Biography
Michael Walli is a Vietnam War veteran (he served two tours in Vietnam, 1968–1969) who returned to the U.S. and became a Catholic Worker, eventually living at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house in Washington, D.C. With Sister Megan Rice SHCJ and former U.S. Army officer Greg Boertje-Obed, he carried out the Transform Now Plowshares action in the early hours of July 28, 2012, cutting through three perimeter fences and walking into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee — one of the most heavily guarded weapons-grade uranium storage facilities in the world. They reached the wall of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, hung peace banners, splashed human blood, painted slogans, and read a statement aloud while waiting for security. The action exposed catastrophic security failures at Y-12 and led to a federal investigation.
Walli was convicted by a federal jury in Knoxville on May 9, 2013 of sabotage and depredation of government property. On February 18, 2014, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar sentenced him to 62 months in federal prison. On May 8, 2015, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the sabotage conviction and ordered the three released for time served on the lesser depredation count. Walli was freed after roughly two years in federal custody.
Catholic Worker and Vietnam veteran turned anti-war and anti-nuclear activist. With Sister Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed, breached the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on July 28, 2012, the United States' principal storehouse of weapons-grade uranium, hanging banners and splashing blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. Convicted in May 2013 of sabotaging the national defense and damaging federal property. Sentenced February 2014 to just over five years in federal prison. The sabotage conviction was vacated on appeal in May 2015 and Walli was resentenced to time served.
