Martin Sheen's Nuclear-Powered Citation

Mon., Apr. 2, 2007 1:01 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

President Josiah Bartlet might be retired, but that's not stopping him from taking an active role in politics.

Authorities cited a group of 39 activists, including former West Wing commander in chief Martin Sheen, on Sunday for trespassing onto the Nevada Test Site as part of rally for U.S. nuclear disarmament.

The demonstrators were taken into custody after they breached the "Do Not Cross" line painted on the road at the entrance to the facility, located about 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas along U.S. 95 in the town of Mercury. They were held in a chainlink pen and released following the conclusion of the protest.

The activists had congregated there after federal officials announced plans to detonate 700 tons of conventional explosives on June 23 to study the impact of bunker-busting bombs. Sheen & Co. said they were not concerned not only about the environmental impact of the underground blasts—which, they claim could potentially release into the air radioactive material in the ground from previous nuclear testing—but also that such studies could lead to the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.

The demonstration, which also featured peace activist and retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, was sponsored by the Nevada Desert Experience and drew between 75 (according to the local sheriff's count) and 150 (per the organizers) people.

"We want to cry out for the transformation of the nuclear industrial complex into life-enhancing modes of energy research and production," the group said of the protest on its Website.

"We desire to curb the threat of any future war with Iran, and to raise awareness of U.S. nuclear hypocrisy as represented by the existence of the Nevada Test Site and other nuclear facilities in this country."

The site served for more than 40 years as the main hub of the military's nuclear bomb tests, both above and below ground, until such activity ended in 1992.

There was no immediate comment Monday from Sheen's publicist.

But the 66-year-old actor is no stranger to police blotter for his political views, having willingly subjected himself to arrest on behalf of various causes over the last two decades. He is an outspoken proponent for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, abortion rights and nuclear disarmament.

Two weeks ago, Sheen led a march of peace activists in Hollywood to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraw war. He also appeared in a four-minute Internet video on YouTube calling for the release of a Sudanese citizen whom he said has been wrongly held by an enemy combatant for five years at Guantanamo Bay Navy Base in Cuba.

''No one should be detained without a court hearing just on the word of a president. Any president,'' Sheen says in the video.

Sheen's protest spree is apparently coming during a break in his studies at Dublin's National University Galway, where he's been working on a college degree since the end of The West Wing's seven season run on NBC last year.