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Minot Misses Again. Lost Nuclear Launch Code
July 24, 2008
Sources tell POGO that the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota has been on security lockdown after discovering that a nuclear weapon launch code was lost or misplaced within the last couple of weeks. Apparently, it was later determined that an airman improperly took the code home.
This fourth breach comes on the heels of three other recent Air Force nuclear security debacles. Minot’s 5th Bomb Wing failed a security test in May showing that terrorists could easily have stolen cruise missile nuclear warheads from the base; a B-52 bomber was flown from Minot to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana armed with nuclear cruise missiles last fall; and in August 2006 the Air Force accidentally shipped nuclear weapons parts to Taiwan. Gates took action in June by firing Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Mosley.
POGO hears that
The Air Force decided against having a press conference on the temporarily missing code, in the hopes that the whole matter would just disappear.
Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is an independent nonprofit that investigates and exposes corruption and other misconduct in order to achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.
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