Tough Punishment Expected for Warhead Errors

Source: Washington Post

Tough Punishment Expected for Warhead Errors
Officers May Lose Commands After Nuclear Missiles Were Flown on Bomber

By Thomas E. Ricks and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers and Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 18, 2007; Page A09

The Air Force has decided to relieve at least five of its officers of command and is considering filing criminal charges in connection with the Aug. 29 "Bent Spear" incident in which nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly flown from North Dakota to Louisiana, two senior Air Force officials said yesterday.

Although senior Defense Department officials have not been fully briefed on the results of an Air Force probe of the incident, the sources said that at least one colonel is expected to lose his position and that several enlisted personnel will also be punished as part disciplinary actions that could be among the toughest meted out by the Air Force in years.

The measures are expected to be formally announced tomorrow along with the detailed findings of an internal, six-week investigation into how a B-52 bomber crew mistakenly flew from one military air base to another with six nuclear warheads strapped to its wings. Air Force veterans have described the Aug. 29 incident as the one of the worst breaches in U.S. nuclear weapons security in decades.

A senior Air Force official familiar with the investigation said officers will be relieved at both installations involved in the incident: Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and Barksdale Air Force Base, La. A colonel commanding one of the Air Force wings is likely to be the highest-ranking officer to be relieved, the official said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/17/AR2007101702300.html?hpid=topnews

"Although some details are not yet publicly known..."

Well I don't believe it. From the posts I've seen here, there is evidently no doubt that it was not an error.

Nobody even goes near a storage bunker without direct orders to many people.
No one person can give that order except perhaps NCA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Command_Authority

National Command Authority (NCA) is a term used by the United States military and government to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders. The term refers collectively to the President of the United States (as commander-in-chief) and the United States Secretary of Defense.

The use of the term dates from the Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union both had nuclear missiles on constant alert and a responsible official had to be available to authorize a retaliatory strike within a matter of minutes. Detailed Continuity of Operations Plans provided for monitoring the whereabouts of certain key government officials who would become the National Command Authority if the President was killed in an enemy attack. Only the NCA can order the use of nuclear weapons, including the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP). They are also the only command that can deploy F-117s. Neither individual, by himself, can order that strategic nuclear weapons be used. If the NCA determines that a nuclear strike is necessary, they must jointly inform the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who in turn will direct a general officer on duty in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the The Pentagon to execute the SIOP.

The term refers to communications with those officers in military command to order U.S. forces into action (see Unified Combatant Command).

Slap a National Secrecy letter on them and throw them in a military prison. End of story.

Move along, nothing to see here.

That's the usual aftermath when some administration dirt threatens to reach the surface.

I think Darth Cheney was caught with his hand in the cookie jar...!!! Barksdale is the central jump off AFB to the ME... This reeks to high heaven...!!!:nuke:

It's got to be.:nuke: Why don't the accused just tell the truth?

nobody can just move and load a nuke w/out outside help.

Every nuclear warhead has people looking after it ....

radiological
security
engineering
logistics

The idea that "they" were loaded and flown to another base is bullshit.

they were loading "special weapons", the security was like nothing I had ever seen before.

You don't just decide to load a few nukes on to a B-52.

This smells like Cheney.

.... and they told me of that really serious people with guns were there
and that they were not there to "play."

likely, will they suddenly obtain accounts in their names in a foreign country, maybe the Grand Caymans? I mean, if they take one for the real culprits, they definitely deserve to be recompensed, right???

and why did the flight take 2 hours longer than it should have? Is there any connection to the Chinese hacking defense dept computers a few days before?.....or the ded airman from the originating base while they were on leave in various parts of the country.......suicided and/or "motor vehicle deaths". There are 4 or 5 of these now.

That is, the person who controls the Alleged Commander-in-Chief. There's the head that needs to roll!

They're guessing as to who talked and thus spoiled their plans. They want the narc out before they give it a second try.

If it weren't for the unknown person going public we would be deep into a nuclear war right now. I hope they never dislodge him.

Your Nation NEEDS you to take another fall!
Everyone already knows that the Ramblin Nukes are the work of a few bad apples!
Take another dive Lynndie. What have you got to lose?
The Chain of Command will be soooooo grateful.

"Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows; Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) and "And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited." (Leviticus 16:22)

"The Scapegoat" by William Holman Hunt, 1854

Take a look at the rhetoric and bombast in this story, and compare it with the official military pronouncements about incidents of torture and outright murder in Iraq. Notice any differences?