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June 20, 2008 at 06:38:50
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 6/20/08: by Rob Kall Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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Recently, the Air Force has faced serious lapses in Nuclear weapons security. A bomber carried six nuclear bombs across the US without anyone in charge knowing about it, and nuclear nose cones were unintentionally shipped to Taiwan without anyone discovering the error for 18 months.
Recently, Defense secretary Robert Gates fired the civilian and military heads of the Air Force as a result of an investigation by Admiral Kirkland Donald into the above incidents and the general state of Nuclear weapon technology inventory security. Donald concluded that both of the above incidents had, according to the Financial Times, "'common origin' which was 'the gradual erosion of nuclear standards and a lack of effective oversight by air force leadership'."
Apparently, according to a closed, classified briefing the Pentagon made to congress, the nuclear security problem is much worse.
Yesterday, the Financial Times ran an article, by Demetri Sevastopulo headlined, "US N-weapons parts missing, Pentagon says."
On Wednesday,the senate Armed Services committee received a closed, classified briefing from the Pentagon that discussed the problems the Airforce is having managing its nuclear weapons inventory. seeking further information, I contacted the office of the majority committee chair.
A staffer for Senate Armed Services Committee majority chair, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) responded to my inquiry, "The briefing was classified so we cannot comment on the substance of the briefing. As indicated in the hearing notice, Admiral Kirkland Donald was the briefer. He briefed his report on the nosecone shipment to Taiwan incident. The report was conducted at the request of Secretary Gates. The committee takes the security of nuclear weapons very seriously."
The FINANCIAL TIMES article reported, that as the result of an investigation into why missile nose cones were inappropriately shipped to Taiwan,"According to previously undisclosed details obtained by the FT, the investigation also concluded that the air force could not account for many sensitive components previously included in its nuclear inventory.
One official said the number of missing components was more than 1,000.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking at Nellis Air Force Base, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported, said "the problem has been mounting "for at least a decade. Some say longer.""
The FT article cited Darryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association think tank, in Washington D.C., as commenting on the report of the missing technology as "'very significant and extremely troubling' because it meant the US could not establish the positive control referred to by Mr Gates.
'It raises a serious question about where else these unaccounted for warhead related parts may have gone,' said Mr Kimball. "I would not be surprised if the recent Taiwan incident is not the only one.'"
I spoke to Mr. Kimball at length about the report, which he commented on, The cause of these incidents goes back to the lax culture that has developed within certain parts of the Air Force about the handling of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons related components. What's particularly disturbing to me this morning... (after learning of the Financial Times report) is that the pentagon's mistaken shipment of the fuses to Taiwan fairly recently may not be the only example of sensitive warhead or missile related parts or components winding up in the wrong place.
The fact that the pentagon does not have positive control, that is, full accounting of the whereabouts of these items, I think it's deeply disturbing because it doesn't necessarily mean that these parts are in the wrong hands, but at the very least suggests that the system as it has been run for the last several years makes that a possibility. It also makes it possible for someone inside the airforce who is handling these components to potentially manipulate the system for personal gain. People in the Air Force are good people but they are also human beings. The system of accounting is clearly broken and it has got to be fixed. Gates is to be commended for holding those at the top responsible, but much more is going to have to be done to address the severe shortcomings.
The other thing I should point out is that no matter hard the airforce tries or how good the Air force is, when you have a nuclear weapons arsenal that consists of about 10,000 nuclear warheads, and tens of thousands of more parts related to these warheads and their delivery systems, there is an inherent risk that they are going to be lost or missing and potentially in the wrong place. We need to recognize that there is always going to be an inherent risk of this sort of thing happening so long as we have this bloated nuclear weapons arsenal that we have today twenty years after the cold war ended.
I mentioned Mullen's comment on culture of over ten years and Kimball responded,This doesn't happen overnight. Part of the problem is that nuclear weapons are, from a military and professional standpoint, not that attractive or useful or career enhancing. In other words, today's miltary is not focused on being prepared to fight an all out nuclear war with the Soviets.
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| 12 comments |
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Remember Sibel Edmonds?
