What the Air Force can learn from the nuclear cheating scandal
BEFORE THEY go on duty with US nuclear-armed intercontinental
ballistic missiles, officers are trained in classrooms and simulators.
They are schooled in weapons systems, missile code handling and
emergency war orders, among other things. For decades, these missileers
have been surrounded by a mystique. They were at the front lines of the
Cold War – the officers in the silo who get the codes from a president
and turn the keys to launch a nuclear-armed missile.
But this mystique has been clouded with the discovery that officers at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana were cheating on routine tests. The base is home to 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, about one-third of the nation’s land-based force.
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Read more about this issue:
Rachel Maddow: A nuclear weapons strategy that’s stuck in the past
Barry Blechman: US nuclear policy is sound
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