Pentagon reels from second major nuclear arms blunder in a month

[babylonsister]

Pentagon reels from second major nuclear arms blunder in a month
Last updated at 15:38pm on 26th October 2007


The Pentagon was reeling last night from the American military's second major nuclear weapons blunder in a month.

Congress is demanding a full scale investigation and serious questions are being asked about the competence of the officers in charge of the world's mightiest arsenal.

The latest outrage came as Commander Michael Portland, the officer in charge of the USS Hampton, the most advanced nuclear attack submarine in the world, was fired after it was discovered that he had neglected to make basic daily safety checks.

Last month 70 US airmen were demoted after they lost track of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles and allowed them to be flown halfway across America by a bomber crew that didn't even know they were there.

The Pentagon said that it had lost confidence in Commander Portland's leadership after checks showed that he had failed to analyse the chemical and radiological properties of the submarine's nuclear reactor for a month.

It is considered vital that the reactor's condition be fully examined every day so that any malfunction can be caught early.

If something went wrong with the reactor it could lead to a devastating nuclear accident.

more...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=489958&in_page_id=1811

[krispos42]

1. This isn't a nuclear weapons fiasco, though.

It's a nuclear powerplant fuckup.

Bad, but not anywhere close to as deadly as a lost nuke.



<on edit: fiasco, not fiaso>

[dkofos]

2. How long will it take to clean up the trail of incompetence left by the BFEE??

[hack89]

3. Ship COs have been fucking up and getting fired for years

it has nothing to do with Bush.

[Ezlivin]

10. Too bad our "CO" hasn't gotten the boot over his many fuck-ups

If Bush was the CO on my sub his performance at this point would warrant him being busted down to E-1.

And that would be a gift....

[unhappycamper]

4. The old B-52 sixth nuke and Hampton thing, eh?

k&r

[Rex]

6. Yep

Connect those dots.

[hack89]

8. Don't see the connection

between nuclear warheads and a nuclear propulsion plant.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. I feel so safe I wanna lock myself in one

Yeeeesh :scared:

[peacetalksforall]

7. Is there talk about getting rid of certain people to move their people in?

Does anyone think that Cheney is selling the nukes?

If we can sell Iran F-xx parts and nuclear supplies, why not a former North Dakota stored bomb? Just ratcheting up the Iran-Contra type operations? All the same players are there and active, except Ollie.

[flashl]

9. Several years ago, an inventory of nukes was done

DoD could not locate all of the nukes on the computer inventory. If DoD loses a trillion dollars and hasn't had a balanced budget in years, I have no confidence that they acutally know where the nukes are either.

This admin keep vital public information secret, I am suspicious as to why these nuke mishaps are being reported. :tinfoilhat:

[hootinholler]

11. Sloppy headline!

This was not a nuclear arms issue at all. It was a powerplant issue, very different.

-Hoot