Air Force Unit's Nuclear Weapons Security Is 'Unacceptable'

[thecrow]

Source: Washington Post

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 31, 2008; Page A03

The same Air Force unit at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota that was responsible for mishandling six nuclear cruise missiles last August failed key parts of a nuclear safety inspection this past weekend, according to a Defense Department report.

The 5th Bomb Wing was given an "unacceptable" grade in security of nuclear weapons, according to the review by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. In another category, management and administration, it received a grade of "marginal," based on deficiencies in recording changes that affected the operational status of nuclear cruise missiles and gravity bombs.

Those are two areas where failures last summer allowed a B-52 at Minot to be loaded with six air-launched cruise missiles and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana without the pilots, air or ground crews knowing they contained nuclear warheads.

Among the problems found during last week's inspection: Internal security forces did not go to assigned defensive areas during an exercise that involved an attempt to steal a nuclear weapon; security guards failed to search an emergency vehicle that entered and left the nuclear storage area during that exercise; a security guard used his cellphone to play video games while on duty; and guards were unarmed at traffic control points along the route where nuclear weapons were to travel.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053003120.html?nav=rss_nation

[Sam Ervin jret]

1. too busy checking every one's shampoo and shoes and reading the emails to care about the

Thermal NU-CU-LAR de'vices

Idiots and assholes. Our country is run by idiots and assholes.

[ensho]

2. seems they forgot that radiation poison lasts forever

nt

[angstlessk]

3. this is the christo-air force now..if god wants a nuke to explode/be stolen so be it!

it's all in god's hands now.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Nothing to worry about. I am, smirk, in charge. Smirk." - Commander AWOL

[struggle4progress]

19. It smells like the SOB wants a nuke to go off in an American city:as commander-in-chief

he trashed the CIA's anti-WMD shop and allowed a horrifying lapse in nuclear-weapons stockpile security

[smoogatz]

5. Well, what do you expect?

When Republicans run the country, the country goes to shit.

[lovuian]

6. But who issued the order to MOVE them

thats what I want to know

[TomInTib]

8. Don't hold your breath.

There are quite a few folks here on DU who have been involved in the handling/security of tactical nukes. And not a single one of us has a clue as to how it happened, other than the word came from the highest level at DoD or White House. The fact that six nukes flew around like that (with only the slightest mention by MSM) is very disturbing, to say the least.

[hack89]

9. The order was not specifically to move nuclear warheads

the order was to fly unarmed cruise missiles to Barksdale to be decommissioned. It was a routine transfer. What happened was a breakdown in procedures whereby Minot lost track of which missiles had warheads and which ones did not. Reading this report it looks like they have big problems across the board.

[frog92969]

11. Not routine...

they don't transfer them under the wings.

[hack89]

12. And you know this how?

it strikes me as a perfectly reasonable way to move them - lot safer then trucking them.

[frog92969]

15. My mistake

I read there's a law against nukes being transfered in launch position over the US.
Your post had them assuming they were conventional, which probably is routine since I've heard of more than one being dropped on us by *accident* in the news.

It seems pretty wasteful to transfer them that way though, since they could pack so many more onto cargo planes.

[hack89]

13. 200 missiles transferred this way

In March 2007, the USAF decided to retire its AGM-129 complement in order to help comply with international arms-control treaties and to replace them with AGM-86 missiles.<5> In order to do so, the USAF began to transport its AGM-129s stored at Minot by B-52s to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for ultimate disposal. By August 29, 2007 according to the Washington Post, more than 200 AGM-129s had been shipped from Minot to Barksdale in this manner.<6>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_incident

[electron_blue]

14. Yep. From what all I've learned, this is what most likely happened.

I have relatives who used to work with nuclear weapons at, of all places, Minot AFB. What you suggest is also what they think most likely happened.

[Algorem]

7. Don't worry,it's just the,you know,nuclear bombs.

[rcsl1998]

10. Another In The Long Lost Proving...

...that those who believe that government is government can't be run efficiently and effectively should NEVER be in power of running it!

[bean fidhleir]

16. Have they fired the commander yet?

If they haven't, why not?

[14thColony]

17. This is the NEW wing commander

who was brought in after virtually everyone in the senior leadership was fired after the August debacle. When a new wing/cc in appointed after his predecessor and virtually his whole staff got FIRED for something like this, rest assured he comes in wielding an ax and a flamethrower to get things right FAST, since he knows his will be the next head on the block if anything like this happens again. That they failed again indicates that problems were systemic to the point that even the new wing commander, no doubt working them 24/7 to fix things, could not right this ship. God help the new wing commander, since this one will almost certainly be fired as well.

[Big_Mike]

18. The Commander is responsible for all that the unit does or fails to do. He deserves to be fired.

It is that simple.

I spent 8 years in nuke weapons, and worked as NCOIC at a nuclear weapons storage site in Germany in the mid-80s. The commander can drive and whip the troops, but if the NCOs are weak, and these ones sound like spineless jellyfish to me, that unit and the commander are doomed. You have to take this seriously, and Joe Troopy won't do that unless someone is providing a strong example to the young 'uns.

If guards are sent out with no weapons, then someone is too worried about the "public relations" aspect of an accidental discharge and the possibility of injury. OK, that is what risk management and good training are about. Someone injured or killed due to weapon mishandling is tragic. But what do you say when a live nuclear weapon is taken because the guards were unarmed? "Sorry, it was nice to know you, Los Angeles?" These kids have to handle their weapons and be able to use them like they were extensions of their own hands. Weapons skills are extremely frangible, and they degrade quickly. The only way to keep sharp is to fire often, train very hard using umpires, blanks, and MILES to see if anyone can actually hit anything. They must familiarize fire at least monthly, and qualify at least semi-annually. THESE ARE NUKES. THEY ARE WORTH THE COST OF TRAINING TO PROTECT THEM. Any other view is very deadly to our own nation, let alone some (extremely unlikely at this time) foreign opponent.

What that command needs is someone to put a shiny dress shoe (it is the Air Farce) dead square in these security pukes collective asses and get those people up to speed. The results of that inspection are completely, totally, and unbelievably unacceptable.

Frankly, I think the commander, senior staff, and the senior enlisted all ought to be charged with dereliction of duty. Then throw them out - no honorable retirement since they failed their duty. And no retirement or discharge for the "Convenience of the Government" or other such balderdash. Publicly fry them and shame them and throw them out with the trash they are. Bad Conduct Discharge.

[skoalyman]

20. What do you expect from an awol president.

[Big_Mike]

21. While the rot often starts at the top

The units in the line should NEVER reflect that. Look over the entire cold war period and you find that regardless of Administration, the job was getting done by the folks on the ground, under the surface, and in the air. I went into nukes while Carter was still in office, and was in there through Reagan's unilateral disarmament. Folks knew the rules and followed them. If anyone didn't, they were slammed like a spider in a Garfield comic strip.

If we could follow the rules through Harry Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ, Tricky Dicky, Gerry Ford, Jimmy, Ronnie, Bush the Elder and Bill Clinton (the first Chief Executive in quite some time with NO military experience), then why should it fall apart now?

AFAIAC, it is all about senior people more worried about appearances than about reality. It it looks good, they think, then it IS good.

Definitely not a Warfighter mentality at all.