I think Rob you have hit on an extraordinary problem and one that goes deeper than this latest breaching of the scandal shows. It may be that for decades, Americans both in and out of the military have been selling parts, concepts and technology all over the world. One of the more interesting theories floated about A. Khan in Pakistan was that he was involved with the CIA in selling technology. Turkey has been highlighted as a partner in crime with this kind of clandestine transfer of nuclear technology and materials and as one of the gateways for this material to be funneled into all kinds of peoples' hands who should not be allowed to handle this. What we have is a scandal of such epic proportions that goes back decades and continues to this day and we have no one willing to tell the whole truth for fear of being killed and disposed of in ways that will completely discredit the testimony they are risking their lives to give. This article needs wide distribution so this scandal can be opened up and we can alert the citizens of the world of the dangers sitting all around them. by Deborah Emin (26 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 95 comments) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 7:03:45 AM  (0+)
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Reply: agreed
I've also posted it at dailykos and submitted it to huffingtonpost. It would be great if you crossposted your comments on huffingtonpost. by Rob Kall (952 articles, 4177 quicklinks, 374 diaries, 2087 comments [45 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 8:36:12 AM (0+)
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Reply: This also ties to Valerie Plame
Brewster-Jennings was a cover organization used by Plame and her colleagues in their work tracking nuclear proliferation around the globe. The conventional wisdom is that Plame was outed as revenge for Joe Wilson's NY Times editorial critical of the Bush use of known forged documents as "evidence" of a threat posed by Iraq. The conventional wisdom misses the real reason. Plame and her colleagues interfered in the criminal and treasonous black market in nuclear weapon parts sales conducted by high U.S. government officials whose photos are in Sibel Edmonds' State Secrets Privilege Gallery on Sibel Edmond's official web site and captioned here. These dangerous criminals, who continue to be protected in the name of "national security", are reported to have tipped off not only the media but also their fellow arms merchants around the world about Plame's operation, destroying its ability to function. by csnet (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 112 comments [10 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 4:14:36 PM (0+)
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great reporting
I can't say that I am astonished about this. I don't trust Gates as far as I can throw. I cringed when the Democrats gave their approval vote. Gates has a dark past. Another good way to get the word out on this is emailing it to my buddies. I will do that. This isn't a repub verses Dem issue. The Bushes are known for their weapon and drug smuggling. Rev Moon is rich due to that smuggling; furthermore, HW Bush loves Rev Moon--best buds. Doncha just love how these officials dance around questions like they are in a boxing ring, dodging and dancing, and basically giving you every answer except the one that replies to the question you asked. Time to figure out what they will say if the news gets out about this (at large). The saga: the next conspiracy they make up to hide the truth. The next SPIN they do to turn the truth into their "conspiracy theory list". They act like children playing games. It's all just fun and games to these ppl. They can't step out of the box and give a hoot about anyone but themselves. Greed is mighty force, eh? by shirley reese (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 592 comments [98 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 10:32:06 AM (0+)
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Missing Nuke Bomb Parts MUFFED It
Missing nuke parts aren't the only thing that has gone missing. In both nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, uranium and plutonium in various stages of the refining and transforming into warheads and nuclear reactor fuel have become "MUF" or "material unaccounted for" or simply "MUFFED" it. So whay are we surprised by all of this? There is lot of loose nukes all over the place. by Trainer12 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 73 comments [9 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 10:40:52 AM (0+)
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I suggest...
Going over to ISRAEL to find them. I'd lay bets any day that's where they are! by Bia Winter (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 756 comments [119 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 11:39:36 AM (0+)
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Reply: I bet someone already knows this too...
Ask Bush. He probably made one of his famous "secret deals" trading nuke parts for a weekend retreat on the Dead Sea or something ? by Paul Kruger (39 articles, 1 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 304 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 11:48:01 AM (0+)
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Let's they don't turn up in Denver
This August at the Democratic National Convention, smuggled in by an increasingly desperate cabal of treasonous neocons and their covert operatives who could take out the entire Democratic leadership and have justification to trigger NSPD 51 and get the PNAC gameplan back on track. Of course it will all be blamed on Iran as retaliation for that coming Israeli strike. I would strongly recommend checking out the piece on Global Research by Lewis Seiler and Dan Hamburg entitled: State of Emergency: The US in the Final Six Months of the George W. Bush Administration This part especially: On April 29 of this year, CIA veteran Roland V. Carnaby was shot dead by police officers after a high speed chase through the streets of Houston. Carnaby, who had been the CIA’s Chief of Station for the Southeast Region headquartered in Houston, was involved in conducting security surveys of the Port of Houston and had discovered that the Department of Homeland Security was tolerating gaping holes in port security. Carnaby and Houston intelligence and law enforcement personnel were also investigating the presence of “Middle Easterners” who were conducting surveillance of the Port of Houston. The “Middle Eastern” designator is the term used by the FBI for Israelis (typically Mossad agents) in order to avoid “political” problems with superiors. Former National Security Agency analyst and naval intelligence officer Wayne Madsen has been in Houston investigating the Carnaby case at great personal risk. Madsen believes Carnaby was involved both in heading off a potential war with Iran (by leaking Mossad plans to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah just days before Carnaby himself was killed) and in trying to forestall a potential terrorist attack on the port. According to Madsen, “federal agents in Houston fear that ‘another 9/11-type part false flag’ attack is imminent, perhaps as early as July 4.” Such an attack along the twenty-five-mile Houston Ship Channel, site of more explosive materials, toxic gases, and deadly petrochemicals than anywhere else in the country, could create an environmental and economic catastrophe that would dwarf 9/11. What if Denver is the intended target and NOT the Houston Ship Channel? Interesting how that philandering little neocon fascist dwarf Newt Gingrich is talking about losing a city - why in the Hell isn't Homeland Security having his fat ass strapped to a waterboard? How bad has it gotten when one can even suggest such a thing with any seriousness? EE by Ed Encho (12 articles, 20 quicklinks, 65 diaries, 438 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 5:32:19 PM (0+)
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Let's just hope they don't turn up in Denver...
