-Caveat Lector-
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: September 14, 2007 7:25:48 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Subject: 6 Nukes Departed Minot AFB, 5 Nukes Arrived at Barksdale
AFB -- DO THE MATH
Someone, operating under
a special chain of command
within the United States Air Force,
just stole a nuclear weapon.
ATS Premium Article by Chuck Simpson
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread302187/pg1
Some History
Barksdale Missile Number Six deserves far more public attention
than it's received to date. Missile Number Six is potentially the
major story of at least this year.
Until 1968 under the Airborne Alert Program, informally called
Operation Chrome Dome, the Air Force routinely kept about a dozen
strategic bombers with nuclear weapons flying at all times.
One predictable result was crashes and incidents. In 1968 the
Department of Defense published a list of 13 serious nuclear
weapons accidents that occurred between 1950 and 1968. In 1980 the
list was revised to include 32 incidents through that year.
Notably, the Pentagon has not acknowledged any accidents since
1980. This alone highlights the importance the Pentagon is placing
on the recent transportation of nuclear weapons from North Dakota
to Louisiana.
Through 1968, several reported incidents involved plane crashes or
malfunctions, beginning with the crash of a B-29 near Fairfield,
California in August 1950. The resulting blast was felt 30 miles away.
In July 1950 a B-50 crashed near Lebanon, Ohio. The high-explosive
trigger for the nuclear weapon detonated on impact. The blast was
felt over 25 miles away.
In May 1957 a nuclear weapon fell from the bomb bay of a B-36 near
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Parachutes malfunctioned and the weapon
was destroyed on impact.
In October 1957 near Homestead, Florida a B-47 crashed. The nuclear
weapon was burned.
In March 1958 a B-47 accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon near
Florence, South Carolina. The high-explosive trigger detonated on
impact.
In November 1958 a B-47 crashed near Abilene, Texas. The trigger of
the nuclear weapon exploded upon impact.
In July 1959 a C-124 crashed near Bossier City, Louisiana. Both
plane and nuclear weapon were destroyed.
In October 1959 a B-52 with two nuclear weapons was involved in a
mid-air collision near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. One weapon partially
burned.
In January 1961 a B-52 broke apart in mid-air near Goldsboro, North
Carolina. Two nuclear weapons were released. The parachute on one
weapon malfunctioned, and contamination was spread over a wide
area. The uranium core was never recovered. Daniel Ellsberg
reported that detonation was a very real risk because five of six
safety devices failed.
In that month near Monticello, Idaho a B-52 carrying nuclear
weapons exploded in mid-air. No information was made available as
to the weapons.
In March 1961 a B-52 with two nuclear weapons crashed near Yuba
City, California.
In January 1964 a B-52 carrying two nuclear weapons crashed near
Cumberland, Maryland.
In January 1966 a B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed after a
mid-air collision near Palomares, Spain. Two weapons exploded on
impact, with resulting plutonium contamination. A months-long
program was undertaken to locate and extract the other two weapons
from the ocean. Major policy changes were taken under consideration.
In January 1968 a B-52 carrying four hydrogen weapons crashed and
burned near Thule AFB in Greenland. Explosives in one bomb
detonated, spreading plutonium contamination. Apparently, the other
three weapons have never been accounted for.
Following large public protests Denmark, which owns Greenland and
prohibits nuclear weapons on or over its territory, filed a strong
protest. A few days later the Secretary of Defense ordered the
removal of nuclear weapons from planes. After that order was
issued, all aircraft armed with nuclear weapons were grounded but
kept in a constant state of alert.
In 1991 by Presidential order, nuclear weapons were removed from
all aircraft. Bomber nuclear ground alerts, during which nuclear
weapons are loaded onto bombers during test and training exercises,
were halted. After that time, all nuclear weapons to be delivered
by plane were permanently maintained in secure storage facilities.
August 30, 2007
All of which makes the transport of nuclear weapons in combat
position on a combat plane so newsworthy.
On August 30, for the first time since 1968, nuclear warheads in
combat position were carried by an American bomber. Numerous
international treaty provisions were violated in the process.
That Thursday, a B-52H Stratofortress flew from Minot AFB in North
Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana while carrying twelve cruise
missiles. Either five or six of those missiles were armed with
nuclear warheads.
Cruise Missiles
The missiles on the B-52 were AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile
units, specifically designed to be launched from wing pods of B-52H
planes.
