[MilCom] Heads rolling on B-52 incident

[Duane Mantick]

The big deal is that in this day and age of terrorist
concerns, you don't want nuclear warheads flying about
unaccounted for.  Granted, it might sound rather "Tom
Clancy-esque", but can you *imagine* if a terrorist
cell here in the US had known (AKA, "tipped off") of
this and was able to down the aircraft?  A couple of
results possible there....1) while I doubt that this
would result in the detonation of any of the warheads,
there might be a possibility of one or more of them
being compromised and a subsequent release of
radioactive materials; or what would be even worse, 2)
said terrorist cell getting to the wreck site FIRST
and collecting the missiles/warheads or their remains
and using them in some decidedly unfriendly manner
later on. 

Somewhere, someone screwed up.  NOW, all of this being
said, I hope that any dismissals etc., are NOT just
simply "shooting from the hip" but are the result of
some clear-cut investigative results. All flight
operations, etc., are typically logged ad nauseum and
I'd bet that the acquisition and movement of any
weapon with a nuclear warhead is even MORE closely
monitored.  The USAF, if it has not done so already,
should follow those trails back to the persons
*directly* resonsible as well as investigating to see
if some part of the safety protocols had some kind of
loophole in them and if so, plug that sucker up.  I
always hate to see someone simply get whacked because
he or she is in a "buck stops here" position; there
are times when in the delegatino of authority things
can go wrong that this person couldn't possibly have
foreseen when they are things that are "administrivia"
or "minutae" items.

Whacking one commander, so the news story seems to
suggest, strikes me as just that sort of
"scapegoating".........in the absense of any news to
the contrary.  It would be interesting to see a more
thorough investigative result.....however, because of
the terrorist issue that I mentioned before I can
understand why USAF would be reluctant to just go
public and tell everyone "how we screwed up" for the
benefit of anyone who was just looking for a means to
"get inside".  

Hope they get it all sorted out....and if this
commander indeed deserved dismissal or other sanctions
then so be it but if just "scapegoated" IMHO should be
restored to duty status pending more in-depth
investigation.

Duane

--- Amtrak35 at aol.com wrote:

> Personally I don't see the big deal but I'm not in
> charge of Nuke inventory...
> 
> 
> AF commander fired over mishandling of nuclear
> warheads
> By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press 
> Posted Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 1:09 pm
> 
> WASHINGTON — A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed
> with six nuclear warheads and 
> flown for more than three hours across several
> states last week, prompting an 
> Air Force investigation and the firing of one
> commander, Pentagon officials 
> said today.
> 
> Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed
> Services Committee, called the 
> mishandling of the weapons "deeply disturbing" and
> said the committee would 
> press the military for details.
> 
> The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from
> Minot Air Force Base, 
> N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30,
> said the officials, who spoke 
> on condition of anonymity because of a Defense
> Department policy not to 
> confirm information on nuclear weapons.
> 
> The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were
> mounted onto pylons on the 
> bomber's wings and it is unclear why the warheads
> had not been removed 
> beforehand.
> 
> The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide
> stand down on Sept. 14 to 
> review procedures, officials said. They said there
> was minimal risk to crews 
> and the public because of safety features designed
> into the munitions.
> 
> In addition to the munitions squadron commander who
> was relieved of his 
> duties, crews involved with the mistaken load —
> including ground crew workers — 
> have been temporarily decertified for handling
> munitions, one official said.
> 
> The investigation is expected to take several weeks.
> 
> The incident was first reported in Military Times
> newspaper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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