A bomb threat note on a restroom wall at Norfolk Naval Shipyard is the latest in a spate of Norfolk-area bomb threats and security scares this week.
“At approximately 7:50 this morning, shipyard law enforcement was dispatched to a complex of work trailers in the industrial area at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, as a result of an employee discovering a bomb threat written on a wall inside a restroom,” Mike Brayshaw, deputy public affairs officer at the shipyard, told Navy Times.
“To ensure the safety of our workforce, additional security measures were immediately implemented for this building and immediate surrounding area — the building was evacuated and will remain evacuated to allow for a thorough security walk through of the building.
Brayshaw said the trailers are used for conducting training for shipyard employees and that the impact is limited to a small area of the shipyard and is not having any impact on work elsewhere at the facility.
The shipyard cannot comment on the specific nature of the threat due to the ongoing investigation, he said, but that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has begin an investigation into this threat as well.
It’s now the eighth bomb threat and ninth security scare at a Norfolk-area Navy installation. The previous seven have now been investigated and found to be hoaxes.
Navy officials are already investigating the multiple bomb threats called into Naval Station, Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek and are calling on sailors and the public to help them find who made the calls, according to a press release sent out by Navy Region Mid-Atlantic late Wednesday.
Tuesday, reports of a diver in the water at Norfolk Naval Station shut down the base’s piers for hours, but nothing was found.
According to the release, the bomb threats started Monday at Little Creek, with a threat called into an unnamed ship.
The calls resumed early early Wednesday morning at Naval Station Norfolk and Little Creek and continued into the afternoon with “several calls to JEB Little Creek and Naval Station Norfolk, impacting ships, pier operations and personnel in several buildings,” the release said. “Following thorough security sweeps, the calls were deemed not credible and normal operations resumed.”
The release said that it is not known yet if the calls are related.
“We take these calls and threats seriously,” the release said. “Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting a thorough investigation into the source of the calls and those found to have called in false threats will be prosecuted to the full extent allowed.”
Anyone having information about the person, or persons, responsible for the calls, the release said, are asked to send an anonymous text tip to NCIS, here’s how.
1. Text to 274637 (CRIMES)
2. Type “NCIS” at the beginning of your text message.
3. Type and send your message including as much detail as possible to ensure the tips can be effectively investigated.
4. You will receive a text with an alias code. This will be your tipster identity code which can be used for follow ups.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
