Nuke warheads unit in N.M. decertified

Nuke warheads unit in N.M. decertified

www.msnbc.msn.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Air Force has decertified a unit responsible for maintaining an estimated 2,000 nuclear warheads at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, but top military officials won't discuss specifics of the decision.

Decertification means members of the 898th Munitions Squadron cannot perform their usual duties with nuclear weapons.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is an interesting breaking news item, just came up.

With all that is going on right now, why would they make this move?

Perhaps something "nuclear" is about to happen?

Is there a sudden need for increased security and secrecy for these 2,000 nukes?

Do we have a missing nuke?

Something is up here but what?

From the article...

The New Mexico unit will be re-inspected and could be recertified by June, Fry said. Until then, he said qualified individuals from Air Force units based elsewhere will monitor nuclear weapons stored at Kirtland, located on Albuquerque's south side.

That seems highly unusual, removing the entire staff that is/was in charge of 2,000 nukes and temporarily replacing them with "qualified" individuals?

Need to keep an eye on this one.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 10-2-2010 by Walkswithfish]

Well if you read the whole article, it sounds like more of a retraining issue for the personnel. In some jobs (and of course in this one!!), if you arent passing protocols, procedures and tests with a 100% rate, a 99 wont cut it and something has to be done. Thats exactly what it sounds like in this case.

Could be something as simple as the guys didnt perform some drills up to standard and they lost their certification.

reply to post by princeofpeace


The article also states that...

Air Force officials also declined to disclose what concerns prompted the action, but Ron Fry, a spokesman for the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, said Wednesday the move wasn't prompted by any risk to the public.

If there are any weaknesses you identify them, Isolate them and either fix them or replace them, something would have to be really wrong to remove the entire unit.

De-certifying the entire unit is an unusual move... And the article states first that they could be re-inspected and re-certified by June.

That is a huge time span.

There is a lot here they are NOT saying... That is the point!

If something "nuclear" was about to happen - you wouldn't take the guy's responsible for those assest off the job, now would you?

I think this is more along the lines of retraining as the above poster states.

Originally posted by crisko
If something "nuclear" was about to happen - you wouldn't take the guy's responsible for those assest off the job, now would you?

Possibly, if it were a covert mission and inventories needed time to adjust.



Remember the incident here...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Maybe they are just being more careful now?

Who knows?

reply to post by Walkswithfish


After reading the article, my thought was Broken Arrow.