Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Denver Post
June 11, 2008
Pg. 1
In a Colorado Springs speech, Robert Gates calls for a new accountability in increasingly complex security challenges.
By Bruce Finley, The Denver Post
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday called for a new accountability in the military, especially in handling a U.S. nuclear arsenal that he says has fallen prey to "a serious degradation" of safeguards that led to potentially deadly mishaps.
"When you see failures or growing problems in other areas, outside your lane, . . . throw a flag. Bring them to the attention of people who can do something about it," Gates said in a speech to about 400 Air Force men and women at this base in Colorado Springs.
"None of the services easily accept honest criticism from outside their branch or scrutiny that exposes institutional shortcomings," Gates said.
"This is something that must change across the military" as the nation faces increasingly complex security challenges.
U.S. nuclear deterrence of potential enemies "is even more important," he said, "with our ground forces so decisively committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Gates' 20-minute speech in an auditorium — one of three at key Air Force bases — targeted men and women at the headquarters for the nation's massive intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile arsenal. The United States positions some 2,900 nuclear warheads on bombers, submarines, and in underground silos around the country — including 49 in Colorado and 400 in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming. A few hundred sit in Germany and elsewhere in Europe — holdovers from Cold War containment of the now-defunct Soviet Union.
Pentagon officials staged the tour as Gates prepares to meet with NATO defense ministers this week in Europe.
Gates is highlighting his overhaul of top military leadership and inviting "unvarnished, straight-from-the- shoulder" questions — no press allowed — from Air Force personnel.
Tuesday's speech followed his nomination of longtime Pentagon official Michael Donley and Air Force Academy graduate Gen. Norton Schwartz — who must be confirmed by the Senate — to run the Air Force starting June 21. Gates last week fired Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley for failing to stop an erosion of safety standards.
An internal Air Force report had highlighted embarrassing mishaps. In March, Air Force officials discovered they had mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006 four fusing devices used to trigger nuclear warheads on missiles. That perturbed China, threatening to unsettle the already-volatile China-Taiwan standoff.
Last August, U.S. Air Force pilots unknowingly flew a B-52 bomber mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles from North Dakota to Louisiana.
The hasty efforts to restore credibility before heading to Europe this evening reflect growing concerns in Europe, said Charles Ferguson, science and technology fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank and a former Navy officer on a nuclear submarine.
"The view of a lot of my counterparts in other countries, until these incidents, was that the United States had the best nuclear security in the world. Now, it's not clear we can make that statement," Ferguson said.
Some experts question whether replacing Air Force top brass will be sufficient to solve the problems.
"It's not clear changes at the top will suffice," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association think tank that advocates stronger safeguards.
June 11, 2008
Pg. 1
In a Colorado Springs speech, Robert Gates calls for a new accountability in increasingly complex security challenges.
By Bruce Finley, The Denver Post
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday called for a new accountability in the military, especially in handling a U.S. nuclear arsenal that he says has fallen prey to "a serious degradation" of safeguards that led to potentially deadly mishaps.
"When you see failures or growing problems in other areas, outside your lane, . . . throw a flag. Bring them to the attention of people who can do something about it," Gates said in a speech to about 400 Air Force men and women at this base in Colorado Springs.
"None of the services easily accept honest criticism from outside their branch or scrutiny that exposes institutional shortcomings," Gates said.
"This is something that must change across the military" as the nation faces increasingly complex security challenges.
U.S. nuclear deterrence of potential enemies "is even more important," he said, "with our ground forces so decisively committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Gates' 20-minute speech in an auditorium — one of three at key Air Force bases — targeted men and women at the headquarters for the nation's massive intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile arsenal. The United States positions some 2,900 nuclear warheads on bombers, submarines, and in underground silos around the country — including 49 in Colorado and 400 in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming. A few hundred sit in Germany and elsewhere in Europe — holdovers from Cold War containment of the now-defunct Soviet Union.
Pentagon officials staged the tour as Gates prepares to meet with NATO defense ministers this week in Europe.
Gates is highlighting his overhaul of top military leadership and inviting "unvarnished, straight-from-the- shoulder" questions — no press allowed — from Air Force personnel.
Tuesday's speech followed his nomination of longtime Pentagon official Michael Donley and Air Force Academy graduate Gen. Norton Schwartz — who must be confirmed by the Senate — to run the Air Force starting June 21. Gates last week fired Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley for failing to stop an erosion of safety standards.
An internal Air Force report had highlighted embarrassing mishaps. In March, Air Force officials discovered they had mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006 four fusing devices used to trigger nuclear warheads on missiles. That perturbed China, threatening to unsettle the already-volatile China-Taiwan standoff.
Last August, U.S. Air Force pilots unknowingly flew a B-52 bomber mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles from North Dakota to Louisiana.
The hasty efforts to restore credibility before heading to Europe this evening reflect growing concerns in Europe, said Charles Ferguson, science and technology fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank and a former Navy officer on a nuclear submarine.
"The view of a lot of my counterparts in other countries, until these incidents, was that the United States had the best nuclear security in the world. Now, it's not clear we can make that statement," Ferguson said.
Some experts question whether replacing Air Force top brass will be sufficient to solve the problems.
"It's not clear changes at the top will suffice," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association think tank that advocates stronger safeguards.