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Air Force Punishes 70 For Nuclear-Armed B-52 Flight

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By PAULINE JELINEK, The Associated Press

Published: October 20, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Air Force said Friday it has punished 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber after an investigation that found widespread disregard for rules on handling such munitions.

'There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base,' said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.

Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.

The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.

A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The airmen replaced the schedule with their own 'informal' system, he said, though he didn't say why they did that or how long they had been doing it their own way.

Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists was among those skeptical that August's flight represented an isolated incident.

He said a decline in Air Force standards for nuclear weapons maintenance and security was documented by the government a decade ago. In recent years, he said, Minot and Barksdale have both gotten poor marks during inspections routinely required for certification.

Highest among those punished are four officers who were relieved this week of their commands, including the 5th Bomb Wing commander at Minot, Col. Bruce Emig, who also has been the base commander since June.

In addition, the wing has been 'decertified from its wartime mission,' Newton said.

More than 65 airmen and lower-ranking officers have been decertified from handling nuclear weapons. The certification process looks at a person's psychological profile, any medications they are taking and other factors in determining a person's reliability to handle weapons.

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