By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 5, 2007; 3:36 PM
An Air Force B-52 bomber carrying six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads flew across the central United States last week after the nuclear weapons were mistakenly attached to the airplane's wing, defense officials said today.
The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was flying a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.
Air Force officials said the warheads were not activated for use and at no time posed a threat to the public. Military officials were more concerned that the warheads were unaccounted for during the several hours that the missiles were in transit. The missiles never left Air Force control, they said.
The missiles -- part of an Air Force fleet of more than 450 of their kind -- are in the process of being retired and normally would not carry nuclear warheads while in transit. Defense officials said the B-52's mission on Thursday did not include training runs, so the missiles would not have been launched.
Two defense officials said it is unclear how stringent safeguards for the handling of nuclear weapons were somehow skirted, allowing the missiles with the warheads to be loaded onto a pylon that was then attached to the underside of the B-52's wing. Air Force officials said that the mistake was considered a serious breach of rules and that a high-level investigation into procedural breakdowns began immediately.
The aircraft's pilots and crew were unaware that they were carrying nuclear warheads, officials said. Airmen in Louisiana discovered the error after the bomber arrived.
"Essentially, this is an issue of a departure from our very exacting standards," said Lt. Col. Edward Thomas, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, who declined to confirm that nuclear warheads were involved. "The Air Force maintains the highest standards of safety and precision, so any deviation from these well-established munitions procedures is very serious and we are responding swiftly."
The incident, first reported by the Military Times newspapers, prompted senior leaders to relieve a munitions squadron commander of his duties. Other airmen have been barred from performing duties related to munitions pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Air Force's Air Combat Command has ordered a stand-down for its bases next Friday to review procedures and prevent a repeat of the mistake. "All evidence seems to point to this being an isolated mistake," Thomas said. "There was never any danger to the public."
Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters there this afternoon that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was informed of the incident early Friday morning and has been receiving daily progress reports. Morrell said President Bush also was notified.
In a statement today, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he found the reports "deeply disturbing."
"There is no more serious issue than the security and proper handling of nuclear weapons," Skelton said. "The American people, our friends and our potential adversaries must be confident that the highest standards are in place when it comes to our nuclear arsenal."
"Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
That's kind of scary right there.
