BISMARCK, N.D., Aug. 28, 2008
Air Force Searches For Lost Launch Devices
Three Crew Members Removed Over Allegations Of Sex Abuse And Equipment Tampering
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The bomber wing at the Minot base has been under scrutiny for the past year, after nuclear missiles were mistakenly flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. (USAF)
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The Air Force announced Thursday that an officer who earlier worked at Minot Air Force Base's 91st Space Wing notified the military in May that he and another officer had lied about destroying classified launch components in July 2005.
"They were supposed to destroy them and they signed documents saying they destroyed them," said Maj. Laurie A. Arellano, an Air Force spokeswoman. Instead, she said, "they took them home."
In May, one of the officers notified the Air Force of the incident and "turned his launch components over to the government."
Arellano said the devices are about the size of a Band-Aid, and are used on equipment inside the launch control center to detect equipment tampering. One of the devices remains missing.
"We only know of the whereabouts of one for sure," Arellano said. There is no security threat, she said.
"The material that was supposed to be destroyed was already superseded and had been replaced," she said. "There is no risk to the security of the weapon system, and no possibility of an inadvertent launch as a result of this being taken from the weapon facility."
The officers, who have not been identified, no longer are stationed at the Minot Air Force base. "They are not, obviously, working missile alert duties until the investigation is complete," Arellano said.
The Air Force also said it is investigating alleged "aggravated sexual contact" by a woman officer at a launch facility at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. The officer told Air Force investigators in March that she had been sexually assaulted by a male officer in December while the two were on duty in a launch control facility.
"The male has been temporarily reassigned while it's being investigated," Arellano said.
She did not know the duty status of the female officer.
The Air Force also announced Thursday that three ballistic missile crew members from the Minot Air Force Base who fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices have been sanctioned and "decertified from missile operations."
The crew members, two lieutenants and a captain from the 91st Missile Wing, were in a missile alert facility about 70 miles from Minot when they fell asleep in a crew rest area on July 12, the Air Force said.
Arellano said the officers received written reprimands and they will forfeit a portion of their pay for two months under Article 15 reviews, which allow punishments without a court proceeding or public record.
Six other officers, including two squadron commanders, also received disciplinary letters in their military files, Arellano said.
The bomber wing at the Minot base has been under scrutiny for the past year, after nuclear missiles were mistakenly flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. About 65 of the 3,700 airmen at the bomber wing were sanctioned as a result of that incident. The Air Force said an inspection at the bomb wing earlier this month found that it is operating safely.
The Minot base, home to about 4,530 active duty military personnel, is the command center for 150 Minuteman III missiles, sunk in hardened silos, and is one of two B-52 bomber bases in the country.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 40 CommentsIn only a few hours the mass of the human race could be destroyed.
(snip)
Posted by pmktwo at 07:21 PM : Aug 28, 2008
Can''t you just imagine how the poor airman must have felt at the moment he realized that the nukes in front of him were live? I bet after he picked his lower jaw up off the tarmac, he was ready to kill someone!
Thought mixed was mixed. Not black or white. Yet everyone keeps saying how black this dude is! Excuse me for my ignorance, but black and white makes grey not black!
Posted by bozworth4 at 07:52 PM : Aug 28, 2008
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Well let me blab for a minute here. Obama''s father was from Kenya, Africa, his mother from Kansas, right? So yes he is mixed black/white. Pardon my non-politically correctness here, but isn''t he more like an oreo, black on the outside, but white on the inside, since his white mother raised him? Isn''t that really why Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton dislikes him so much?
After my 12 years in the Air Force I used to brag that AF was the best branch - seems like a good few are out to tarnish that rep!
Posted by j_flood at 04:04 PM : Aug 28, 2008
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The great staff officers who came up in the 40''s and 50''s, like my father, have gone. The ones who have taken over don''t have the same experience, discipline, or determination.
It does not help that the Bush administration has pushed (1) extreme politicization of the civilan leadership for political gain, and (2) the full subjugation of military to the corporate contractors (KBR, SAIC, etc.) who fund politics with huge political contributions.
The military has been "outsourced" to the political class and to the corporations. The best officers leave for civilian jobs at military contractors, and the ones who are left are much less competent.
My father (32 yrs USAF) was sick of what he saw as this accelerated a number of years ago. If he was still with us I know he''d be even sicker to see what is going on now.
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Search Cheney!
You rich white guilty college drop-outs are setting an inexperienced black-man up for failure by voting for him.
Maybe thats what you racist libtard democrats want?
Once Obama starts f-ing up its gonna make all black people & gay libtards look like baboons.
At least with Bush you cant say his administration was inexperienced, unless your dumb. Our current administration has been in the seat of power since the 1960''''s (look it up Obama ho)
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Posted by darkmeat4
Why is it when you are a mixed race you are black???
Thought mixed was mixed. Not black or white. Yet everyone keeps saying how black this dude is! Excuse me for my ignorance, but black and white makes grey not black!
Did you guys check between the couch cushions?
All military equiptment has nomenclature-serial number or color code.
If some folks cannot read or are color blind there will mistakes. In some circumstances large ones! As the Minot/Barksdale event.
It took an airman at Barksdale, after jumping up & down trying to convince the NCOs that the missles are live. After more then twenty four hours on the ground and parked in the midst of other aircraft.
Don''t think General Curtis LeMay would have been so slow to make a decision and act on it.
A 2/c ret Strategic Air Command
WHAT KIND OF BULLSH!T IS THIS? WHO''S THE COMMANDER - WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP?
After my 12 years in the Air Force I used to brag that AF was the best branch - seems like a good few are out to tarnish that rep!
Posted by j_flood at 04:04 PM : Aug 28, 2008
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It was taken over by RINO Business Majors and became the 101st Air Combat Business Major Battalion.
REALLY? Are you sure about that?
I think it the direct and inevitable result of Bush and Cheney''s actions: Lying to start an illegal war for profit and political gain! These guys just saw a chance to make some money selling military supplies on the black market. They didn''t care who got them, so long as they got paid. Recall that Cheney''s buddies, Blackwater, did exactly the same thing. If I remember correctly, they sold off something like 186,000 armaments, most of which ended up in the hands of people who were intent on killing US soldiers in the mideast!
As the military keeps on lowering their admissions standards, you can expect even more of the cretins to sell out for cash.
After my 12 years in the Air Force I used to brag that AF was the best branch - seems like a good few are out to tarnish that rep!
Posted by gop_forever
This poster is way too funny....thanks for the hearty laugh!
If there is human contact, there will be human error...or human theft.
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