"Crews for 450 ICBMs had only 1 wrench that could attach the nuclear warheads.They FedExed it among

[kpete]

Pentagon Studies Reveal Major Nuclear Problems
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROADNOV. 13, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will have to spend billions of dollars over the next five years to make emergency fixes to its nuclear weapons infrastructure, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will announce on Friday, after two separate Pentagon studies concluded that there are “systemic problems across the nuclear enterprise,” according to senior defense officials.

The reports are a searing indictment of how the Air Force’s and Navy’s aging nuclear weapons facilities, silos and submarine fleet have been allowed to decay since the end of the Cold War. A broad review was begun after academic cheating scandals and the dismissal of top officers for misbehavior, but it uncovered far more serious problems.

For example, while inspectors obsessed over whether every checklist and review of individual medical records was completed, they ignored huge problems, including aging blast doors over 60-year-old silos that would not seal shut and, in one case, the discovery that the crews that maintain the nation’s 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles had only a single wrench that could attach the nuclear warheads.

“They started FedExing the one tool” to three bases spread across the country, one official familiar with the contents of the reports said Thursday. No one had checked in years “to see if new tools were being made,” the official said. This was one of many maintenance problems that had “been around so long that no one reported them anymore.”


MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/us/politics/pentagon-studies-reveal-major-nuclear-problems.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Apparenlty our nuclear weapons maitenance has

been subcontracted to The Three Stooges.

[Johonny]

2. And yet we are constantly at war

it is almost like these things aren't very useful in modern war. How much should the Pentagon spend on weapon systems they never, ever will use in combat?

[Orsino]

3. Mutually Assured Disarray.

It's like a science-fiction priesthood after an apocalypse, performing secret rituals with relucs they longer understand.

This is a deterrent to what, exactly?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. a prefect statement.......

So well stated.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Hopefully, they'll lose that one and render all of the ICBM's inoperable.

[hedgehog]

6. Wait - does this mean that they can't launch? Sounds good to me!

[angrychair]

9. sounds great

[Orrex]

7. They used to have a second wrench, but then

somebody dropped it.

[oldandhappy]

8. one wrench??

and how much are we spending on our defense??

and does this mean we have effectively reduced out nuclear warhead capability to one??!!

[angrychair]

10. hmmmm

Not sure I see a big issue...I vote we leave them with one wrench.

[jtuck004]

11. That's ok. $13.37, and free shipping if NASA orders over $35 worth,

get a bunch more.



And if that doesn't work. grab this off the shelf...



We could build a shuttle out of this stuff.

[Fearless]

12. I'm soooo glad the nation's nuclear weapons are kept functional

Dependent on FedEx not losing a package. Much as I hate nuclear weapons I also don't want them dependent on a lack of package theft.

[Boom Sound 416]

13. That all seems totally believable

NOT!

[Octafish]

14. Pity the poor Pentagon.

What are they raking in for the nuclear upgrade, a trillion? To start.

PDF for details:

http://cns.miis.edu/opapers/pdfs/140107_trillion_dollar_nuclear_triad.pdf

[Odin2005]

15. This is a disgrace.