Nuclear matters5th Bomb Wing flunks nuclear inspection

Published 4 June 2008

Last August six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded onto a B-52 Stratofortress at Minot Air Force Base in South Dakota and flown to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana — a serious violations of the U.S. Air Force’s regulations regarding flying nuclear weapons over U.S. terrotiry; heads rolled; the Defense Threat Reduction Agency came back to Minot on 17 May to conduct an inspection of how nuclear weapons were being handled now — and issued a scathingly critical report

Nuclear weapon accidents — or, fortunately, near-accidents — have been part and parcel of the nuclear age. If you want to lose sleep retroactively, just read the somewhat sensational We Almost Lost Detroit by John Fuller, and the much more academic and sober — and, hence, much scarier — The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons by Stanford’s Scott Sagan. Talking of potential nuclear weapon accidents or near-accidents: The 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, has failed its much-anticipated defense nuclear surety inspection, according to a Defense Threat Reduction Agency report (DTRA). DTRA inspectors gave the wing an “unsatisfactory” grade Sunday after uncovering many crucial mistakes during the weeklong inspection, which began 17 May. They attributed the errors primarily to lack of supervision and leadership among security forces. Inspectors from Air Combat Command also participated, but the Air Force refused to provide specifics on their findings.

Security broke down on multiple levels during simulated attacks across the base, including against nuclear weapons storage areas, according to the DTRA report, a copy of which was obtained by Air Force Times’s Michael Hoffman. Inspectors watched as a security forces airman played video games on his cell phone while standing guard at a “restricted area perimeter,” the DTRA report said. Meanwhile, another airman nearby was “unaware of her duties and responsibilities” during the exercise. The lapses are baffling, given the high-level focus on Minot since last August, when 5th Bomb Wing airmen mistakenly loaded six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles onto a B-52 Stratofortress and flew them to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, where the plane sat on the flight line, unattended, for hours. That incident not only embarrassed the Air Force, but raised concerns worldwide about the deterioration in U.S. nuclear safety standards. Col. Joel Westa took command of the 5th Bomb Wing following that fiasco. After it failed an initial nuclear surety inspection, or dry run, in December, Westa acknowledged this inspection was going to be the “most scrutinized inspection in the history of time.” Even so, airmen were unprepared. “Overall their assessment painted a picture of some things we need to work on in the areas of training and discipline,” Westa said in a statement. His airmen are working diligently to correct deficiencies, he said. Inspectors from Air Combat Command (ACC) will now return to Minot in August to determine if the necessary improvements have been made.