Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Update, 1911 MST. It gets worse by the hour. The Great Falls Tribune reports that the number of Malmstrom missile officers being investigated has risen to 92, and that replacement officers are being sent to Malmstrom.
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There’s a huge problem with the security and safety of nuclear weapons at Malmstrom Air Force Base — and Sen. Jon Tester’s desire to keep the base’s 150 nuclear tipped Minuteman III missiles in Montana may be clouding his judgment. I hope that’s not the case, but that’s not the message I’m hearing from him.
Late yesterday I received from Sen. Tester an electronic newsletter boasting of his efforts to prevent the removal of missile silos from Malmstrom Air Force Base (Great Falls):
I first stopped in Great Falls to meet with Air Force Secretary Deborah James. We discussed the future of Malmstrom Air Force Base, and I reminded her that Congress will reject efforts to unfairly penalize the ICBM force. The government funding bill prevents any study that could lead to the removal of Malmstrom’s missile silos. [Emphasis added.]
This morning, the Associate Press reported that even more launch officers than first thought are being investigated for cheating on readiness examinations:
The number of officers in the nuclear corps who have been implicated in a cheating investigation has more than doubled to at least 70, officials said Tuesday. That means that at least 14 percent of all launch officers have been decertified and suspended from missile launch duties.
All are at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., which is responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles, or one-third of the entire Minuteman 3 force. The officials who disclosed the higher number spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information by name while the investigation is ongoing.
This is more than one rotten apple in a barrel. It’s dry rot on a staggering scale in a branch of the military that’s entrusted with the custody of weapons that can kill tens of millions of people.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel admitted as much Friday when he convened a two-hour meeting of the top admirals and generals in our nuclear command to discuss whether Malmstrom’s situation is the product of a systemic breakdown in leadership:
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said the officials spent the bulk of the meeting discussing the breadth of the problems, which include low morale, cheating and serious security lapses, and how to begin solving them.
“I think the general consensus in the room was that we all need to accept the reality that there probably are systemic issues in the personnel growth and development inside the nuclear mission,” Kirby told Pentagon reporters after the two-hour meeting with Hagel. [Also from AP story.]
To me, the obvious remedy is closing Malmstrom, discharging everyone stationed there from the Air Force, and dismantling the missiles, the loss of which would not diminish our nuclear deterrent. We still have over 5,000 nuclear bombs and warheads. I suspect as few as 50 would constitute a credible deterrent.
But closing Malmstrom is not an option thanks to Sen. Tester’s zeal to preserve one of the economic engines powering Great Falls. I don’t doubt Tester’s dedication to keeping federal money in Montana — but when he subordinates the safety and security of nuclear weapons to the economic welfare of a small city in a lightly populated corner of the nation, and that’s what he was bragging about in his newsletter, he’s not exercising sound judgment.