Recent fortifications at fort didn't include a pizza-delivery plan
Wednesday, May 09, 2007 BY WAYNE WOOLLEY AND BRIAN DONOHUE Star-Ledger Staff http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-11/1178687306249090.xml <http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-11/1178687306249090.xml&co ll=1> &coll=1 Surrounded by miles of chain link fence, with the old side roads that once cut through the base closed off since 2001, Fort Dix is effectively an island nestled in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. There are only three ways onto the grounds: a trio of heavily guarded checkpoints, with armed soldiers, concrete barriers and an X-ray machine that sees through truck walls. Nobody gets by without a military-issued ID card. Unless they're delivering pizza. Despite the base's tough security, vendors like laundry and food deliverers are often allowed to enter the base without the background checks or ID passes required of full-time base personnel, according to Rep. Jim Saxton (R-3rd Dist.), whose district includes Fort Dix. Federal prosecutors say the six men accused of plotting a terrorist attack against Fort Dix chose the base in part because one of them had become familiar with it during his days as a pizza deliveryman. Yesterday, the apparent pizza loophole in base security angered Saxton, who called for background checks and ID cards for vendors entering the base. "There's no reason why they shouldn't apply for and receive a plastic card just like I did to gain access to the House of Representatives," Saxton said. "This incident does raise a concern." A spokesman for Fort Dix did not return phone calls seeking comment on the pizza delivery policy. Saxton's spokesman, Jeff Sagnip-Hollendonner said the policy has been to allow vendors onto the installation as long as they are driving a car the guards recognize as a legitimate delivery vehicle, have a valid ID card and are alone. A pair of local pizza deliverymen, both of whom declined to be identified, corroborated Sagnip-Hollendonner's account. The family of one suspect, Serdar Tatar, owns a pizzeria near the base, and Tatar had occasionally passed through the gates to deliver food to personnel, according to the complaint filed in federal court yesterday. In November, authorities said, he was able to purloin a map of the base from his family's restaurant for the group to plan out the attack. While the group had scouted other possible targets, including Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the annual Army-Navy football game, they settled on Fort Dix because of the pizza connection. But while getting a pizza onto the base as a legitimate deliveryman may be easy, several military personnel said yesterday they doubt the ragtag group would have been able to enter the base as a posse of armed terrorists. "To be truthful, I don't think they would have gotten very far," said an Air Force major stationed at the adjacent McGuire Air Force Base who asked his name be withheld because he lacked authorization to comment. Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, civilians were allowed to drive on several local roads that crossed Fort Dix. Within days after the attack, those side roads were closed to through traffic. Since the attacks, all base traffic has been funneled through three checkpoints: one on Route 68; another, known as the "main gate" in the center or Wrightstown; the third on the opposite side of the post in Browns Mills. For nearly a year after the attacks, rifle-toting National Guard Troops manned the checkpoints along with Department of Defense Police officers, who carried pistols. In 2005, Saxton secured a $5 million upgrade to the main gate that includes concrete barriers that force cars to drive in a serpentine pattern. The upgrade also included a $1 million X-ray machine powerful enough to see a man through the metal sides of a truck trailer. Several thousand cars a day pass through the gate in Wrightstown, and drivers are required to show military-issued identification indicating they are either in the military, a civilian employee or a contractor. The ID checks are often stringent. Sgt. Quincy Williams, a Pennsylvania National Guard soldier who volunteered to train other troops at Fort Dix after his year in Iraq ended last year, said he is usually asked by the gate guards to remove his ID card from its carrying case. "Here I am in uniform and I get as much hassle as they would give a civilian," Williams said. "They do their job. I can't imagine a terrorist getting past them." Some soldiers are concerned that pizza delivery vehicles are not subject to the same scrutiny. "That's something they need to be careful with -- I guess the rules get bent," said Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Springs, an Iraq veteran who is on the ROTC faculty at Hofstra University on Long Island and must visit Fort Dix regularly. "Anyway, it's a good thing they did catch them." Saxton introduced legislation in 2003, in the wake of the arrests of more than a dozen illegal immigrants caught on the base working for private contractors, that would have mandated background checks on all workers. The bill foundered after military officials said they would take care of the problem on their own, Saxton recalled. But Saxton said yesterday he wants to re-introduce the bill with language that would include more stringent checks on vendors who now appear to be getting onto the base freely. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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