When an army can only be as good as its Commander-in-Chief…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 3:44 PM Permalink

…you have got to know that America's armed forces are in pitiful and pitiable shape under gw bush, especially when it comes to bush's signature call to secure all nuclear weapons and deprive others of even the knowledge of how to build nukes.

No one has to build any new nukes, just steal one from America which, as it seems, has the most lax security of anyone when it comes to securing nuclear weapons.

See this report:

Most overseas storage sites for U.S. nuclear weapons, particularly in Europe, need substantial improvements in physical security measures and the personnel who guard the weapons, according to a newly available Air Force report.

"Most sites require significant additional resources to meet DoD security requirements," according to the final report of the Air Force Blue Ribbon Review of Nuclear Weapons Policies and Procedures, completed in February.

The report was made public last week by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, who obtained it under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The report said upgrades are needed in "support buildings, fencing, lighting and security systems" at several European sites. It also cited conscripts who serve only nine months and "unionized security personnel" whom some host countries provide as guards.

Kristensen said yesterday that the United States keeps several hundred tactical nuclear weapons at six bases in five European countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Although the Pentagon does not officially acknowledge the weapons' presence, Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop said during a parliamentary committee meeting Monday that nuclear weapons security facilities at the Netherlands' Volkel Air Base "are in good order," according to news reports.

Kristensen said that an estimated 10 to 20 U.S. B-61 nuclear bombs are stored at Volkel Air Base for delivery by Dutch F-16s.

The Blue Ribbon review of nuclear security, chaired by Air Force Maj. Gen. Polly A. Peyer, was conducted after it was discovered that a B-52 bomber had flown across the United States, from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, with neither the pilots nor ground crews aware that six cruise missiles under one wing held real nuclear warheads.

How long can such mismanagement go on without losing a nuke? Remember the nuclear triggers "accidentally" shipped to Taiwan?

Labels: neocons, nuclear weapons