As an ex Nuclear Surety Officer from the Cold War era I am still at a loss as to how this could have happened.
After the major stand-down of alert birds, missiles, and weapons in the early 1990’s, and the elimination of Strategic Air Command, the top brass at Air Combat Command, mostly fighter jocks, saw little political or monetary incentive to keep us on the “razor’s edge” regarding nuclear weapons and thus the culture of safety and security was greatly diminished.
This was an across-the-board failure of responsibility.
You guys had the cool badges!