Nuclear tipped cruise missiles were moved flown by B-52 from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB, Lousiana, last Friday August 30.
I have reviewed at least two dozen news reports trying to make sense of the source material and I would like to share my cut and paste summary with you.
Original source: The Military Times is the original source for the story. (Here's a link to the same story copied in the Navy Times because the source for the original aritcle is already gone: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/09/marine_nuclear_B52_070904w/) The journalist, Michael Hoffman, bases the story on "three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident."
The risk of flying accidents, however, led the United States to abandon all nuclear-armed bomber flights in 1968, according to Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert with the Federation of American Scientists.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush reduced the bomber alert status further by ordering nuclear weapons to be removed from the aircraft and kept in nearby storage facilities.
As a gesture to Russia and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first Bush administration took it one step farther in 1991 by ordering all bombers to halt nuclear ground alerts, which allowed bomber crews to practice loading a nuclear warhead, but never taking off with one.
The Defense Department does transport nuclear warheads by air, but instead of bombers it uses C-17 or C-130 cargo aircraft.
The Chain of Custody, paperwork, and Command Control are exhaustive for verifiably secure handling of nuclear weapons.
Many credible comments on various news blogs state that the paperwork required to move nuclear munitions is redundant, exhaustive, taken very seriously, and so stringent that it is "idiot proof."
Comment from Democratic Underground.com: I worked on nuclear submarines for the Navy at Mare Island Naval shipyard for 20 years. As a Nuc worker I handled nuclear material and weapons for 15 of those years. The controls on weapons and nuclear fuel is insanely tight.. This story just CAN’T happen. The amount of people involved in logistics..Code 105 radcon, Engineers, Nuclear riggers, Code 1390 Engineers..Gawd the paperwork involved for anyone of the groups to sign off on. This story is impossible.. Something else is afoot.. Who signed off and who told them too? AND WHY do we need to be moving nuclear weapons unless a logistics operation is underway? IT JUST DOESN’T HAPPEN…They don’t just move weapons from Minot for the hell of it.. Ring… hello? hey..we are a little low on thermonuclear tipped weapons this week.. OK, we’ll send you a few.. Make it 6 OK
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Tim Riley is a father, husband, technical writer, and internet news hound avidly interested in progressive politics, environmentalism, social justice, and playing with his two children.
We have survived 3 generations of nuclear war fighting elite folks, and now we are entering into the 4th generation of our nuclear warfighting elite.
First the children, then the grandchildren, and now we are bracing to be exterminated in an all out nuclear holocaust by the great grandchildren of our nuclear war fighting elite.
After observing and studying the Extraterrestrial intervention into our world for over the last 15 years, my guess is that "ET" confiscated the missing nuclear tipped cruise missile, and is now going to play 'Hide and Seek' with our nuclear warfighting elite.
First we will try to guess what really happened; well, the B-52 leaves Minot North Dakota with 6 nuclear tipped cruise missiles, and lo and behold, lands in Florida, with only 5 nuclear tipped cruise missiles?
Missile Missile...Who's got the Missile?
Steve Fossett takes a duck, and the Air force conducts a massive search for our missing 'Adventurer.' Might the Air Force be also looking for the missing nuclear tipped cruise missile that Cheney ordered dropped on us?
This is not the first time that our nuclear war fighting elite have tried to burn us all up, merely the most recent attempt.
When you all figure this out, some have suggested that Cheney will be forced to retire.
Remember; Only You...can produce a forced fire.
PS: Thanks to the Military people who have put this story out in front.
by
Patrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 390 comments)
on Saturday, September 8, 2007 at 6:44:11 PM
There are a number of articles recently in local papers reporting on the deaths of Minot air force personnel involved in weapons loading an piloting B52s, since the story broke (one is older but four are apparently within a few days):
by
The Pundit (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 5:21:32 PM