A total of 460 units were manufactured by Raytheon. A total of 394
units are currently maintained by the Air Force. Apparently, 38 are
to be modernized and upgraded in Fiscal Year 2008 and the other 356
are to be decommissioned pursuant to the 2002 Moscow treaty.
Raytheon has publicly announced the AGM-129 missiles are to be
modified to accomplish a "classified cruise missile mission". This
has widely been interpreted to mean conversion to bunker-busters,
most likely for use in Iran. This widely accepted explanation is
being used to explain why armed cruise missiles are being flown in
American airspace.
Nuclear Warheads
The AGM-129 was specifically designed to deliver a W-80 nuclear
warhead. The W-80 weapon has a variable yield capability, of 5 to
150 kilotons. For comparison purposes, the bomb used on Hiroshima
was 13 to 15 kilotons, or equivalent to 13,000 to 15,000 tons of
TNT explosive.
News Stories and Flawed Explanations
The story of the B-52 flight was first reported by Army Times,
owned by Gannett, on Wednesday September 5. Gannett relied on
information provided by "anonymous officers". The story was picked
up by Yahoo Wednesday morning, published by USA Today and The
Washington Pos, and then quickly spread.
In response, the Pentagon quickly spread an official explanation.
The Air Force admitted to an inadvertent error: The intent was to
transport ACMs without weapons. According to military officers, the
nuclear warheads should have been removed before the missiles were
mounted on the pylons under the wings of the bomber.
In the words of the Pentagon:
"There was an error which occurred during a regularly scheduled
transfer of weapons between two bases. The weapons were safe and
remained in Air Force control and custody at all times."
For almost the first time in the history of the nation, the
military has publicly and promptly admitted it "made a mistake".
This in itself is truly astounding.
To reinforce the military's claim that a mistake was made, a system-
wide stand-down was ordered for September 14.
That official explanation was quickly explained away. The mistake
was made intentionally, so a "deliberate leak" of a secret
operation could occur.
The CIA and the Office of Counter-Terrorism in the State Department
explained that Barksdale AFB is a "jumping off point" for re-supply
of the Middle East.
The "deliberate leak" was intended to serve as a veiled warning to
Iran. This deliberately misleading explanation is evidently
intended to lead the public or Iran or both to logically conclude
the missiles are bound for Iran.
Bluntly, State and the CIA converted a whistleblower leak by true
American patriots into a deliberate leak by official Washington, to
scare Iran.
By this means Washington has led the public to forget or overlook
the real issue.
To begin, the multiple official explanations reek to high heaven.
They collectively read suspiciously like flimsy cover stories
concocted in hasty desperation. And no amount of pretty lipstick
will be able to make the official explanations pretty.
Transportation Violations
More conflicting explanations followed. These missiles are part of
a group scheduled to be decommissioned. This would explain why they
were shipped out of North Dakota.
But the missiles were not transported on their way to
decommissioning. Missiles are normally decommissioned at Davis-
Monthan AFB at Tucson. Nuclear weapons are decommissioned at the
Department of Energy's Pantex facility near Amarillo, Texas,
accessed through Kirkland AFB in New Mexico.
And military policy requires minimization of the number of flights
made with nuclear weapons aboard. So the weapons should not have
been mounted on the missiles, flown to Louisiana, un-mounted and
flown to New Mexico.
The mode of transportation is also a major issue not defused by
official explanations. Per standard operating procedures, or SOPs,
both missiles and nuclear warheads are transported primarily by
air, in specially modified C-130s or C-17s. Under no peacetime
circumstances do military SOPs allow transport of nuclear weapons
mounted in cruise missiles mounted in combat positions on combat
planes.
Department of Defense Directive Number 4540.5, issued on February
4, 1998, regulates logistic transportation of nuclear weapons.
By delegation of Commanders of Combatant Commands, movement of
nuclear weapons must be approved by commanders of major service
commands.
Commanders of Combat Commands or service component commanders must
evaluate, authorize and approve transport modes and movement routes
for nuclear weapons in their custody.
The Air Force is required to maintain a Prime Nuclear Airlift Force
capability to conduct the logistic transport of nuclear weapons.
Under SOPs, combat planes with combat-ready nuclear weapons can
only be flown on the authority of the Commander in Chief, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff or the National Military Command Authority.
All of these transportation regulations were flagrantly violated on
August 30.
