Robert Michael O'Connor Interview, 23 February 2005

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TT:	Ok, so it wasn't really a locked cover, it was just covering and you could just flip up?
MO:	Not flip it; you had to take bolts out of it. You actually had to have a wrench and then you had to have two people with different combinations to open that thing.
TT:	So they had a separate above ground security guy there anytime that was opened.
MO:	They had to, that was procedure.
TT:	OK. So you'd go down there in that Bosun's chair and work?
MO:	Yeah. The only thing I had to do was to go down and make sure the sump pump pumped.
TT:	Oh, to get the water out so it didn't fill with water.
MO:	Yeah. I was up there on water watch one time and they had me in a helicopter flying around looking at all the water, where it was, and I was talking to them on the radio and they're out here saying back in this area and the water's coming all the way around and coming in the back door. They had no idea they wondered where it was all coming from (laughing heartily).
TT:	But you guys really didn't access any of that, so I wasn't quite sure if that was a lock to open that hatch to get at those combos, but you're saying it was just like a couple of bolts that held it down huh?
MO:	Yeah. It was a waterproof seal—a cover you had to take off.
TT:	And then once they did those combos then what? Was a plug in there or something, that would raise that big—so that they could hit the hydraulic to open the big hatch—?
MO:	No, that wasn't on hydraulics that got blown off.
TT:	No, I'm not talking about the blast door. I'm talking about just getting into the access side of the silo; it's called an "A" plug and a "B" plug or something like that? I think it was the "A" plug that's about six foot across, then there's a big concrete plug in there that has to go down to the—
MO:	It's not concrete.
TT:	Oh, steel?
MO:	—probably 12 foot thick.
TT:	Yeah, that plug that went down—
MO:	Right. I just hope I don't get in trouble (smiling). You aren't going to advertise this I hope.
TT:	I think their security systems are completely different from what they were then.
MO:	I'm sure they are—they were in the process of changing everything over when I got out.
TT:	Let's go back and talk about the sighting. Where were you coming from at the time? Had you come right from base?
MO:	Yeah.
TT:	Had you stopped in at November-1 to see the FSC?

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