AIR FORCE BASE DEALING WITH SQUIRRELY PERIMETER DEFENSE PROBLEM

Apparently, the Y-12 National Security Complex isn’t the only nuclear weapons site that has had a problem with wildlife. At Y-12, high false alarm rates attributed in part to animals tripping sensors were cited as one of the causes leading up to last year’s security breach, and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana has a similar problem, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Home to 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, Richardson ground squirrels at the base have caused excessive false alarm rates and their extensive tunneling networks have damaged perimeter security defenses surrounding many of the base’s missile silos. According to Smithsonian, the National Wildlife Research Center was brought in to help solve the problem, and they’re testing a solution that involves sinking metal sheets into the ground near the fences to keep the animals from burrowing under the fences, using slippery polycarbonate plastic aboveground to keep the squirrels from climbing the fences, and filling trenches near the fences with pea gravel. If the solution works at the pilot site, the defenses are expected to be installed around the base.