Gates Orders Outside Probe Of Nuke Blunder

(AP)  Three weeks after the Air Force began investigating the mistaken arming of a B-52 bomber with nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked for an outside inquiry led by a retired general who once commanded the strategic bomber fleet, an official said Thursday.

In the embarrassing incident, a B-52 mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. The missiles were mounted onto pylons under the bomber's wings, but the Air Force said there was never any danger to the public.

The mistake, revealed publicly by the Military Times newspapers, was so serious that President Bush and Gates were quickly informed and Gates has received regular updates from the Air Force on progress in its investigation.

Gates's press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters that the defense chief asked Larry Welch, a former Air Force chief of staff, to lead an inquiry into the implications of the incident. That is in addition to the existing Air Force probe headed by Maj. Gen. Douglas Raaberg, director of air and space operations at Air Combat Command, which is responsible for all Air Force bombers and fighters.

Morrell said Welch will lead a Defense Science Board task force to determine whether the B-52 incident has wider implications for the military. "Does this incident reflect a larger problem with regard to the security and transfer of munitions?" is the question that Welch's group will attempt to answer, Morrell said.

The Defense Science Board is a standing committee of outside experts, including retired military officers and former government officials, that advises the secretary of defense on a wide range of national security issues.

Asked why Gates felt it necessary to launch another inquiry into the matter, Morrell said it did not reflect any dissatisfaction with the way the Air Force is conducting its investigation.

"But I think he believes that in an incident of this nature, it's important to get to the bottom of it," Morrell said. "And he believes an outside set of eyes may be additionally helpful to, sort of, get a better sense of what went wrong and how to avoid similar mistakes in the future."

An Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Edward Thomas, said his service's probe should be done within several weeks.

"Our response has been swift and focused," Thomas said.

The weapon involved in the Aug. 30 incident was the Advanced Cruise Missile, a "stealth" weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radars. The Air Force said in March that it had decided to retire the Advanced Cruise Missile fleet in the near future.

Welch is president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Defense Analysis, which administers three federally funded research centers that do analytical work for the Defense Department.

Welch retired from the Air Force in 1990 after serving as its chief of staff. He previously was commander of Strategic Air Command, which operated the bomber fleet and was dissolved when an Air Force reorganization created Air Combat Command to operate all of its combat aircraft.

[realpatriot1]

veteran71,

It does seem like there was coordination here and that it wasn''t an accident. It makes me wonder if this was an act of mutiny and that the real purpose
of the investigation is to learn who''s behind it and to intimidate others who might consider mutiny in the buildup to a strike against Iran.

[Krazcarl]

tomtomasters your a troll

[boldwin223]

flreason... You have to feel sorry for the Democrats because they are going to take over a government thats in total financial collapse. We are looking at 50% federal income taxes for years to come.

[flreason]

"Welch is president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Defense Analysis, which administers three federally funded research centers that do analytical work for the Defense Department."

Is this another example of taxpayer dollars being funneled to Bush/Republican supporters? The investigation is just the distraction they need for a funds transfer. Hurry, hurry, hurry...get your money while there''s still time! Only 15 more months to rob the taxpayers'' accounts before the next administration takes office.

[tomtomasters]

The Arabs will no longer be factionalized when they support the Arab country that has the bomb. In fact the Atomic Bomb will tear down the factionalization, and the Arabs will form The Arab Bloc of Nations. They will see that Arabs are uniting and joining together. They will not use the bomb because they know it will also mean their own annihilation. The bomb will bring them together and forge relationships that work for peace in the region. Right now Arabs are vulnerable rich people with abundance of resources. They have no protection for themselves...this is why the US invades, and Israel maintains its land grab tactics. There is no balance in the region. Imbalance spells terror and violence. Balance spells imposed peace.

