Fortunately, Wynne and Moseley can't be blamed for this one; but their replacements and many others connected to another Air Force nuclear faux pas have some serious explaining to do. CNN is reporting that US Air Force officers responsible for a component that contained deactivated launch codes for ICBMs fell asleep on the job in clear violation of protocol. Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado, told CNN that the incident took place on July 12 during a component swap that's used to "facilitate secure communications between an underground missile-control facility and missile silos near Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota." The electronic nuclear code component is considered classified by the Air Force unless you can slip past the sleeping guards. The four officers involved, who were responsible for keeping the component secure until it is returned to the base, placed it in a lockbox for temporary storage. Then Mr. Sandman paid them a visit and three of the four officers fell asleep for two to three hours according to Ford. Protocol requires at least 2 officers to be awake while they have the component in their custody. The electronic code component was later returned to Minot where an investigation was started by Missile Command, Space Command, the 20th Air Force and the National Security Agency. The Air Force claims neither the codes nor national security were compromised as the codes and the component remained in a secured facility; but that won't help these four guys or Air Force leadership as they get grilled for another embarrassing boo-boo. This follows a B-52 last year from Minot (of all places) that took a nice little cross-country flight with the crew unaware that six nuclear warheads were on board and the accidental shipping of ICBM parts to Taiwan in March. Many analysts contribute those incidents to the sacking of the former Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, so this blunder can't look good either.
(CNN)
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Friday, July 25, 2008
Air Force Officers Fall Asleep With Nuke Codes
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In defense of those sleepy missileers - anyone who has gone through the annual Code Change knows its a very stressful time, and the stress doesn't end when you get topside. Not only do you have to obey certain stipulations on traveling out to the field (sometimes leaving as early as 4:30 am to drive 90 minutes to site), but the code change activities in the launch control center require full attention for over 24 hours straight. Yes, I did my share of code changes (2000 to 2005) at Minot, and it was amazing that we didn't cause a catastrophe every year we did it. The Air Force must like hiding the bad things about the nuclear profession, because stuff like this happens all of the time in the missile field, yet strangely enough, nobody does anything about it...
yes, those missileers should be punished - coffee or Mountain Dew may have kept them awake long enough to get out to the missile support base. But couldn't two well-rested officers from the base driven out to grab the Launch Control Panel, so something like this didn't happen? That's the kind of leadership-driven "SAC-ish" thinking that has screwed so many missileers.
Oh, and on a side note, why doesn't the press report about the two Minot officers accused of stealing classified materials from the Launch Control Center, then taking trips overseas immediately afterwards? One was about to get hired to the National Reconnaissance Office, our nation's stewards of space reconnaissance, while the other got a cushy job at the 20th Air Force Headquarters as a general's aide-de-camp. Yeah, according to the Air Force, nothing like this **ever** happens. America, open your eyes, and demand answers.
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