12TH District legislators Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande issued a statement Monday in reaction to the guilty verdicts rendered against 5 terrorists for conspiring to murder U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix:

"Today's verdict is a stark reminder that there are people all over the world and even in the United States who want to do harm to U.S. citizens and U.S. service personnel. It is also a stark reminder of the foolishness of the U.S. Navy's plan to put civilian housing at Naval Weapons Station Earle, which is the largest munitions depot in the United States.

Part of the terrorist plan involved planning a way for these men to sneak on to the base to carry out their evil plot. If the Navy has their way at Earle, people with evil intentions could already be living on the base, in close proximity to weapons of all kinds.

We will continue to work with Congressman Chris Smith and the United States Government to convince them the their ill conceived plan to have civilians living on NWS Earle is a safety risk we cant afford, and today's conviction of the Fort Dix 5 is proof of that.