A panel of experts yesterday blasted the U.S. Defense Department for failing to ensure that its nuclear arsenal is secure and that all weapons are where they are supposed to be, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Feb. 4).
“The decline of DOD focus has been more pronounced than realized and too extreme to be acceptable,” according to the experts’ report.
The document was issued by a standing task force of the Defense Science Board, a group of private military and scientific experts that provides technical advice to the Pentagon.
“The nation and its leadership do not value the nuclear mission and the people who perform that mission,” the chairman of the task force, retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting.
The report rose from the panel’s study of an August incident in which personnel at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., mistakenly loaded six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles onto a B-52 that then flew to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
“No one knew where they were, or even missed them, for over 36 hours,” said committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). “This entire episode really is a wake-up call.”
The Air Force’s emphasis on nuclear security and control “has diminished since 1991,” according to a statement from three high-level service officers who investigated the August flight. The Air Force subsequently “began 17 years of continuous combat power commitments” using B-52 and other aircraft once assigned to nuclear work.
While top flag officers or high-level civilians oversaw Defense Department nuclear programs during the Cold War, the job is now assigned to lower-level officials, the Defense Science Board task force said. It recommended assigning flag officers from each service to nuclear operations duty and appointing an assistant defense secretary for nuclear enterprise.
The Air Force might make changes to the inspection process for nuclear weapons maintenance units, including conducting checks on shorter notice, said Lt. Gen. Daniel Darnell, deputy chief of operations. The service gave the Minot unit a strong rating not long before the incident (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Feb. 13).
“This was the result of a lack of attention to detail and lack of adherence to well-established Air Force guidelines, technical orders and procedures,” Darnell said of the unintentional nuclear weapons transfer. The flight cost roughly 24 personnel their jobs, he said.
Air Force officials said, though, that there was minimal likelihood of a catastrophe or a release of plutonium from the warheads, the Associated Press reported. “There was never an unsafe condition,” Darnell said during the hearing.
Darnell said the Air Force since August has made dozens of recommended security improvements, but Levin countered that it has failed to follow up on most of 132 recommendations made by three investigatory panels (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Battle Creek Inquirer, Feb. 12).
Safety records show the Air Force Air Combat Command since 2001 has experienced 237 nuclear “Dull Sword” incidents involving its nuclear weapons, the Air Force Times reported yesterday.
A Dull Sword incident is a “safety deficiency not included in the accident or incident categories.”
There were a wide range of incident types, including problems in designating which personnel can be involved in weapons handling, broken weapons towing vehicles and failures of equipment that place weapons on aircraft.
The 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base racked up 45 incidents, five less than the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale. Topping the list with 111 incidents was the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. (Michael Hoffman, Air Force Times, Feb. 12).