Handling Violations
Violations of regulations concerning handling of the nuclear
weapons in North Dakota are worse.
A sophisticated computerized tracking system is used for nuclear
weapons. Multiple sign-offs are required to remove the weapons from
their storage bunkers.
The AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile was designed to carry nuclear
weapons. No non-nuclear warhead is available for this missile. So
the only possible error could have been loading nuclear warheads on
the missiles instead of practice dummies.
The practice warheads have standard blue and yellow signs declaring
"Inert, non-nuclear". The nuclear warheads have at least three
distinctive red warning signs. This error is therefore highly
improbable, absent tampering with signage.
Nuclear weapons are transported from the storage bunker to the
aircraft in a caravan that routinely includes vehicles with machine
guns front and rear and guards with M-16s. All steps in the process
are done under the watchful eyes of armed military police.
Rules require that at least two people jointly control every step
of the process. If one person loses sight of the other, both are
forced to the ground face-down and temporarily "placed under
arrest" by observant security forces. All progress stops until
inspections are made to assure the weapons weren't tampered with.
All nuclear weapons are connected to sophisticated alarm systems to
prevent removal or tampering. They could only be removed from the
storage bunker by turning the alarm off. And the squad commander
clearly would not have authority to turn off the alarm.
The Impossible Mistake
Bluntly, the mistake of loading nuclear weapons on a combat
aircraft in combat-ready position is simply not possible to make.
Safeguards are far too stringent and far too many people would be
involved. Particularly given that the mounting was in violation of
policy that's been in place without exception for almost 40 years.
No discipline is expected to be meted out. The New York Times tried
to imply the commanding general had been fired. Actually, the squad
commander in charge of munitions crews at Minot was "relieved of
duty pending an investigation". He has not been removed from his
position or disciplined. The crews involved have been "temporarily
decertified pending corrective actions or additional training" but
have not been disciplined. No mention has been made of the wing
commander.
Note carefully: These actions amount to nothing at all. The wing
and squad commanders are still in place and the crews can easily be
re-certified.
Successful Confusion
Washington's efforts to confuse the public have been successful.
Attention has shifted from the crucial issue.
This news has already become non-news. The August 14 stand-down
will momentarily become news, followed by announcements of more
stringent restrictions, improved safeguards and additional
training. The public always has been and always will be safe.
One of the major issues will be avoided:
Someone in an irregular chain of Air Force command authorized
loading and transport of nuclear weapons.
And that would never have been done without a reason. Given the
magnitude of regulatory violations involved, the reason must be
extremely important.
The paramount issue will be avoided, if necessary with repetition
of the reassurance that the Air Force was in control at all times.
The weapons were only missing during the 3.5-hour flight.
At Barksdale, the missiles were considered to be unarmed items
headed for modernization or the scrap heap, and of no particular
importance. They were left unguarded for almost ten hours.
According to one report, almost ten hours were required for airmen
at Minot AFB to convince superiors that the nuclear weapons had
disappeared. According to information provided to Congress, this
time lapsed before airmen at Barksdale "noticed" the weapons were
present. News reports will continue to overlook this fact also.
Even here the focus is on time. The number of missiles and warheads
issue was overlooked.
Early news reports spoke of five nuclear warheads loaded onto the
bomber. Apparently, this information was provided from Barksdale.
That number was later updated to six weapons missing from Minot,
apparently based on anonymous tips provided to Military Times by
people at Minot. This information has also been forgotten.
Conclusion
Six nuclear weapons disappeared from Minot AFB in North Dakota.
Five nuclear weapons were discovered at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.
Which leads to my chilling conclusion:
Someone, operating under a special chain of command within the
United States Air Force, just stole a nuclear weapon.
What next?
The answer has been provided several times, most recently by CIA
Director and General Michael Hayden.
On September 7, dressed in full military uniform, Hayden told
assembled members of the Council of Foreign Relations: "Our
analysts assess with high confidence that al-Qaida's central
leadership is planning high-impact plots against the U. S. homeland."
"We assess with high confidence that al-Qaida is focusing on
targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction
and significant aftershocks."
An eye for an eye. Use of nukes will justify use of nukes. A
perfect excuse to wage nuclear war against Iran.
I suspect Hayden is absolutely correct, except for his mistaken
identification of the "central leadership" that is planning
detonation of a nuclear weapon on American soil.
Chuck Simpson's blog: The Geronimo Manifesto
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