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The Courage Foundation has opened an emergency fund for
Trident whistleblower William McNeilly's defence costs.
Able Seaman William McNeilly is a 25-year-old British
Engineering Technician Weapons Engineer Submariner who has blown the
whistle on major safety risks and cover-ups within the British Royal
Navy's Trident nuclear weapons programme, stating, "We are so
close to a nuclear disaster it is shocking, and yet everybody is
accepting the risk to the public."
William McNeilly released a 16-page report to WikiLeaks, who published the original in
full. The report draws on McNeilly's experience in the Royal Navy to
detail security lapses, safety hazards and a culture of secrecy and
cover-up. In particular, McNeilly describes surprisingly weak security
around the UK's Trident nuclear submarine base, writing that
"it's harder to get into most nightclubs than it is to get into
the [restricted] Green Area."
McNeilly has turned himself in to police and is now being held
in Royal Navy custody at an undisclosed location, where he faces
potential prosecution.
Whilst it is yet unclear what charges McNeilly will face, he is in
military custody and the UK has a number of military charges that,
like the Espionage Act in the United States, do not offer defendants
the chance to make a public interest defence.
Regarding his reasons for acting as he has done, McNeilly
explained the difficulty of achieving results through regular
channels: "I'm releasing this information in this way because
it's the only way I can be sure it gets out. I raised my concerns
about the safety and security of the weapon system through the chain
of command on multiple occasions. My concern couldn't have been any clearer."
The Courage Foundation is taking McNeilly on as an emergency
case, providing a defence fund immediately for the public to donate
to, ensuring that it is possible for him to mount the best defence
from the start.
Britain's nuclear deterrent, which is based at Falsane in
Scotland, has been the subject of increasing domestic controversy over
recent months as the latest possible date for a political decision on
its renewal draws near. The Scottish National Party, whose MPs won 56
of Scotland's 59 parliamentary seats in the recent General Election,
is strongly opposed to a Trident replacement being commissioned.
Among the most startling of McNeilly's revelations include the
fact that three missile launch tests failed, missile safety alarms
were ignored, torpedo compartments were flooded and bags were not
properly checked for security risks. He also claims that HMS Vanguard
crashed into a French submarine in February 2009. McNeilly says there
was a "massive cover up of the incident. For the first time the
no personal electronic devices with a camera rule was enforced."
At the time, the Guardian reported that "the Ministry of
Defence initially refused to confirm the incident" and that
Vanguard suffered mere "scrapes", but McNeilly says one
officer told him, "We thought, this is it - we're all going to die."
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