Another Air Force nuclear missile site has failed inspection:
The Air Force has indeed blown a third test of its nuclear handling capabilities, as Danger Room first reported over the weekend. In a memo, the Air Force confirmed that the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base “rated unsatisfactory” on its nuclear surety inspection. Testers found fault with the missile unit's “management and administration,” as well as its “tools, tests, tie-down and handling equipment.”
This marks roughly the umpteenth nuclear failure on the part of the Air Force in the last couple of years, beginning with the unauthorized flight of six nuclear warheads cross-country on a B-52. Nuclear sloppiness was the announced reason for the firing of the Air Force chiefs earlier this year.
Broadly speaking, the problem is that nuclear expertise is no longer seen as a way to get ahead in the Air Force. Young officers like to specialize in areas that are exciting, intellectually engaging, have a future, and will lead to a promising promotion path. Right now, nuclear weapons are not perceived as such an area, because the nuclear deterrent is no longer viewed as the most critical part of the Air Force's job. Accordingly, the best officers look elsewhere, and those who do find themselves on the nuclear track quickly try to find their way out. The result is that the branch becomes a backwater, which would be less of a problem if its primary job wasn't the management of nuclear weapons. The same thing happened with counter-insurgency during and shortly after the Vietnam War; it was well understood that the Army did not prioritize counter-insurgency, meaning that young officers had no incentive to develop an expertise in it. The larger problem is that the Air Force still lacks a plausible post-Cold War mission, but that’s an issue for another day.
—Robert Farley
