Trident whistleblower needs to be listened to, even if he is exaggerating
|
Version 0 of 1. What does it take for a 25-year-old able seaman, as he himself put it, to sacrifice everything – “a good career, a chance to be a millionaire by selling the information, my life savings, my freedom, quality time with family and friends, possibly my life?” We may soon find out if, that is, the Ministry of Defence and police do not simply treat William McNeilly, a crew member on one of Britain’s Trident ballistic-missile submarines, simply as an irresponsible young man motivated only by personal grievances. In an 18-page memo posted on the internet, titled The Secret Nuclear Threat, McNeilly alleges a catalogue of safety and security problems, which, he says, amount to a “disaster waiting to happen”. Related: Trident submarine whistleblower to turn himself in to police The engineering technician submariner from Northern Ireland, who was on patrol with the Trident submarine HMS Victorious this year, said security checks were rarely carried out on personnel and contractors working on the vessels docked at their Faslane base in Scotland; alarms were muted because they went off so often; and documents containing top secret information left lying around. He said a potentially serious fire was caused by “toilet rolls being stacked the whole way along” a deck next to the missiles and firing units. “Our nuclear weapons are a target that’s wide open to attack. It is just a matter of time before we’re infiltrated by a psychopath or terrorist,” he wrote. We do not have to believe this claim to be anxious about the picture McNeilly paints. Senior defence officials admitted on Monday that there had been a series of what they called “embarrassing safety lapses” on Britain’s fleet of four Trident submarines. Some – but far from all, judging from McNeilly’s account, despite its exaggerations – have come to light. McNeilly refers to the collision in the eastern Atlantic between HMS Vanguard and the French nuclear missile submarine Le Triomphant in 2009. The accident, which the MoD did not admit publicly for some time, took a “massive chunk out of the front” of the Vanguard , says McNeilly, threatening high-pressure air cylinders which, if they had exploded, would have sent the submarine “plummeting to the bottom”. What happened exactly and why, in what the MoD later called “an unfortunate and highly unlikely accident”, remain official secrets. That same year, the MoD’s top nuclear safety expert warned of a risk of multiple fatalities from nuclear-powered submarines, including the Trident fleet, failing to surface. Two years later the Trident submarine HMS Vengeance cut short a training exercise in the north Atlantic when its propeller became locked by debris. Up to 451 safety incidents occurred between 2008-09 and 2013-14, including 71 fires and major equipment failures at the Trident base at Faslane, according to figures released to the SNP MP Angus Robertson. It is known that there has been a growing number of safety and security problems in Britain’s ageing Trident fleet, including those involving the submarines’ nuclear reactors. McNeilly’s account seems to reflect an accompanying complacency about safety and security procedures. Trident submarines are also likely to be affected by a shortage of crew members, reflecting serious recruitment problems that are compounded by overall pressures on the defence budget. There is a general malaise in the armed forces, and low morale caused by years of cuts. McNeilly’s decision to blow the whistle cannot be put down simply to one individual’s response to personal experience, of bullying, for example. Independent experts take the view that while mechanical and reactor problems could cause serious damage to a Trident submarine, and lead to a fatal accident, they could not lead to an accidental firing of a nuclear missile. Nor, they say, could a terrorist get access to the firing system. If more light is to be shed on his experiences, and his motives, when he gives himself up, McNeilly needs to be listened to, rather than simply disciplined and dismissed from the navy. |