[tomtomasters]

Think about it! Most successful Democracies have the bomb as a deterrent. How can they possibly bring Democracy to the Middle East when they don''t allow them to have the bomb? Iraq and Palestine will never have peace, because of the imbalance of power. The bomb is a heavy responsibility, because it spells the end to their existence, if they use it wrong. The bet is, once they have it, they will never use it. And they know they have a balance of Power. Israel will respect the Arabs, and this will make the Arabs respect Israel. The land grab will end, and the Arab countries will have the protection they want to secure their peoples, their land and their resources. How is that a bad thing? That is Democracy, and that is Peace, imposed or not, it is better than violence.

[tomtomasters]

The worry of the Bush administration that Tehran and N. Korea have the bomb is paranoia to say the least....and after all these years with them not having the bomb, they still have troubles. No administration has been able to end the conflict. The cold war never really ended.
That is why the Korean War has not ended, because of the imbalance. Everyone knows Rumsfeld was doing business to bring nuclear technology to N. Korea, he was right but he was silent about it, making the public believe he was doing something wrong. That was his blunder even though he was right.
The administration now supports the no nuke approach for countries they declare are rogue nations. That is Bush''s mistake now. He needs to change policy to correct this mistake, accept his fate. Take being called a flip flopper, and assert that after all these years they have not had these weapons and the violence continues. Bush needs to accept he made a mistake. When the Arabs have the bomb they will see the violence stop and balance of powers creating a New World Processional Economy.. This is the key for the Political parameters involving balance for peace or imbalance for a never ending war in the world.

[tomtomasters]

Face the truth it is about Oil, and the US wants all of it, come hell or high black water. If they really want peace, they will work to provide Iran and Saudi Arabia the bomb. Israel and Palestine conflict will mend toward better relations, because all sides now are even, not unbalanced like they are today.
The real threat in the world America hates to admit is, and no one pays any attention to is Pakistan. Really Musharaff is another dictator, and if he starts smoothing things up with Osama, and Osama is able to use Pakistan nuclear technology, he could essentially threaten Saudi Arabia, forcing the Saudi''s to seek independence from America''s military grip in Saudi Arabia. How Saudi Arabia gets the bomb, is anyone%u2019s clue, but I think it wouldn''t be a bad thing. Think of it this way...terror attacks happen because of the imbalance of power. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran all have no nuclear arsenals, but Israel does. This is the imbalance.
Afghanistan is a neighbor to nuclear power Pakistan. The fighting is because of the imbalance. If there was balance and all sides had the bomb, I really believe the violence would stop, because everyone is balanced, MAD is assured. I think they would never use the bomb, because they would be destroyed by the world governments, which is why DETERANCE is so effective.

[tomtomasters]

Arabs should have the Atomic Bomb.
The terror in the Middle East is because there is no balance of power. Israel is the only power that has nuclear weapons. The Arabs the greater regional peoples have no protection or deterrent from any country in the World. How is that? How is it that Arabs are discriminated against for wanting protection as all major ethic countries do?
Instead the USA has already occupied Saudi Arabia with a velvet military takeover, and Israel the American right arm has taken over the Golan Heights, of the Arab Palestinian region. The USA has taken Iraq, and now contemplating Iran. I question the asserted effort of US aggression in the region and taking away Arab rights as a people. The outcry is that all Arabs are not the same, and which ever Arab country gets the Atomic Bomb will be the guiding light of all Arab Nationals.
But who should that be? In fact if Iran is able to claim its nuclear deterrence, then of course Saudi Arabia should also have its own deterrent. This is what the war was about according to intelligence when they tried to explain Osama binLadin%u2018s break with the Saudi''s in Arabia. Saudi government is said they wished the US forces to stay in Saudi Arabia, but in reality some arm twisting went against the logic of Osama.

[feelfree1]

GypsyDavid,

Re: "What if?
a. Everyone believed that our government always tells the truth.
b. One or more of the nuclear missiles dislodged from their wing pod creating at the very least a "dirty bomb" ,leaving a good portion of the central US uninhabitable.
c. "See a."
Would we now be at war with Iran?"

Good points. Nuclear warheads simply do not get accidentally loaded onto bombers. There are way too many safegaurds, and double, and triple idiot-proof safegaurds, to allow this to ever happen by accident.