Hagel calls for review of US
nuclear force
January 23, 2014, 05:55 pm
By Jeremy Herb
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
on Thursday called for a wholesale review of the U.S. nuclear forces in the wake of
a series of scandals involving nuclear officers.
Hagel ordered two reviews of the personnel
operating the nation’s nuclear weapons, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John
Kirby told reporters Thursday, in response to the Air Force’s recent cheating
and drug scandals.
Kirby said that Hagel’s office and senior
leaders at the Navy and Air Force would
conduct an internal review and action plan over the next two months, along with
an independent review of personnel issues.
The reviews are being taken after 34 Air
Force officers were caught cheating on a nuclear proficiency test, which was
uncovered during a separate investigation into drug use among officers in
charge of launching nuclear missiles.
Kirby said that Hagel remains confident in
the safety and security of the nuclear arsenal, but said that a “series of
individual failures such as those we have recently witnessed give him pause.”
“To the degree there are systemic problems
in the training and professional standards of the nuclear career field, the
secretary wants them solved,” Kirby said. “To the degree leaders have failed in
their duties, he wants them held to account.”
Both Hagel and Air Force Secretary Deborah
Lee James recently toured bases in Wyoming, Montana and North
Dakota where intercontinental ballistic missiles
(ICBMs) are operated.
The Air Force has struggled before with
its nuclear forces.
In 2008, the Air Force secretary and chief
of staff were both fired by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates following a
series of missteps, including a B-52 bomber flying across the country
mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
Kirby said Thursday that 481 Air Force
missile officers had been re-tested after the cheating allegations. He said
that the pass rate was at 95 percent and 22 had failed. Those who failed would
be retrained and re-tested.
Chuck Hagel
Chuck Hagel
is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense
for the Barack Obama administration, and was
the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Michael
P.C. Carns was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and a general for the U.S. Air
Force.
John A.
Gordon was a general for the U.S. Air Force,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Richard
L. Lawson was a general for the U.S. Air Force,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Joseph
W. Ralston was a general for the U.S. Air Force,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Brent
Scowcroft was the lieutenant general for the U.S. Air
Force, and is the interim chairman; for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
Charles
F. Wald was a general for the U.S. Air Force,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Herbert
M. Allison Jr. was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and an officer for the U.S. Navy.
Edmund
P. Giambastiani Jr. was an admiral for the U.S. Navy,
and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Charles
R. Larson was an admiral for the U.S. Navy, and
a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Sean O'Keefe
was the secretary for the U.S. Navy, and
is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Norman W.
Ray was a vice admiral for the U.S. Navy, and
a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
R. James
Woolsey was the under secretary for the U.S. Navy,
is an advisory board member for United Against Nuclear
Iran, a director at the Atlantic Council of the
United States (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Leslie H.
Gelb was a board member for the International Crisis Group,
and an advisory board member for the United Against Nuclear
Iran.
Igor S.
Ivanov is a board member for the International Crisis Group,
and a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
is a board member for the International Crisis Group,
a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview
with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for
population control by involving the United States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Sam Nunn is
a co-chairman & CEO for the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and a co-author for A World Free
of Nuclear Weapons.
William
J. Perry is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and a co-author for A World Free
of Nuclear Weapons.
Eugene
Habiger is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and was a general for the U.S. Air
Force.
Michael
P.C. Carns a general for the U.S. Air Force,
and was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Chuck Hagel
was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), is the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Defense for the Barack Obama
administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment