Judge blocks Kitsap County from releasing nuke exercise info

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) --  A federal judge is blocking Kitsap County from releasing information about plans for responding to accidents involving nuclear warheads at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton in Tacoma on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order at the request of the Navy, the FBI and other federal agencies.

The agencies say Kitsap County was planning to release documents about nuclear accident response planning and exercises pursuant to a public records request from a community activist. But they say Kitsap County only had those documents because it participated in joint training exercises with federal responders, and a condition of the county receiving the documents was that it not release them without permission.

The Navy describes the documents as protected national security information. The judge said the federal agencies are likely to win the case. He set a hearing for Dec. 24.