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THE MINOT INCIDENT.Via Jeffrey Lewis: Walter Pincus and Joby Warrick have a fabulous article on the unauthorized transit of a dozen nuclear weapon on a B-52 last month. In true Dr. Strangelove fashion:
A former National Security Council staff member with detailed knowledge described the event as something that people in the White House "have been assured never could happen." What occurred on Aug. 29-30, the former official said, was "a breakdown at a number of levels involving flight crew, munitions, storage and tracking procedures -- faults that never were to line up on a single day."On the upside, at least one more breakdown in the cycle would have been necessary to create a true disaster. If the B-52 had suffered a mechanical failure and crashed, the nuclear warheads themselves might have suffered damage (they wouldn't have detonated), and no one in the Air Force would have known to engage in nuclear clean up procedures until it was too late. Also see J. and Brad Plumer.--Robert Farley
