Dix threat prompts new base security measure

[unhappycamper]

Dix threat prompts new base security measure
By Geoff Mulvihill - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 10, 2007 20:57:02 EST

MOUNT LAUREL, New Jersey — Congress is expected to make it tougher to get onto U.S. military installations, a move that comes in response to an alleged plot to attack soldiers on a New Jersey military installation.

The base security measure is part of a much larger defense policy bill expected to be approved this week before lawmakers go home for their holiday break. Lawmakers from the Senate and House agreed last week on a compromise version of the bill to be presented to both houses.

The measure has been opposed by the Pentagon for years, but gained momentum in May when five foreign-born Muslim men were charged with planning an attack on Fort Dix, near Philadelphia. An attack was never carried out.

The five men, who are originally from Turkey, Jordan and the former Yugoslavia but lived much of their lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, are awaiting trial on federal charges of conspiring to kill military personnel. A sixth man pleaded guilty to supplying weapons to the others.

Authorities said the men chose Fort Dix as a target because one of the men had delivered food on-base for his father’s pizza shop, which was nearby.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_basesecurity_071210/