Report: U.S. agents moving nukes got drunk on the job

WASHINGTON - Federal agents hired to transport nuclear weapons and components sometimes got drunk while on convoy missions, a government watchdog said yesterday. In an incident last year, police detained two agents who went to a bar during an assignment.

The Energy Department's assistant inspector general, Sandra D. Bruce, said her office reviewed 16 alcohol-related incidents involving agents, candidate-agents and others from the government's Office of Secure Transportation between 2007 through 2009.

Nearly 600 federal agents ship nuclear weapons, weapon components and special nuclear material across the United States.

Two incidents in particular raised red flags, the report said, because they happened during secure transportation missions while agents checked into local hotels. In these cases, the vehicles were placed in "safe harbor," meaning they were moved to secure locations.

In one case, in 2007, an agent was arrested for public intoxication. The other occurred last year, when police handcuffed and temporarily detained two agents after an incident at a bar.

"Alcohol incidents such as these, as infrequent as they may be, indicate a potential vulnerability in OST's critical national security mission," the report warns.

The report did not identify the locations for either incident, and the inspector general's office declined to identify them, citing the safe harbor locations.

The findings alarmed some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"I was appalled to learn that some couriers responsible for transporting nuclear weapons and material were found to be drinking on the job," said Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), who chairs the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. He said he would seek a full briefing from the inspector general.

The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the agents, stressed that the report found no evidence of them driving drunk while on duty, or of a systemic problem.

"NNSA's Office of Secure Transportation maintains a highly trained, highly professional force that has safely and securely transported nuclear materials more than 100 million miles without a single fatal accident or any release of radiation," said NNSA spokesman Damien LaVera.