Air Force Missile Launch Crew Fell Asleep Holding Classified Code Devices

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The probe found that the missile launch codes were outdated and remained secure at all times.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.

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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.

___

James MacPherson reported from Bismarck, N.D.

Comments

[SilkySoul]

Actually when I first read the story about the crew asleep seemed very odd.Crews sleep all
the times,usually some one is left for the look out.This "asleep" story may be a head fake for
the real story "which is reported by POGO that that a crew member carried the nuclear codes
home".May be this 4th crew member not in the room is the one that went home.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56371

[SecretSquirrel666]

You don't go home straight from the launch site, you go back to main base to turn your shite in before starting you days off. You don't even drive your own car out there, that was why they were waiting for a ride. This was simply a classified handling infraction but rightfully so, in the current atmosphere due to recent events, everyone is under the microscope. Possibly, the officers involved were 'dicks' and somebody saw a chance to get even by dropping a dime instead of scaring the shite out of them by taking the codes and watching them freak out when they woke up. Not that anyone would do that, nope, never. Another option is that whoever found them racked out didn't know if it was real or if it was an exercise to see what someone would do if they found that situation. Again the current atmosphere is going to have all on their tippy toes. The codes were from the last shift and were evidently superceded anyways, which at least was something done according to procedure.

[nastyvirus]

The question is, how is it that the secretive Bush Administration would allow this information to be publicized? Why is the Pentagon trying to destroy the Air Force?

[dadw5boys]

THE AIRFORCE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME READING THEIR BIBLES.

MAYBE THIS ERA OF RELIGIOUS WARRIORS WILL END SOON AND WE WILL JUST HAVE A MILITARY .

[guajiro]

"THE AIRFORCE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME READING THEIR BIBLES"

They're so religious they couldn't even tell the difference between someone asleep and someone who was praying. My understanding is these guys were praying and meditating not sleeping. Due to the lack of personell in the military many soldiers are being asked to do the job of 2 sometimes 3 soldiers, often called MULTI-TASKING by superiors. Nowhere in the military manual does it say that a soldier cannot have his eyes closed. Even if closed, the person might be in a decompression mode, a sort of meditation. To be accused of sleeping by someone who cannot possibly know what in in one's mind is bad enough. For that person to be believed by a superior borders ludicrous.

[Retrofuturistic]

Wow. That's about as reassuring as having Bush and Cheney in charge of the country....

[insanityfollows]

Wow. Our once-vaunted air force. Whe shipped specials to Barksdale without anyone realizing it across open us airspace and the when landing at Barksdale they were behind a single fence line. We have people falling asleep at the switch. Codes could have been compromised. The Air Force clearly had something working concerning the Boeing tanker contract-at least to the extent that the government told them to re-work the bid (with close scrutiny by outside agencies), and where the hell is the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, anyway???? What the hell is going on with the men in blue?? This pains me to see this once-great Air Force in trouble. Who wants to take this one on?

[dadw5boys]

THEY CLAIM IT WAS SHIPPED BACK TOO!!!!!!!

WORNDER IF ISRAEL NOW HAS THEM??????

[Arleen1]

Help me here. What is the hoopla about? The sleeping staff? The open codes? The attached missiles? Was this plane auto piloted? What was the destination? For what purpose were the missiles attached? Did the pilots not know what they were about? Was this a secret mission? Was there a chance that the plane would be intercepted? Is it a concern that this is what could have happened possibly to the wor-tr-cr? How did this come to the attention of the authorities? What could have been the worst case scenario?

[CDRUSNret]

Arleen...read the article again....sloooowwwwwly. There was no plane involved. No codes were "open" or compromised. It was expired crypto material in a locked container, in a secure area. Even though there was no compromise, the concern was probably (I worked with Top Secret KEYMAT, but not nuke codes) that what we call TPI (Two Person Integrity) was violated since no two persons were awake to oversee control of the container. It's certainly a technical violation, but since no compromise of the expired KEYMAT likely occurred, it's really no big deal, although there will certainly be disciplinary action taken. But given the recent issues with the USAF, it's getting bigger play than necessary IMHO.

[Durango]

Personally I hope these guys stay asleep.

And remain asleep if the call to launch ever comes. Because if they ever send those missiles off they will be criminals involved in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Or more simply put: Murder.

There is no scenario where not using nuclear weapons is worse than using them.

