Deseret Chemical Depot - Unknown Intruder

Unknown Intruder

At 9:24 AM UTC-07, September 5, 2002, officials at the depot triggered the Terrorist Alert Warning System in response to an unidentified intruder being spotted near an old pioneer cemetery, located within the secured perimeter of the depot. The cemetery is roughly a mile north of the incinerator on a hilltop. It was the first time that the alarm, which alerts employees to possible terror threats, had been sounded since new security measures were instituted after 9/11. As soon as the alert was sounded, area schools were notified of a possible terror threat.

Due to the proximity of the date of the intrusion to the September 11th attacks the year before, security was even higher than normal, and it was initially reported to KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah that units from the 145th Field Artillery group, a part of the Utah National Guard, had the intruder surrounded. Army officials later stated that the trespasser, who was dressed in dark clothing and fled when sighted by four different soldiers during two different patrols, had escaped the depot. Despite the immediate setting up of roadblocks and a combined search by Army units and helicopters, no trace of the intruder was found. Officials emphasized that the intruder was not in the area where chemical weapons were stored, but "unsettling questions remain" about his intentions, as there was no evidence of anything being stolen or that terrorism was in fact involved.