One of the concerns today is the breakdown in discipline in the handling of nuclear
weapons.
This was highlighted in May this year when the USAF suspended 17 officers,
some 5% of staff, from duties controlling nuclear missiles at the
91st Missile Wing
at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
This base manages one-third of the 450 US ICBM's.
The suspensions came after an inspection revealed a "breakdown in overall
discipline" which led to violations of rules and procedures.
Story by The Guardian here -
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...clear-missiles
This was despite a US DoD Feb 2008 "Report on the Unauthorized Movement
of Nuclear Weapons" that due to what it described as "declining
focus and an eroding nuclear enterprise environment for at least a decade",
an incident occurred whereby a pod of cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads
was flown across several states of the US without the B-52 flight crew being aware
they were carrying the "hot" weapons.
The US DoD report, which makes for interesting reading, is here -
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Se...daleReport.pdf
As the report states, since the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet
Union, there has been a gradual decline in focus in policies, procedures and
processes in handling nuclear weapons. For example, when SAC was disestablished,
the commands handling nuclear weapons were incorporated into others which had
not handled such weapons before nor had a "body of expertise" in handling them.
In regards to the suspension of the officers in May, Associated Press reported that
they had seen an official internal email that "describes a culture of indifference, with at
least one intentional violation of missile safety rules and an apparent unwillingness
among some to challenge or report those who violate rules".
After the anarchy caused by the breakup of the Soviet Union, there was much
concern that Soviet nuclear weapons or materials may fall into the wrong hands or
a mistake be made.
Of equal concern today are the US commands charged with handling and deploying
nuclear weapons becoming increasingly blasé about them.
of a failed switch could have started a conflagration of unimaginable consequences, I think Not.
It is always nice to end it with
