Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
10/9/2015
Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance for decades and a nationally known peace activist, said he got a home visit on Monday from agents who identified themselves as members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and who wanted to question him about photographs he had taken at and around the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee.
According to Hutchison, the two agents said somebody had reported his license tag after he was seen taking photographs of the Uranium Processing Facility project office on Union Valley Road in Oak Ridge.
Hutchison said he took the photographs in question from the public roadway on Sept. 6. He said the photos simply showed UPF signs had been removed from the project office and that a “for rent” sign was placed in front of it. He said told the visitors – who came into his house for questions – that he had visited the Y-12 site hundreds of times over the years, although rarely inside the facility, and had probably taken thousands of photographs. He noted that his group stages a peace vigil every Sunday across the road from Y-12.
Hutchison said most of the questions were about the Uranium Processing Facility, the multibillion-dollar project under development at the Oak Ridge plant. He said he believes he was targeted simply because he is a known opponent of the project, which he has estimated will end up costing more than $10 billion.
Joyce McCants, a spokeswoman at the FBI’s Knoxville office, refused to comment on the events and said she could not confirm or deny whether members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force visited Hutchison’s home on Monday.
“We’re not going to discuss anything at all with the press until we’re ready to submit information out ourselves,” McCants said. “So I’m not going to confirm or deny anything this individual has stated.”
When asked if the National Nuclear Security Administration was involved, spokesman Steven Wyatt declined comment. “It’s a law-enforcement matter,” he said. “We’re not going to comment on matters involving law enforcement.”
Hutchison called the whole matter “a stupid, incompetent waste of taxpayer money,” and he said it appeared that it was set up to intrude on his home. He said federal authorities could have contacted him by phone or simply come to Y-12 on any Sunday to talk to him.