If they ever get the command to launch I hope they all refuse.

[teembee]

Durango.....all I can say is you are very lucky that there are those among who protect you and your freedom.

[Durango]

Freedom from what?

Nuclear annihilation?

And who are they protecting me from? The Russians? The Chinese?

The Iranians who don't have any nukes?

I think the entire world should be worried that the USA, the ONLY nation to ever use nuclear weapons, has crews sitting on a hair trigger ready to launch missiles.

At whom I don't really know. And neither do you.

So to say they are protecting "my freedom" is a somewhat ludicrous statement.

[ghostsofamerica]

this is part of the plan. wayne madsen has been writing about shadow government at Minot for 11 months now, and has been researching this "mistake" that keeps happening since last year time and time again.

[ghostsofamerica]

waynemadsenreport.com

May 15, 2008 -- Blackwater at Minot

WMR has learned from a knowledgeable source that in May 2007, a Blackwater team was assigned to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to train nuclear weapons security personnel. Previously, WMR reported that there were some peculiar security incidents involving Minot in the months before the August 2007 unauthorized movement of six nuclear armed cruise missiles on a B-52 to its home base of Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

On March 26, 2008, WMR reported: "contractors working in nuclear security on the base reported a number of 'strange' incidents involving the security of nuclear weapons at the base, the July 2007 incident involving the 'plan' of security personnel involving pilfered military equipment being just one of a series of 'incidents' involving the security of nuclear weapons."

The Air Force later issued a "gag order" on any discussions involving the stolen military equipment. WMR can now report that one of the contractors involved in the "strange" incidents involving nuclear security at Minot was Blackwater.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates subsequently ordered multiple investigations of the Minot nuclear incident and an unprecedented inventory of all nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons-related material..."

[OkieIntellectual]

Nothing to see here citizen, move along.

[Spud777]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the problems with the military is not incompetence, they are extremely competent and patriotic individuals serving our country. The problem is the way Bushco distributes the funding that Congress gives him (and he has received every cent he demands for the war). Halliburton and KBR are now rich, along with all defense contractors, while the current military personnel are overworked and under appreciated by this administration. (Just look at the Administration’s record in “Supporting the Troops; by medical treatment of the wounded, disability claims and not supporting the Webb/Hagel GI bill; it is pathetic). Bush's illegal war in Iraq has drained the military's ability to perform their job in a professional manner, not to mention made America less safe by not going after the real terrorist in Afghanistan. Bush's approach is to make the military member do two or three jobs because there are not enough personnel in the military to do the job properly. The brave and patriotic members of our great military have been used and abused by the Bush administration. Please note, nothing is ever Bush's fault, he is beyond a doubt the worst President American has ever had. I cannot wait until January 20, 2009 when President Obama is sworn into office.

[go4thegold]

It's not the soldiers fault. They were listening to a McCain campaign speech... Snooooooze. D.

[Binx101]

This just in:

Apparently -the three officers had just finished watching a McCain press conference and were actually unconscious, not sleeping as originally reported.

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[leekinny]

You start learning how to handle classified information in basic training. There's no excuse for ever compromising classified material. I worked in a hanger behind coded locked doors but there would be hell to pay if any classified material whether it be confidential, secret or top secret was not handled properly at all times, fortunately it always was.

[edgarallenpoe]

If they raise this kind of fuss over leaving just one guard awake with obsolete launch codes inside a locked facility with a guard outside, how could multiple nuclear warheads get loaded on a B-52 and flown across the country by accident? It is as if someone with authority wanted those weapons to be easily available for a nuclear strike.

[JerseyBob]

Dr. Strangelove Lives or: Art Imitates Life
Stanley Kubrick might have had a thought or two on this.

Positive: Air Force (DoD) assurance that what happened is precisely why we have redundancy in our nuclear strike capability. Rest easy. We have thousands ready to go in case a crew like Sleepy and his/her fellow dwarfs do sleep sleep on duty. Comforting. Truly.

Negative: A base, nasty comic could use this incident to suggest that three officers who were behind locked doors fell asleep after...........No! No! I can't go on! (Your thought-not mine, not Kubrick's)

[teembee]

These guys were inside the barbed wire compound, not in the silo, had come off their shift and were waiting for a ride home.
This is blown completely out of proportion.

[andyboy]

Mush ado