Post by wayneinfl on Feb 7, 2009 19:30:49 GMT -5
Saw a blurb about this on this day in history. Imagine if it happened today.
Argonne at 50
Argonne passes a reporter's security test
ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 6, 1996) -- The time is February 1951. The Cold War with Russia is heating up. China is lost to Communism. Atomic spies are being rounded up by the score. And a young newshawk named Paul Harvey has just been caught scaling the security fence at the Atomic Energy Commission's Argonne National Laboratory.
It happened at 1:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 1951. News of the intrusion could not be released until approved "at the highest level" in Washington.
With the nation caught in the grip of Sen. Joe McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade, Harvey often used his radio broadcasts to criticize what he perceived to be poor security throughout the federal government. He found an opportunity for action when an Argonne guard and switchboard operator, Charles Rogal, reported lax security at the site to Harvey's friend, conservative Rep. Fred Busbey, who later testified on Harvey's behalf.
Harvey persuaded John Crowley, who worked for the Office of Naval Intelligence, and Rogal to join him that frosty February night on a trip to Argonne. As Harvey scaled the 10-foot fence, his winter overcoat caught in the barbed wire at the top. While he was trying to extricate himself, a jeep patrol found and detained him.
Harvey was turned over to FBI agents, questioned, and released.
Meanwhile, Crowley and Rogal, hiding in the bushes nearby, slipped away. Harvey's car, found hidden near the lab, contained a wallet and papers that led to their identification.
At first, Harvey denied he was testing Argonne's security; he did say he had been cooperating with several government departments, but couldn't talk about his work. The FBI denied any connection with him.
No less an eminence than Harold Urey -- winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize in chemistry -- said he was disappointed that guards did not shoot Harvey. But when reporters asked Rogal if there had been any fear of being shot by guards, he said, "Not one of them could shoot and hit the side of a barn."
A federal grand jury, presided over by U.S. Attorney Otto Kerner, who later became Illinois governor, heard the federal government's charges against Harvey for conspiracy to obtain information on national security and transmit it to the public. If convicted, Harvey could have been fined $10,000 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Kerner granted Harvey permission to appear before the grand jury on March 21, 1951, with the stipulation that he first sign a waiver preventing him from later claiming immunity from prosecution for anything his testimony might reveal.
On April 4, 1951, the grand jury voted not to indict Harvey. According to Bartlett Loomis, the grand jury foreman, the vote was not even close.
And Harvey's distinctive radio broadcast is still going strong today.
www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/History/news960206.html
Argonne at 50
Argonne passes a reporter's security test
ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 6, 1996) -- The time is February 1951. The Cold War with Russia is heating up. China is lost to Communism. Atomic spies are being rounded up by the score. And a young newshawk named Paul Harvey has just been caught scaling the security fence at the Atomic Energy Commission's Argonne National Laboratory.
It happened at 1:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 1951. News of the intrusion could not be released until approved "at the highest level" in Washington.
With the nation caught in the grip of Sen. Joe McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade, Harvey often used his radio broadcasts to criticize what he perceived to be poor security throughout the federal government. He found an opportunity for action when an Argonne guard and switchboard operator, Charles Rogal, reported lax security at the site to Harvey's friend, conservative Rep. Fred Busbey, who later testified on Harvey's behalf.
Harvey persuaded John Crowley, who worked for the Office of Naval Intelligence, and Rogal to join him that frosty February night on a trip to Argonne. As Harvey scaled the 10-foot fence, his winter overcoat caught in the barbed wire at the top. While he was trying to extricate himself, a jeep patrol found and detained him.
Harvey was turned over to FBI agents, questioned, and released.
Meanwhile, Crowley and Rogal, hiding in the bushes nearby, slipped away. Harvey's car, found hidden near the lab, contained a wallet and papers that led to their identification.
At first, Harvey denied he was testing Argonne's security; he did say he had been cooperating with several government departments, but couldn't talk about his work. The FBI denied any connection with him.
No less an eminence than Harold Urey -- winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize in chemistry -- said he was disappointed that guards did not shoot Harvey. But when reporters asked Rogal if there had been any fear of being shot by guards, he said, "Not one of them could shoot and hit the side of a barn."
A federal grand jury, presided over by U.S. Attorney Otto Kerner, who later became Illinois governor, heard the federal government's charges against Harvey for conspiracy to obtain information on national security and transmit it to the public. If convicted, Harvey could have been fined $10,000 and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Kerner granted Harvey permission to appear before the grand jury on March 21, 1951, with the stipulation that he first sign a waiver preventing him from later claiming immunity from prosecution for anything his testimony might reveal.
On April 4, 1951, the grand jury voted not to indict Harvey. According to Bartlett Loomis, the grand jury foreman, the vote was not even close.
And Harvey's distinctive radio broadcast is still going strong today.
www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/History/news960206.html