Hagel to order nuke force overhaul to fix failures

Associated Press ^ | Nov. 13, 2014 10:42 PM EST | Robert Burns

[Olog-hai]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has concluded that problems in the nation’s nuclear forces are rooted in a lack of investment, inattention by high-level leaders and sagging morale, and is ordering top-to-bottom changes, vowing to invest billions of dollars to fix the management of the world’s most deadly weapons, two senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Hagel ordered two lengthy reviews of the nuclear force after a series of stories by the AP revealed numerous problems in management, morale, security and safety, leading to several firings, demotions and other disciplinary actions against a range of Air Force personnel from generals to airmen.

Hagel’s moves, while not dramatic, are designed to get at the core of the problem, according to the officials. …

[Olog-hai]

Sure, after being a major cause of a lot of that.

[pepsionice]

I noticed part of the solution meant converting a three-star general into a four-star general. I’m sure that helps.

[DeaconRed]

The overhaul needed?
The entire administration sent packing. . . . .
Anything else is a band aid on a major wound. .

[Gaffer]

The beatings will continue until the morale improves.

[kimtom]

...OR, it is a prep for our eventual fall.

sorry for the sarc.

[Wilum]

As a former tactical Nuke loader in the 60’s and having direct knowledge how stringent the procedures were with nuclear weapons in the Air Force at that time, I find it hard to believe they have failed this low!

I saw transient maintenance guys with lack of knowledge on No-Lone Zone procedures dragged off in the bed of pick-up trucks! A full Colonel got the same treatment for coming into a load area the wrong way with his staff car.

We had Top Secret w/BI clearances and could lose them for selling cigarettes off base!

[Citizen Zed]

"To illustrate the degree of decay in the intercontinental ballistic missile force, the reviews found that maintenance crews had access to only one tool set required to tighten bolts on the warhead end of the Minuteman 3 missile, and that this single tool set was being used by crews at all three ICBM bases, in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. When one crew needed it, it was sent by another — by Federal Express."

Yikes!