Loose Nukes
Stephen V. Cole writes:
In a recent incident, the US Air Force mislaid six nuclear weapons for about a day. It happened like this. There is a stockpile of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at Minor AFB, North Dakota. As these are no longer wanted, the idea is to remove the nuclear warheads, install empty warheads, load the missiles on a B-52, fly them to Barksdale Louisiana, and dismantle the missiles there. The warheads are then shipped by truck or train to a disassembly plant.
The easiest way to move the missiles is by using the B-52s which were designed to carry them. To do this, you have to either leave the warhead on board (not considered the preferable way to do things) or replace it with an empty warhead (to avoid the aerodynamic drag).
Somehow, the paperwork got confused and six missiles that had not been de-fanged got into the wrong stockpile, made it past dozens of USAF personnel who never imagined they would need to check every cruise missile that went by since the warhead removal crews were in charge of that (all the while being unguarded, something required for nuclear weapons), and got onto a bomber. When they arrived in Barksdale, the missiles were set aside (unguarded) and a few hours later a team of technicians assigned to start the disassembly process noticed that the warheads were intact. They called up the chain of command, guards were sent down to protect the missiles, and the warheads were removed and sent to the disassembly plant.
The big deal is that leaving nuclear weapons unguarded is a really bad idea since somebody might steal one, or just set the thing off. Now, detonating a nuclear weapon is a very complex thing involving a serial combination lock with a couple of dozen digits, but given a week, a machine shop, and some luck, you might be able to remove all of the safety systems and get straight to the detonators. Maybe. One might assume that the real danger was very slight, since Al Qaeda probably doesn't have a spy in Barksdale checking these deactivated missiles "just in case" a real warhead slips through. If the warheads had gone undetected for a longer period of time, the odds of something happening might be assumed to increase. There is also the danger that personnel or the public might have been accidentally exposed to nuclear radiation. In an inflight emergency, the crew might have thought nothing of jettisoning the weapons, since "they had no warheads". While they would not have detonated in such a case, the warheads might have been damaged by their impact with the ground to create a radiation contamination hazard.
Several officers and sergeants lost their jobs. Over 100 lost their security clearances. Some may face court-martial for this embarrassing mistake.
In a recent incident, the US Air Force mislaid six nuclear weapons for about a day. It happened like this. There is a stockpile of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at Minor AFB, North Dakota. As these are no longer wanted, the idea is to remove the nuclear warheads, install empty warheads, load the missiles on a B-52, fly them to Barksdale Louisiana, and dismantle the missiles there. The warheads are then shipped by truck or train to a disassembly plant.
The easiest way to move the missiles is by using the B-52s which were designed to carry them. To do this, you have to either leave the warhead on board (not considered the preferable way to do things) or replace it with an empty warhead (to avoid the aerodynamic drag).
Somehow, the paperwork got confused and six missiles that had not been de-fanged got into the wrong stockpile, made it past dozens of USAF personnel who never imagined they would need to check every cruise missile that went by since the warhead removal crews were in charge of that (all the while being unguarded, something required for nuclear weapons), and got onto a bomber. When they arrived in Barksdale, the missiles were set aside (unguarded) and a few hours later a team of technicians assigned to start the disassembly process noticed that the warheads were intact. They called up the chain of command, guards were sent down to protect the missiles, and the warheads were removed and sent to the disassembly plant.
The big deal is that leaving nuclear weapons unguarded is a really bad idea since somebody might steal one, or just set the thing off. Now, detonating a nuclear weapon is a very complex thing involving a serial combination lock with a couple of dozen digits, but given a week, a machine shop, and some luck, you might be able to remove all of the safety systems and get straight to the detonators. Maybe. One might assume that the real danger was very slight, since Al Qaeda probably doesn't have a spy in Barksdale checking these deactivated missiles "just in case" a real warhead slips through. If the warheads had gone undetected for a longer period of time, the odds of something happening might be assumed to increase. There is also the danger that personnel or the public might have been accidentally exposed to nuclear radiation. In an inflight emergency, the crew might have thought nothing of jettisoning the weapons, since "they had no warheads". While they would not have detonated in such a case, the warheads might have been damaged by their impact with the ground to create a radiation contamination hazard.
Several officers and sergeants lost their jobs. Over 100 lost their security clearances. Some may face court-martial for this embarrassing mistake.
posted by Federation Commander at 8:51 AM
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