Plutonium was stolen from a government official’s car last year. It's still missing.
Plutonium went missing from the back seat of government worker's car last March, and the Department of Energy still has no idea where it went.
In March 2017, two Energy Department officials were supposed to drive from an Idaho lab to pick up some nuclear materials in San Antonio, Texas, and bring them back safely, The Center for Public Integrity reports. They rented a Ford Expedition, packed some plutonium and cesium, and eventually stopped at a Marriott hotel for the night. In the morning, the nuclear materials they left in the back seat were gone.
Notably, the two so-called energy experts didn't even pick up their intended cargo in San Antonio before losing the radioactive elements they brought from home. Plutonium and cesium are used to calibrate radiation detectors, which the experts would've needed to do before measuring the San Antonio materials to ensure they grabbed the right stuff, per CPI.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That was more than a year ago. Yet San Antonio police and the FBI never publicly announced the dangerous and valuable materials went missing, CPI says. In fact, police and the FBI only discussed the case by phone. And it's not an uncommon story: Plutonium has silently disappeared from U.S. military stockpiles for years despite presidential pledges to safeguard it from would-be terrorists.
Officials won't disclose just how much plutonium went missing — but don't worry, a spokeswoman assured CPI, it's not enough to make a bomb. Read more at The Center for Public Integrity.
-
Why is Trump’s alleged strike on Venezuela shrouded in so much secrecy?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Trump’s comments have raised more questions than answers about what his administration is doing in the Southern Hemisphere
-
Vance’s ‘next move will reveal whether the conservative movement can move past Trump’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why recognizing Somaliland is so risky for IsraelTHE EXPLAINER By wading into one of North Africa’s most fraught political schisms, the Netanyahu government risks further international isolation
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
-
Hegseth rejects release of full boat strike footageSpeed Read There are calls to release video of the military killing two survivors of a Sept. 2 missile strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat
-
Trump vows naval blockade of most Venezuelan oilSpeed Read The announcement further escalates pressure on President Nicolás Maduro
