Some Nuclear Weapons Parts Unaccounted For, Internal Audit Says

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
NBC; FNC
June 19, 2008 NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM
ANN CURRY: A follow-up tonight on two embarrassing incidents for the U.S. Air Force that you may remember. In one case, the Air Force unknowingly flew six nuclear armed cruise missiles across the nation. In another, it accidentally shipped nuclear trigger devices to Taiwan. We learn today that an internal investigation found serious lapses, including as many as 1,000 nuclear-related components unaccounted for. But tonight, the Air Force says nearly all had been located and calls the lapses, quote, “a bookkeeping error.”
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
JIM ANGLE: There is more bad news tonight for the U.S. Air Force, which has had more than its share of trouble lately over a disputed tanker contract and its handling of nuclear weapons and related parts. At issue now is a report saying some of those parts were not where they were supposed to be.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin explains.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: It’s not as bad as when a U.S. Air Force B-52 flew six nuclear tipped weapons across the continental U.S. and didn’t realize its mistake for 36 hours, but an internal audit presented by the Air Force to Defense Secretary Robert Gates in May and leaked this week concluded the Air Force may have misplaced up to a few dozen nuclear components. More bad news about the aging accounting system used to keep track of the country’s nuclear fleet.
But as Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman put it, quote, “There is a big difference between “missing,” and having an auditable paper trail for every component.” The components were not the weapons themselves or the fissile material that counterterrorism experts fear could be used to make a dirty bomb. Some of the misplaced components may have been decommissioned and not logged properly.
But a separate Air Force blue ribbon review in February, parts of which were recently declassified, suggests bigger concerns about the safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal at shared bases in Europe – nearly 350 nuclear weapons in total. Quote, “Inconsistencies in personnel, facilities, and equipment provided to the security mission by the host nation were evident as the team traveled from site to site. Examples of areas noted in need of repair at several of the sites include support buildings, fencing, lighting, and security systems.”
The report was made public at the request of the Federation of American Scientists, a nuclear watchdog.
HANS KRISTENSEN [Federation of American Scientists]: Most of the facilities in Europe that are currently used to store U.S. nuclear weapons do not meet Department of Defense security standards.
GRIFFIN: Among the complaints, some of the Europeans used to guard U.S. nukes at bases in Italy, Germany, Holland and Belgium are conscripts assigned for just nine months at a time, and others are unionized, making it difficult for the Air Force to carry out standard, unannounced spot checks.
At the Pentagon, Jennifer Griffin, Fox News.
 
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