Late Nite Reading: How did nuclear missiles fly across U.S.?

[WillyT]

How did nuclear missiles fly across U.S.?

6 nukes fly across U.S.; no one notices for 36 hours — how could it happen?
By Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus
The Washington Post
Updated: 8:11 p.m. PT Sept 22, 2007

<snip>

Just after 9 a.m. on Aug. 29, a group of U.S. airmen entered a sod-covered bunker on North Dakota's Minot Air Force Base with orders to collect a set of unarmed cruise missiles bound for a weapons graveyard. They quickly pulled out a dozen cylinders, all of which appeared identical from a cursory glance, and hauled them along Bomber Boulevard to a waiting B-52 bomber.

The airmen attached the gray missiles to the plane's wings, six on each side. After eyeballing the missiles on the right side, a flight officer signed a manifest that listed a dozen unarmed AGM-129 missiles. The officer did not notice that the six on the left contained nuclear warheads, each with the destructive power of up to 10 Hiroshima bombs.

That detail would escape notice for an astounding 36 hours, during which the missiles were flown across the country to a Louisiana air base that had no idea nuclear warheads were coming. It was the first known flight by a nuclear-armed bomber over U.S. airspace, without special high-level authorization, in nearly 40 years.

The episode, serious enough to trigger a rare "Bent Spear" nuclear incident report that raced through the chain of command to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and President Bush, provoked new questions inside and outside the Pentagon about the adequacy of U.S. nuclear weapons safeguards while the military's attention and resources are devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Three weeks after word of the incident leaked to the public, new details obtained by The Washington Post point to security failures at multiple levels in North Dakota and Louisiana, according to interviews with current and former U.S. officials briefed on the initial results of an Air Force investigation of the incident.

The warheads were attached to the plane in Minot without special guard for more than 15 hours, and they remained on the plane in Louisiana for nearly nine hours more before being discovered. In total, the warheads slipped from the Air Force's nuclear safety net for more than a day without anyone's knowledge.

"I have been in the nuclear business since 1966 and am not aware of any incident more disturbing," retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, who served as U.S. Strategic Command chief from 1996 to 1998, said in an interview.

<snip>

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20926465/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Guess I'll have to pop some popcorn.

:nuke:

[scarletwoman]

1. "How could it happen?" Oh, give me a fucking break! *Someone* ordered it.

*Someone* had a plan, and the power -- by virtue of being high enough up in the chain of command -- to implement it.

They only got caught because some *other* people were disturbed enough by what they observed -- and brave enough -- to blow the whistle.

There WAS a plan for these missiles, it just got monkey-wrenched by some people with consciences.

sw

[DURHAM D]

2. My thoughts - this was a trial run by some

rogue members of the military.

[aquart]

3. Rogue? No.

I think the trial was being conducted by our fearless leaders.

[RC]

4. I don't think it was a trial run.

Trial runs alert people. That plane was bound for somewhere.
My question is "Are all of our nuclear missiles still accounted for at that ND base and at all other bases that have nuclear devices stored on them?"

I don't believe arming the B-52 was a mistake. The military was following orders.
Has anyone been listening to what baby bu$h has been saying about Iran these last few months. Inserting one of these nuclear devices into one of our carriers that are within range of Iran's missiles and cheney/baby bu$h get what they want again.

[WillyT]

5. Kick !!!

:kick:

[KoKo]

6. Bookmarked to read later...K&R

[KoKo]

7. ,...