WaPo: Missteps in the Bunker (B-52 botches)

[babylonsister]

Missteps in the Bunker

By Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 23, 2007; A01

snip//

'What the Hell Happened Here?'

The news, when it did leak, provoked a reaction within the defense and national security communities that bordered on disbelief: How could so many safeguards, drilled into generations of nuclear weapons officers and crews, break down at once?

Military officers, nuclear weapons analysts and lawmakers have expressed concern that it was not just a fluke, but a symptom of deeper problems in the handling of nuclear weapons now that Cold War anxieties have abated.

"It is more significant than people first realized, and the more you look at it, the stranger it is," said Joseph Cirincione, director for nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress think tank and the author of a history of nuclear weapons. "These weapons -- the equivalent of 60 Hiroshimas -- were out of authorized command and control for more than a day."

The Air Force has sought to offer assurances that its security system is working. Within days, the service relieved one Minot officer of his command and disciplined several airmen, while assigning a major general to head an investigation that has already been extended for extra weeks. At the same time, Defense Department officials have announced that a Pentagon-appointed scientific advisory board will study the mishap as part of a larger review of procedures for handling nuclear weapons.

"Clearly this incident was unacceptable on many levels," said an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Edward Thomas. "Our response has been swift and focused -- and it has really just begun. We will spend many months at the air staff and at our commands and bases ensuring that the root causes are addressed."

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/22/AR2007092201447_pf.html

[TomClash]

1. People make mistakes

but this smells like disinformation to me.

[jimshoes]

2. Growing up in the 50's and 60's

we were told that there were too many fail-safe mechanisms in place regarding nuclear weapons that an accident simply could not happen. So, what happened? You'd think with all the dire warnings about rogue states and nuke weapons, we'd be a little more careful about our own potential mushroom clouds.

[Supersedeas]

3. eh, just a systematic gaffe says Warrick & Pincus--move along now