just making it easier for the terrorists!
Yep, things like this, freak me out. I'm a child of the 70s/80s, I still remember MAD craziness, so when I read about these things, I shudder. OMG peoples, NUKES are so not cool, you do not want someone to use them on a city because you fell asleep with the launch codes, you morons!

--
US Air Force sacks nuclear commander after blunders

October 16, 2009 - 9:33AM
The US Air Force says the commander of a nuclear wing has been sacked after his unit failed a safety inspection, trucks carrying missile parts crashed and officers under him fell asleep with launch codes in hand.

Colonel Christopher Ayres, commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was removed on Wednesday "due to loss of confidence in his ability to command", Air Force Space Command says in a statement.

The Air Force has tried to improve its handling of the country's nuclear arsenal after a series of mishaps and blunders led to the sacking of the service's top civilian and military leaders last year.

"We must uphold the highest standards within the nuclear enterprise," said General Robert Kehler, head of Air Force Space Command, who approved the firing, on Thursday.

The removal of the wing commander came days after an Air Force investigation blamed "driver error" for an August accident in which a truck carrying parts for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) went off the road and tipped on its side.

In the bizarre accident, the driver had become distracted by "a large insect" that landed on his back, the Air Force said.

Another truck carrying an ICBM rocket booster crashed last year, the Air Force Times reported.

The 91st Missile Wing, which oversees 150 Minuteman II ballistic missiles, also failed an inspection by the Defence Threat Reduction Agency in 2008, Captain Toni Tones, a spokeswoman for Air Force Space Command, told AFP.

The wing passed a second inspection this year, she said.

In another embarrassing incident, three Air Force officers at the wing fell asleep in July 2008 while in possession of classified components containing missile launch codes for ICBMs. The three officers were disciplined over the incident, Tones said.

Colonel Ferdinand Stoss, vice-commander of the 90th Missile Wing in Wyoming, has been named to take over at the 91st wing.

In January, an outside panel headed by former defence secretary James Schlesinger concluded the Air Force had for years given the nuclear forces a lower priority and failed to manage the mission with rigour.

Source

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pathology_doc
2009-10-16 02:34 am UTC (link)

This is why you give the UTMOST priority to your nuclear forces, because - believe it or not - the nuclear deterrent IS still relevant. It will remain relevant until military dictatorships no longer have them or the means to have them, and until other solutions for stopping large, falling rocks (e.g. the thing that exploded over Tunguska) exist.

I know having something large and crawly land on you can scare the fuck out of you and make you crash your vehicle; that's only human. Accidents happen. Besides which, carrying boosters for ICBMS and carrying parts for them is NOT the same as carrying a fully assembled one, and even then they're designed NOT to detonate without VERY specific conditions having been met - which includes surviving their launch, arc-over and re-entry - even igniting and blowing up in the launcher won't set the warheads off.

But as for the falling asleep with codes in hand, FFS the US is at war, and nuclear security is vital. Someone as stupid as that should have been shot.

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dana
2009-10-16 02:39 am UTC (link)

I was reading in NewScientist that one of the things that scares the hell out of the US Defence Dept. is the chances of a meteorite hitting and urban area, because it will look like a nuclear explosion, and which will bring about a war. Imagine if one hit Islamabad, then Pakistan would nuke India, etc, etc, blah, blah. And the Pakistanies won't give damn about any nuclear deterrent, they won't sit back and think 'Oh wait, the US might nuke us if we nuke India, they will think the explosion in their city was a pre-emptive attack'.

And before anyone says, this won't happen, it almost did, about two years ago, one was heading towards Sudan, and the US went on full alert because they were afraid it was going to explode around that region (fortunately it burnt up in space).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dana 2009-10-16 02:41 am UTC (link)
	I meant, burnt up in the atmosphere ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pathology_doc 2009-10-16 10:39 am UTC (link)
	The other thing to worry about is if one hits, say, Mecca. Can you imagine the fuss that would cause, with those so motivated itching to point their fingers in the Stars and Stripes' direction? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	snarkhunter 2009-10-16 02:43 am UTC (link)
	We seriously have missiles in Minot, ND? SERIOUSLY? That'll be useful when Canada attacks. I cannot adequately describe how very, very remote Minot is. My uncle was stationed up there for a while. I think there's one road in and out. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	undomielregina 2009-10-16 03:30 am UTC (link)
	Honestly, the remoteness is probably why they're there -- easier to handle security for the facility if it's in the middle of nowhere. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	catmoran 2009-10-16 01:43 pm UTC (link)
	Missiles can fly quite a distance. And there's lots of empty land up there for silos. The ones in ND are probably meant to cross the north pole and hit Russia. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

snarkhunter
2009-10-16 02:25 pm UTC (link)

Intellectually I know this, and I think I even knew that there were missile silos in ND (thanks, X-Files, for that bit of info for my brain), but somewhere it just doesn't compute.

Or maybe I just think it's hilarious.

And also probably why the staff up there were such incompetents. "We're in North Dakota! What could go wrong?" (I don't mean that people from ND are incompetent--just that the staff might've been incautious due to the remoteness.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	tetradecimal 2009-10-16 05:12 pm UTC (link)
	Or when Lovecraftian horrors attack! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bigbigtruck 2009-10-16 05:54 am UTC (link)
	And now I have this mental image of voice actor Chris Ayres in charge of a nuclear weapons division. It is both awesome and terrifying. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	eldritch 2009-10-16 06:32 am UTC (link)
	Oh god. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	maev_connacht 2009-10-16 12:47 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, that was my first thought, too. It seems... inadvisable. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lexingmouse3 2009-10-19 07:05 pm UTC (link)
	In the bizarre accident, the driver had become distracted by "a large insect" that landed on his back, the Air Force said. That part is a bit funny...still, horrified by the rest. (Reply to this)