A new report says U.S. Navy ships at a shipyard in the San Diego Bay are at risk due to gaps in security.
The investigative journalism outlet Inewsource.org first brought the problems to light in December. NBC7 followed up with the Navy to find out how they were addressing the issue.
Inewsource reported the gap stemmed from an insufficient amount of security patrols in the water at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard.
A local Marine veteran brought the issue to Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA, 52).
“Having a combat mindset, you don't really turn it off. It's kind of on all the time and it's hard when you see something, when you see a gap, to not identify it,” Marine Veteran Michael Owen said.
In a statement, Beci Brenton, Corporate Director for Public Affairs at the yard told NBC 7:
“As a matter of policy we do not discuss the security measures we have in place, but they are adequate and do comply with the security requirements dictated by the Navy for the ships we have under repair at our facility. The Navy audits us weekly.”
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The statement went on to say, “While not readily visible in the Inewsource.org video, we do have security vessels in the water, in addition to other security measures which meet the Navy’s requirements. Publically discussing details of our comprehensive security system would be counterproductive to our efforts.”
NBC 7 cameras spotted a security vessel in the water about 25 minutes after we began shooting video from a nearby public park for this report.
Inewsource found two other ship repair companies, NASSCO and BAE systems, were in compliance with Navy security protocol during their follow up.
The companies told NBC7 in previous reports that they had been in compliance.
The U.S. Navy and Congressman Peter's office have not responded to questions from NBC 7 about whether or not they were looking into the Inewsource claims.
