Military AI Works

WASHINGTON - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.

The probe found that the missile launch codes were outdated and remained secure at all times. But the July 12 incident comes on the heels of a series of missteps by the Air Force that had already put the service under intense scrutiny.

"This was just a procedural violation that we investigated," said Air Force Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. "We determined that there was no compromise."

The lapse, which involved a crew based at Minot Air Force Base, was serious enough, however, to prompt an investigation by the 91st Missile Wing, in conjunction with codes experts at the 20th Air Force, U.S. Strategic Command and the National Security Agency.

And it delivers another blow to the beleaguered Air Force.

Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced a sweeping shake-up of the Air Force leadership, blaming them for failing to fully address a series of nuclear-related mishaps.

At the time, Gates said his decisions to sack the Air Force secretary and chief of staff were based mainly on the blistering conclusions of an internal report on the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four Air Force fusing devices for ballistic missile nuclear warheads.

He also linked the underlying causes of that slip-up to the August incident in which a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

No one has been punished yet in the latest Minot incident involving sleeping crew members. A continuing review by Minot commanders will determine what, if any, actions will be taken against them.

Ford and other Air Force officials said the Minot-based crew had code devices that were no longer usable, since new codes had been installed in the missiles.

The three crew members, who are in the 91st Missile Wing, were in the missile alert facility about 70 miles from Minot. That facility includes crew rest areas and sits above the underground control center where the actual keys can be turned to launch the ballistic missiles.

Officials said the three officers were behind locked doors and had with them the old code components, which are large classified devices that allow the crew to communicate with the missiles. Launch codes are part of the component, and the devices were described as large, metal boxes.

Ford said they were waiting to get back to base "and they fell asleep."

It is not clear how long they were asleep.

There are periodic, regularly scheduled code changes, and there was a crew of four on duty. One of the crew members was not in the room with the other three at the time they fell asleep, the Air Force said.

The investigation concluded that the codes had remained secured in their containers, which have combination locks that can only be opened by the crew. The containers remained with the crew at all time, and the facility is guarded by armed security forces.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the series of nuclear missteps involving Minot Air Force Base disappointing and unfortunate.

"This appears to me to be an incident in which codes were not compromised but some rules were broken, and those broken rules were reported," Dorgan said. "This does not appear to me to be equal to flying an airplane loaded with nuclear weapons halfway across the county — that was extraordinarily serious.

"I don't think this is an issue about the base — I think it's an issue about personnel," Dorgan said. "There have obviously been management and command problems at this base and the Air Force has made some command changes to respond to it."

Col. Bruce Emig was ousted following the August flight of the B-52 bomber.

"The violation was reported and it required reporting, and the airmen did their duty to report it," Dorgan said, referring to the latest incident.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, who spoke with Air Force officials Thursday about the matter, said the Minot base is getting extra scrutiny because of its embarrassing mistakes.

"They told me procedural violations do occur periodically," he said.

But Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the incident very troubling. "The new Air Force leadership, when confirmed, must take decisive and urgent steps to restore the culture of respect that our strategic weapons deserve and our national security demands," said Skelton.

Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, has been nominated to be the next Air Force chief of staff, and Michael Donley, for secretary. During their Senate confirmation hearing this week both men vowed to work to restore trust and confidence in the service.

The 91st missile wing has control of several facilities, including 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles.



wow what is going on at Minot??

I can only assume leadership will get their hand slapped again for failing to keep their airmen in line. They REALLY need to bring SAC back and actually have some accountability.

SMOC wrote:I can only assume leadership will get their hand slapped again for failing to keep their airmen in line. They REALLY need to bring SAC back and actually have some accountability.

My thoughts exactly...don't know much about the missile crew but the report said it was 3 Officers...just crazy.

Im sorry but how do you "Mistakenly" ship 4 Nuke Detonators to Taiwan, and "Mistakenly" Arm a B-52 flying internally in the US with Nukes....I mean come on.
The picture I get in my head is like a comedy sketch.

"Hey Fred, are you sure we're supposed to be arming this BUFF with Live Nukes"
"Thats what the man said pard'ner"
"Isnt that a little strange"
"Hell boy I just do as Im told"

Come on honestly....they should sack the commanders of that unit too for that. Utter ridiculous incompetence, and it all stems from Military leaders not having a clue what actually goes on. Same thing here in the UK, thats why I quit.

Nick

What is happening regarding nukes is the results of the nuclear mission taking a backseat to tactical and unconventional warfare. Once the Cold War ended and SAC was removed, what was once the most important mission in the USAF became the red headed stepchild and as such some complacency has apparently set in.

They can continue to fire commanders but that's not really going to solve the issue as the commander isn't the one in the silo working with missiles and he's not the one loading them onto aircraft... nor was he the one playing video games during the inspection. The problem DOES lie in leadership but it seems to be at a middle level. OIC and NCOIC leadership need to be taken to the woodshed. However, it's going to take more than a day to fix the issue. We're going on some seven months since the BUFF flight and Minot is STILL having issues despite changing key personnel at several levels.

It sounds like an error during Crew Changeover. Unless things have changed, the locked (two locks) code box had the old codes. The oncoming crew would have the new codes in a box locked with their locks.
I would only guess the third guy was either in training or doing some kind of crew check. If I am guessing correctly they were coming off alert and probably very tired. Still no excuse. But not as serious as it may seem. The box never left their possession and you could not open it unless two guys individually opened the locks. It does look like some good discipline from the SAC days needs to apply.

ICBM Procedural Violation: The Air Force announced yesterday that it has investigated an alleged procedural violation by airmen of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., in their handling of classified material at a Minuteman III missile alert facility on July 12. While the investigation has concluded that "there was no compromise of the classified material," commanders at Minot are reviewing the case to determine recommendations on discipline, USAF said. According to the service's account, missile crew members reported that they fell asleep while topside at a MAF in the crew rest area when they were supposed to be watching a missile code container. The investigation revealed that the codes remained secured in locked containers whose combinations were known only to the crew during the entire incident, the Air Force said. Additionally, access to the MAF was continually controlled by security forces and the codes had been superseded and were unusable, it noted. The Air Force has pledged to restore public confidence in its stewardship of nuclear weapons after two high-profile incidents involving the unauthorized transfer of nuclear weapons components, one of which involved B-52 airmen at Minot. Service leaders have emphasized that perfection is the standard in managing nuclear materials, and nothing less will be tolerated.

ICBM Crew Punished: Three members of a Minuteman III ICBM launch crew assigned to the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., who fell asleep July 12 in a crew rest area while in possession of classified launch code devices have been decertified from missile operations, received written reprimands, and will forgo part of their pay for two months. CNN reported Aug, 29 that the punishment was doled out to a captain and two first lieutenants under an Article 15 procedure that allows for discipline without court action, citing a base spokeswoman. Six additional officers, including two squadron commanders, have been sanctioned for their roles in the incident, and disciplinary letters are in their files, according to CNN. The Air Force disclosed the incident on July 24. The service said at the time the launch codes remained secure in locked containers whose combinations were known only to the crew and that the codes had been superseded and were unusable, so there was no risk to national security. In a related incident, the Associated Press reported Aug. 28 that the Air Force is investigating two additional officers of the wing who in 2005 allegedly took home classified components used in the Minuteman III launch control centers that they said they had destroyed. These small devices, now obsolete, were used to detect equipment tampering, the news service reported.

From AF Daily Report 2 Sep 08