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Nuke-Armed B52 a "Chain of Errors" ??'

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by marcus (activ-l) Sep 24, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2993312.ece


'Chain of errors' led to 36-hour US nuclear blunder

By Stephen Foley in New York

Nuclear warheads capable of unleashing the equivalent of 10 Hiroshima
bombs were mistakenly flown across the United States by a bomber crew
who thought they were dummies, and the terrifying security lapse was
not discovered for almost 36 hours, it has been revealed.

The Pentagon is examining how so many vital checks and balances,
painstakingly set out during the Cold War era, broke down to cause an
incident that military personnel are calling one of the biggest
mistakes in US Air Force history.

The flight last month was the first time in 40 years that nuclear bombs
have been flown over US territory without specific authorisation from
the top of the air force. Critics have argued that safety procedures
have been disregarded as funds and expertise are diverted to new wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The B-52 took off from the remote Minot air force base in North Dakota
with 12 cruise missiles that were being taken out of commission and
scheduled for burial in Louisiana. The warheads on the decommissioned
missiles should have been replaced with dummies of the same weight, but
personnel failed to notice that six of the 12 were fully operational
nuclear warheads.

The flight, on 30 August, was kept secret by the US Air Force, until
news leaked on to military websites a week later. The Washington Post
yesterday catalogued the full chain of errors and oversights and
revealed that some of America's most powerful nuclear weapons were in
effect out of supervision for almost 36 hours.

The bomber had sat on the tarmac at Minot overnight, with nothing but
routine security patrols guarding its payload, and then for a further
nine hours at the Barksdale base in Louisiana before the missiles were
unloaded and a shocked transport crew recognised the error. The
incident was deemed so serious that it was immediately reported to the
Pentagon's nuclear planning headquarters and to the Defence Secretary,
Robert Gates, as a so-called "Bent Spear" event. Only "Broken Arrow"
events are more serious  they involve the loss, destruction or mistaken
detonation of a nuclear weapon.

"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."

The chain of errors began in the camouflaged storage bunker in North
Dakota, where nuclear warheads are supposed to be visually checked
through a small window in the missile casing, or marked with a ribbon,
or otherwise catalogued using serial numbers, barcodes and other
markings. The B-52 crew is also required to examine the missiles, but
only the side carrying the six dummy warheads was checked in this case,
it is believed.

The air force insists that the public was never in danger and that even
if the bomber had crashed, fail-safe mechanisms would have ensured that
the bombs could not detonate. Anti-nuclear campaigners said that the
dangerous fissile material inside the warheads could have been released
into the atmosphere if the missiles had been damaged.

Two separate investigations are under way, including one set up in the
past few days under retired general Larry Welch, who once commanded the
strategic bomber fleet, charged with examining if there are widespread
lapses in the way munitions are stored and transported around the US.

Scores of correspondents on military discussion boards have expressed
their surprise and alarm, and warned that standards have slipped since
the height of the Cold War.

One former B-52 commander wrote: "I'm not sure where to begin. I'm
outraged and embarrassed! Back in 1979 we had to sign for nuclear
weapons verifying serial numbers, the security folks posted two-man
guards at the aircraft, the cops enforced two-man maintenance crews
access to aircraft, etc. What the hell happened here?"

Linton Brooks, the man who oversaw billions of dollars in US aid to
help Russia secure its nuclear stockpile, told The Washington Post that
nuclear weapons handling had moved down the agenda.

"Where nuclear weapons have receded into the background is at the
senior policy level, where there are other things people have to worry
about," he said.

Mr Linton resigned in January as director of the National Nuclear
Security Administration.



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