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A military-watchdog group is alleging that the Army failed to adequately notify Utah's state leaders and public safety officials when it lost track of a vial of VX nerve agent in January.
"It appears that there was a breakdown in communication," said Steve Erickson, who runs the Citizens Education Project. "We find this to be not only astonishing but very disturbing."
Dugway Proving Ground, a secure testing facility for biological and chemical weapons defenses, was placed on lockdown for more than 12 hours on Jan. 26 and 27 when an inspection discovered what appeared to be a missing vial of VX — the most potent of all nerve agents, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials at the remote Army installation, 90 miles southwest of Salt Lake City in Utah's west desert, abruptly ordered gates closed at 5:24 p.m. on Jan. 26. Up to 2,200 workers were detained while security teams searched for the vial, which was discovered intact about 3 a.m. on Jan. 27. The lockdown was lifted about four hours later, though inspection of vehicles leaving the base continued until about 10:30 a.m.
Dugway officials blamed "an administrative error" for the alarm, saying that the problem happened when two testers removed the agent from storage for testing, then put it back in the wrong vial.
But Erickson said the response was real — and flawed.
He said that documents requested under Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act — just hours before the state Senate voted on a measure that he feared would strip away public access to such records — show that the Army failed to notify Utah Gov. Gary Herbert or the Tooele County Sheriff's Office of the potential that a weapon of mass destruction may have been loose in the state.
In response to his request for "all records" associated with the incident, he said, he received just one email exchange between two state staff members.
"I'm assuming you've seen this," Department of Environmental Quality director Renette Anderson wrote at 10:37 the morning after the incident, linking to a news story about the lockdown.
"Thank you Renette," Ginger Fairbanks, executive assistant to the governor's chief of staff, replied a few minutes later. "I think we are OK now."
Erickson was incensed. "Really?" he quipped. "That's all?"
The governor's spokeswoman, Ally Isom, said that Dugway "did not follow protocol." After the incident, the governor met with Dugway commander Col. William King and, Isom said, "the gravity of the situation was understood."
Frank Park, the Tooele County sheriff, wrote in response to Erickson's email that his office "had no contact with the depot. Our information gained during that time was from the news media only."
Dugway communications director Paula Nicholson denied Erickson's claims, saying that she personally notified Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Lance Davenport "that evening" and sent emails to other public safety officials.
Nicholson later provided a log showing that Dugway officials had released written information to the Tooele County Emergency Management Office and the state Department of Public Safety starting just after 11 that evening — and had spoken to individuals from those offices "earlier."
But Tooele County emergency management public information officer Wade Mathews said that he had to reach out to Dugway after receiving a phone call about the lockdown from a member of the media.
"That's a little frustrating," he said. "I think the lack of notification was unusual because we have a good working relationship with Dugway Proving Ground which we have been working on improving over the past 15 or 20 years."
Mathews said he offered his office's assistance but was turned down and not told about the nature of the emergency.
Linda Johnson, part of the SaveGRAMA.org citizens initiative — was dismayed at Dugway's secrecy and the time it took to inform local leaders of what was going on.
"That was hours into this event," she said. "It's not like when I lose my glasses and I wait until tomorrow to call the shop to have them replaced."
"If someone had walked off the base with that in their pocket, even if they knew it went missing at that very moment, that person could have gotten into their vehicle and could be all the way to Reno — or they could be on an airplane," Erickson said.