This August at the Democratic National Convention, smuggled in by an increasingly desperate cabal of treasonous neocons and their covert operatives who could take out the entire Democratic leadership and have justification to trigger NSPD 51 and get the PNAC gameplan back on track. Of course it will all be blamed on Iran as retaliation for that coming Israeli strike. I would strongly recommend checking out the piece on Global Research by Lewis Seiler and Dan Hamburg entitled: State of Emergency: The US in the Final Six Months of the George W. Bush Administration This part especially: On April 29 of this year, CIA veteran Roland V. Carnaby was shot dead by police officers after a high speed chase through the streets of Houston. Carnaby, who had been the CIA’s Chief of Station for the Southeast Region headquartered in Houston, was involved in conducting security surveys of the Port of Houston and had discovered that the Department of Homeland Security was tolerating gaping holes in port security. Carnaby and Houston intelligence and law enforcement personnel were also investigating the presence of “Middle Easterners” who were conducting surveillance of the Port of Houston. The “Middle Eastern” designator is the term used by the FBI for Israelis (typically Mossad agents) in order to avoid “political” problems with superiors. Former National Security Agency analyst and naval intelligence officer Wayne Madsen has been in Houston investigating the Carnaby case at great personal risk. Madsen believes Carnaby was involved both in heading off a potential war with Iran (by leaking Mossad plans to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah just days before Carnaby himself was killed) and in trying to forestall a potential terrorist attack on the port. According to Madsen, “federal agents in Houston fear that ‘another 9/11-type part false flag’ attack is imminent, perhaps as early as July 4.” Such an attack along the twenty-five-mile Houston Ship Channel, site of more explosive materials, toxic gases, and deadly petrochemicals than anywhere else in the country, could create an environmental and economic catastrophe that would dwarf 9/11. What if Denver is the intended target and NOT the Houston Ship Channel? Interesting how that philandering little neocon fascist dwarf Newt Gingrich is talking about losing a city - why in the Hell isn't Homeland Security having his fat ass strapped to a waterboard? How bad has it gotten when one can even suggest such a thing with any seriousness? EE p.s. - sorry for the double post, I botched the subject line the first time. by Ed Encho (12 articles, 20 quicklinks, 65 diaries, 438 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 5:35:11 PM (0+)
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Not so far fetched
There are conspiracies and then there are just plain real reasons to be frightened of this government. I had heard in November that Bush had bought large property in Paraguay and with the intent to move there after election. They told him that though we have no extradition treaty with US, if he was coming looking for sanctuary, he was not welcome. We shall see if this election does actually take place. I am not sure we can say with certainty that it will. by Deborah Emin (26 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 95 comments) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 5:47:18 PM (0+)
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Reply: Conspiracies are the Norm...
Rather than the exception and the best defense that the establishment has is in being allowed to continually get away with that catch all pejorative "conspiracy theorist". This just ignores reality and allows those who ask serious questions to be dismissed with the bigfoot chasers and the UFO kooks. Conspiracies are aplenty in business and government life, Peter Dale Scott calls this in government at least (the overworld and the underwold) "deep politics". 9/11 itself is a conspiracy theory, whose to believe - the criminal government's? I would certainly hope that whatever patriotic elements are in U.S. and other foreign intelligence services would at least consider this horrifying scenario. I would put nothing past the Bushreich and the neocons, they have too much to lose and everything to gain by using every tool at their disposal to stay in power lest they be tried as traitors and war criminals. EE by Ed Encho (12 articles, 20 quicklinks, 65 diaries, 438 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jun 20, 2008 at 6:30:46 PM (0+)
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US sitting in glass house
US, instead of pointing out security leaks and flaws in others' weapon systmes, should now think over its own system first. Without having any proof of nucleur prolifiration, keeps on pointing countries like Pakistan, and itslef showing "no comments" attitude about the events like the recent shipment to Taiwan, and the B-52 carrying nukes un-noticed. by Aatif Chaudhry (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 at 2:35:15 AM (0+)
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