.

We're shocked that something like this could happen.

When an 82-year-old pacifist nun

gets to the inner sanctum of our weapons complex,

you cannot say job well done.

She's in the audience.

Would you please stand up, ma'am?

We want to thank you for pointing out

some of the problems in our security.

While I don't totally agree

with your platform that you were espousing,

I do thank you for bringing out

the inadequacies of our security system

and thank you for being here today.

All they were worried about was the fact

that somebody could get in so easily.

And that could be anybody.

That's not what we wanted to be thanked for.

It's for exposing and opposing

the existence of nuclear weapons.

A stunned universe now swiftly learned

that man had a new weapon of shocking destructiveness.

This bomb, exploding over the north factory district,

took the lives of 42,000 persons and injured 40,000 more.

It destroyed 39% of all the buildings

standing in Nagasaki before the calamity.

We had an uncle, my mother's baby brother,

was in the Marines and sent into Nagasaki in September 1945

and stayed there for the next four months.

So he witnessed the effects of the Nagasaki bomb

Flash burns from primary heat waves

caused most of the casualties to inhabitants.

Many persons lingered from two to six weeks

before the onset of death.

And he would explain to us the terrible effects

and was totally convinced of how evil it was.

Blood would not coagulate

and oozed through unbroken skin

or seeped into many of the interior body cavities.

Before she became a peace activist,

Sister Megan devoted her life to education.

She taught science to girls and trained other teachers

in West Africa, in Nigeria and Ghana for 40 years.

My conviction has grown over the decades

of the sacredness of all of life and all of creation.

In the 70 years since 1943,

10 trillion dollars has been spent on this industry alone

and we just can't imagine what could

have been done with 10 trillion dollars.

And there it goes,

Polaris on the way with a nuclear warhead.

It's got to stop.

We have to use these resources for life enhancement.

They're sabotaging the planet.

The entire planet is being sabotaged

by the existence of weapons of mass destruction.

By the purpose for which they were made,

each one is meant to be exploded and to kill.

Mr. Chairman, that young lady there

brought a Holy Bible.

If she had been a terrorist,

the Lord only knows what could have happened.

- Thank you, ma'am. - The gentle lady

can sit down if she likes.

The gentle lady from Tennessee

is recognized for five minutes.