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Nuclear Safety Issue Lingers
by Jules Witcover
Shades of Cold War anxiety were rekindled recently by reports that
Air Force Secretary
The mission of the Air Force Global Command headquarters at
Early predecessors in the launch bunkers were well aware of the trigger-finger tensions of the first years thereafter, and were particularly conditioned to the role they played. Two-man teams still work in around-the-clock shifts manning twin coded switches for simultaneous firing and security.
At the same time, then as now, an undisclosed number of nuclear-tipped bombs have been kept aloft by long-range bombers under a "fail-safe" system whereby pilots can release them only on presidential order delivered by code. Movies like "Fail-Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove" familiarized millions of American viewers with the peril of the nuclear age.
But according to the
More than 50 years ago, as a reporter at the Pentagon, I stumbled on a several stories that created a temporary storm among the military and civilian brass. A low-level bureaucrat tasked with checking on the super-secure missile launch system told me of a series of near-accidents involving disturbed launch officers working under extreme pressure in the bunkers housing the ICBMs and the complicated firing apparatus.
In one particular episode, a military officer based at a U.S, site in
This and other accounts I reported in my newspaper of the time were picked up elsewhere, resulting in pushback from the Pentagon, not denying the episodes but insisting that no nuclear weapon could be discharged in any such fashion. Some academic nuclear experts outside of government disagreed, but the Pentagon clung to its position in a press briefing.
Since then, numerous near-accidents and threats to nuclear safety have been reported and acknowledged, but by and large the still-present threat of a nuclear explosion has cooled in terms of public sensitivity. The issue most pointedly discussed these days is the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons by so-called rogue states like
In the run-up to the American invasion of
Recently, Secretary of Defense
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Article: Copyright ©, Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
"Nuclear Safety Issue Lingers "