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US air force strips 17 officers of power to launch nuclear missiles
US air force strips 17 officers of power to launch nuclear missiles
(about 2 hours later)
The US air force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control – and, if necessary, launch – nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit's launch skills. The group's deputy commander said it is suffering "rot" within its ranks.
The US Air Force has stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to oversee nuclear missiles, after a string of failings that the group's deputy commander said stemmed from "rot" within the ranks. The suspensions followed a March inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, that resulted in a "D" grade for the team tested on its mastery of the Minuteman III missile launch operations system.
"We are, in fact, in a crisis right now," the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email obtained by The Associated Press and confirmed by the air force.
"We are, in fact, in a crisis right now," the group's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email that was obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force. The Air Force had publicly described the inspection as a success.
The tip-off to trouble was a March inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which earned the equivalent of a "D'' grade when tested on its mastery of Minuteman III missile launch operations. In other areas, the officers tested much better, but the group's overall fitness was deemed so tenuous that senior officers at Minot decided, after probing further, that an immediate crackdown was called for.
The news follows a series of incidents in recent years that have uncovered major problems with the oversight of the US's nuclear arsenal. In 2007, airmen at Minot accidentally loaded a B-52 with six nuclear weapons. The aircraft then flew to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. In another incident, nuclear weapons parts were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan. The defense department learned of the error in 2008, 18 months after the fuses for nuclear warheads were shipped.
The air force publicly called the inspection a "success".
Minot's crew are supposed to stand ready 24-hours a day to launch missiles on the president's command. A crew member was disciplined in 2008 for falling asleep on duty, while watching nuclear launch-code components.
But in April it quietly removed 17 officers at Minot from the highly sensitive duty of standing 24-hour watch over the air force's most powerful nuclear missiles, the intercontinental ballistic missiles that can strike targets across the globe. Inside each underground launch control capsule, two officers stand "alert" at all times, ready to launch an ICBM upon presidential order.
The 17 officers were part of a team standing 24-hour watch over the Air Force's most powerful nuclear missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike targets across the globe. They were removed from duty in April. "You will be a bench warmer for at least 60 days," Folds wrote.
"You will be a bench warmer for at least 60 days," Folds wrote.
The suspensions are believed to be the most extensive ever. According to the email obtained by AP, Folds moved to discipline the crew after "such rot in the crew force" that a pattern of weapons safety rule violations, possible code compromises and other failings had arisen "all in the name of not inconveniencing yourselves", Folds wrote.
The 17 cases mark the air force's most extensive sidelining ever of launch crew members, according to Lieutenant Colonel Angie Blair, a spokeswoman for Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the missile units as well as nuclear-capable bombers. The wing has 150 officers assigned to missile launch control duty.
Folds said the crew had also questioned their superiors' orders and failed to show proper respect. An earlier inspection had been deemed "satisfactory" but problems had worsened, he said. "We are breaking you down, and we will build from the ground up," Folds wrote. In another message, he wrote: "It takes real leaders to lead through a crisis and we are, in fact, in a crisis right now."
The trouble at Minot is the latest in a series of setbacks for the air force's nuclear mission, highlighted by a 2008 Pentagon advisory group report that found a "dramatic and unacceptable decline" in the air force's commitment to the mission, which has its origins in a cold war standoff with the former Soviet Union.
Minot's latest crisis follows a 2008 Pentagon report that found a "dramatic and unacceptable decline" in the Air Force's commitment to the mission, which has its origins in a Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union. Ahead of the report the then defense secretary, Robert Gates, sacked the Air Force secretary and chief of staff. The Air Force has since taken numerous steps to improve its nuclear performance.
In 2008, then-defence secretary Robert Gates sacked the top civilian and military leaders of the air force after a series of blunders, including a bomber's mistaken flight across the country armed with nuclear-tipped missiles. Since then the air force has taken numerous steps designed to improve its nuclear performance.
The Air Force told AP that the latest lapses had not put the security of the nuclear force at risk. It said the officers who lost their certification to operate ICBMs were now getting more training, with the expectation that they will return to normal duty within about two months. The missiles remained on their normal war footing, officials said.
The email obtained by the AP describes a culture of indifference, with at least one intentional violation of missile safety rules and an apparent unwillingness among some to challenge or report those who violate rules.
