Defensetech blog reports that a retired Catholic priest and two vets broke in to a military nuclear weapons facility and banged a Minuteman III missile silo cover with hammers, in an attempt to disable the weapon. Oh yeah, they were dressed in clown suits while they did it.
The trio -- members of the Luck, Wisconsin group Nukewatch -- said the break-in was part of "a call for national repentance" for the Hiroshima and Nagaski A-bombings in 1945.
The activists used bolt-cutters to get into the E-9 Minuteman II facility, located just northwest of the White Shield, North Dakota. "Using a sledgehammer and household hammers, they disabled the lock on the personnel entry hatch that provides access to the warhead and they hammered on the silo lid that covers the 300 kiloton nuclear warhead," the group said in a statement. "The activists painted 'It's a sin to build a nuclear weapon' on the face of the 110-ton hardened silo cover and the peace activists poured their blood on the missile lid."
This was all done while wearing face paint, dunce caps, misfitting overalls, and bright yellow wigs.
Link. When they were finished, the three clowns piled into a teeny-weeny car with a talking seal in the trunk, and the bearded lady drove them all off into the sunset. What I love about this country is that these men were not shot on sight.
Reader comment: Cris in Addison Texas says,
One of my uncles was a "Turn Key" with the USAF for a number of years. That means he was one of the guys tasked with sitting a half mile underground in a secure capsule, in case the order to launch ever came. He gave my family a tour of the launch facilities and a silo back in 1985 ( and yes, it was very much like the begining of WARGAMES). The Launch Silos are scattered ALL OVER the midwest with just a chain link fence it would appear to protect the site. However, they do have a Perimeter Intrusion "electronic fence" around each one. If someone crosses that perimeter, it sets off an alarm and one or more 2 man Emergency Response Teams will scramble and get to the site within a 5 minute window (at the time these were normally a modified SUV with a roof turret mounted M-60)... this is why protesters were able to plant their graffiti. There are simply to many launch silos scattered over far to wide an area to station gaurds at each location 24/7.Additionally... other than maybe making a mess (and a biohazard technically if they left their own blood behind)...short of several pounds of a really powerfull explosive, or a shape charge...there is ZERO chance they could have damaged the silo with a couple of hammers. Those lids are blast hardened, reenforced and a few feet thick. I suppose the Air Force may need to purchase some more chain and a new padlock though.