Global Security Newswire

An internal probe by the security contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex has found no "intentional wrongdoing" by personnel linked to  the wrongful dissemination of quiz and response information on defensive procedures at the Tennessee nuclear weapons facility, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported on Wednesday.

The Energy Department's Health, Safety and Security Office late last month found unauthorized duplicates of examination sheets and correct quiz responses in a guard vehicle at the site. The Energy Department provided the details in advance of administering the quiz to ensure they conformed to Y-12 operations.

The discovery prompted worries over a possible effort to illicitly bolster testing performance among workers for WSI-Oak Ridge, a division of G4S Government Solutions.

The company on Monday provided the facility's private operator with findings from a methodical check into whether defensive personnel had received the data as part of an attempted examination fraud, spokeswoman Courtney Henry said.

The audit turned up a "series" of electronic communications soliciting input on the "factual accuracy of a proposed written examination" for testing certain protection personnel, according to comments prepared by WSI-Oak Ridge.

"The e-mail, along with the list of proposed questions, was reviewed by a protective force supervisor who, thinking it was a study guide, sent it out to his employees," the firm stated.

John Garrity, who until recently oversaw Y-12 defensive activities for WSI-Oak Ridge, supplied the quiz information to the manager who disseminated it, Henry said. The examination breach preceded Garrity's temporary removal from the position.

Henry reported no further developments when questioned on Garrity's standing. Further consideration of the matter would take place following an assessment of the defensive firm's audit by site managing contractor Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, she indicated.

The spokeswoman refused to identify the manager said to have wrongfully provided the quiz information to personnel.

The Energy Department discovered the quiz information during a comprehensive Energy Department assessment of site protective procedures requested following a high-profile infiltration by peace activists in July.

"The company remains focused on providing support for, and to concluding a safe and secure [Energy Department] inspection," WSI-Oak Ridge added in its prepared remarks.

The DOE audit appeared set to conclude by Saturday, the News Sentinel reported.