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Sleeping Air Force Members Latest Trouble for the Service
July 25, 2008 11:57 AM
by
Josh Katz
In the most recent Air Force blunder, three crew members fell asleep with classified missile launch code devices, the Air Force revealed on Thursday.
30-Second Summary
The Air Force asserts that the codes were outdated and deactivated, so no breach in security occurred when the crew members fell asleep on July 12 at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. “This was just a procedural violation that we investigated,” said Air Force Col. Dewey Ford. “We determined that there was no compromise.”
But Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said “The new Air Force leadership, when confirmed, must take decisive and urgent steps to restore the culture of respect that our strategic weapons deserve and our national security demands.”
The Air Force has experienced a string of recent mistakes and oversight failures. Last August, the leadership came under fire for an incident also stemming from Minot, in which the service accidentally flew nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the United States, which were then left unmonitored. In March, news surfaced that the Air Force had mistakenly shipped classified, nuclear materials to Taiwan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked for the resignations of two top Air Force officials on June 5, allegedly in response to the blunders. But analysts suggest that the firings may have as much to do with ideological differences between Gates and the Air Force leadership as with the service’s errors. Gates has stressed his desire to prepare the armed forces more for “small, ‘asymmetric’ wars—wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces,” the Wired Danger Room blog writes.
But Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said “The new Air Force leadership, when confirmed, must take decisive and urgent steps to restore the culture of respect that our strategic weapons deserve and our national security demands.”
The Air Force has experienced a string of recent mistakes and oversight failures. Last August, the leadership came under fire for an incident also stemming from Minot, in which the service accidentally flew nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the United States, which were then left unmonitored. In March, news surfaced that the Air Force had mistakenly shipped classified, nuclear materials to Taiwan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked for the resignations of two top Air Force officials on June 5, allegedly in response to the blunders. But analysts suggest that the firings may have as much to do with ideological differences between Gates and the Air Force leadership as with the service’s errors. Gates has stressed his desire to prepare the armed forces more for “small, ‘asymmetric’ wars—wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces,” the Wired Danger Room blog writes.
Headline Link: ‘Air Force Missile Launch Crew Fell Asleep’
The devices held by the sleeping crew members were apparently not operational, as the missiles had been given different codes. “I don’t think this is an issue about the base—I think it’s an issue about personnel,” Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said. “There have obviously been management and command problems at this base and the Air Force has made some command changes to respond to it.”
Source: ABC News
Background: Recent Air Force mistakes
On June 5, 2008, Defense Secretary Robert Gates requested the resignations of top Air Force officials, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael W. Wynne. Gates said he fired them because of the string of Air Force errors, but many analysts also pointed to the rift between the Secretary’s beliefs and those of the Air Force leadership.
Source: findingDulcinea
On March 28, 2008, findingDulcinea reported on a U.S. Department of Defense blunder in which it delivered nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan, a mistake that went undetected for 18 months. Furthermore, “In August, the Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads for 36 hours after they were unintentionally flown on a B-52 bomber between bases in North Dakota and Louisiana.”
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: The future of the Air Force
The Wired Danger Room analyzes Gates’s firing of the Air Force officials. “Despite reports you may be reading elsewhere, this firing was not about nukes or missiles, well-placed sources say. ‘Far and away the biggest issue was the budget stuff, not the nuclear stuff. The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle fight], the F-22 deal … Gates really didn’t appreciate it,’ one of those sources tells Danger Room. “Now, with the botched missile and nuke shipments, [Gates] ‘has good cover to do something that suits him bureaucratically.’” Furthermore, Wired writes, “Rumors are swirling of more top-level Air Force officers getting the axe.”
Source: Wired-Danger Room
In the Arms Control Wonk blog, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis explains how serious the Taiwan nuclear weapons mix-up was for the United States, and says the Air Force is a “sick organization.” According to Lewis, “These guys don’t get it. This is not an isolated incident. The organization has a problem. This is dangerous.”
Source: Arms Control Wonk
Alabama’s newspaper the Anniston Star published an op-ed by Air Force magazine editor Robert S. Dudney criticizing Gates’s policies, which favor counteracting irregular warfare. “In case Gates has forgotten, it was not that long ago that the U.S. had to use main conventional forces—principally air forces—to win the 1991 Gulf War. More recently, high-end forces were needed to fight in Bosnia, Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq. None of these operations would have been possible without advanced, front-line weapons.”
Source: The Anniston Star
Related Topic: Possible reorganization in the service
The Air Force might revert to the strategic air command system. The SAC was initiated in 1946 in order to control the U.S. nuclear arsenal during the Cold War and it came to an end in 1992 when the War ended; the responsibilities were then spread throughout the Air Force. “Another idea being debated would bring the bomber and ICBM missions under one command, such as Space Command,” the Air Force Times reports.
Source: Air Force Times
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