Reports: Air Force Worst In Dealing With Nukes

Reports: Air Force Worst In Dealing With Nukes

By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 9, 2009 17:10:59 EST

The Air Force isn’t the military’s only organization to lose focus on nuclear weapons and nuclear inspections, but it is the worst offender, according to two reports by Defense Department nuclear task forces.

The Defense Department’s Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management, led by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, issued the second part of its report on the military’s nuclear mission Jan 8. The first part, issued in September, focused squarely on the Air Force and criticized the service’s oversight of its nuclear mission.

The follow-up report says the Navy and other joint agencies with nuclear responsibilities let the nuclear mission slide after the end of the Cold War, as the Air Force did, but not to the same extreme. However, the slip in performance of the other services exacerbated the Air Force’s problems, the latest report says.

“The lack of interest in and attention to the nuclear mission ... goes well beyond the Air Force. This lack of interest and attention have been widespread throughout DoD and contributed to the decline of attention in the Air Force,” according to the report.

The latest report makes 82 recommendations to nuclear agencies across the Defense Department, including creating the position of assistant secretary of defense for deterrence in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

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