Bruce Blair, who served as an Air Force ICBM launch control officer in the 1970s and is now a research scholar at Princeton University, said the Folds email pointed to a broader problem within the nuclear weapons force.
In response to AP inquiries, the air force said the lapses never put the security of the nuclear force at risk. It said the officers who lost their certification to operate ICBMs are now getting more training with the expectation that they will return to normal duty within about two months. The missiles remain on their normal war footing, officials said.
He said problems were not confined to Minot and that the lack of discipline was "extremely worrying". Blair said the jobs were seen as "dead end" positions. "It's tedious work, you are out in the middle of nowhere and answer to nobody," he said. He said problems had been growing for decades and "raised serious concerns about the safety and security of the nuclear missile force".
Although sidelining 17 launch officers at once is unprecedented, the air force said stripping officers of their authority to control nuclear missiles happens to "a small number" of officers every year for a variety of reasons.
Blair said the missile system had been set up for a full-scale war for Russia and that it was largely now obsolete. "The force has always been second fiddle to the flying force," he said. Morale had worsened after a decision earlier this year to end a scheme where the nuclear watch crews could train and transfer to more covetable positions in areas like space operations. "That really angered the crew force," he said.
In addition to the 17, possible disciplinary action is pending against one other officer at Minot who investigators found had purposefully broken a missile safety rule in an unspecified act that could have compromised the secret codes that enable the launching of missiles, which stand on high alert in underground silos in the nation's midsection. Officials said there was no compromise of missile safety or security.
Blair is co-founder of Global Zero, an international group that advocates the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. In 2011, the defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who was then a senator, co-authored a report for Global Zero calling for a dramatic reduction in the US nuclear arsenal, of about 5,000 warheads and bombs, to about 900. "All these guys see the writing on the wall: the future is not nuclear," said Blair.
Folds is deputy commander of the 91st Operations Group, whose three squadrons are responsible for manning the wing's 15 Minuteman III launch control centers.
Advising his troops on 12 April that they had "fallen", Folds wrote that drastic corrective action was required because "we didn't wake up" after an underwhelming inspection in March that he said amounted to a failure, even though the unit's overall performance technically was rated "satisfactory". That is two notches below the highest rating.
"And now we're discovering such rot in the crew force that your behavior while on alert is accepting of" weapons safety rule violations, possible code compromises and other failings, "all in the name of not inconveniencing yourselves", Folds wrote.
Folds also complained about unwarranted questioning of orders from superior officers by launch crews and failure to address superiors with the proper respect.
"We are breaking you down, and we will build from the ground up," Folds added. He later wrote, "It takes real leaders to lead through a crisis and we are, in fact, in a crisis right now."
He told his subordinates, "You must continue to turn over the rocks and find the rot."
When the AP inquired about the Folds email, the air force arranged a telephone interview with one of Folds' superiors, Colonel Robert Vercher, commander of the 91st Missile Wing. The wing is one of three that operate the nation's fleet of 450 Minuteman III missiles; the two others are at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and FE Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
"We are frustrated anytime we're performing less than we expect of ourselves," Vercher said, adding that he and other senior officers are implementing an aggressive and innovative plan to restore a record of high performance among launch control officers.
"There was a problem," Vercher said. "And we will fix it."
Vercher said Folds was expressing frustration.
"That is a very passionate leader embarrassed by a performance below our expectation," Vercher said, adding that Folds was disappointed by the inspection, which was by the inspector general of the Air Force Global Strike Command.
Exposure of shortcomings within Vercher's unit recalls an earlier series of stunning mistakes by other elements of the nuclear force, including the August 2007 incident in which an Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Minot to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, without the crew realizing it was armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. One outcome of the incident was the creation of Global Strike Command in January 2009 as a way of improving management of the nuclear enterprise.
Bruce Blair, who served as an Air Force ICBM launch control officer in the 1970s and is now a research scholar at Princeton University, said the Folds email points to a broader problem within the nuclear weapons force.
"The nuclear air force is suffering from a deep malaise caused by the declining relevance of their mission since the Cold War's end over 20 years ago," Blair said in an interview. "Minuteman launch crews have long been marginalized and demoralized by the fact that the air force's culture and fast-track careers revolve around flying planes, not sitting in underground bunkers baby-sitting nuclear-armed missiles."
Blair is co-founder of Global Zero, an international group that advocates the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
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