Posted by
NJ Mike on Friday, June 06, 2008 10:19:06 PM
A little background on me: I was an officer in the Air Force from 1984 - 1996. From 1984 - 92 I was involved with ICBM operations (nuclear weapons)
According to this article, the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff ( CSAF) were fired because of problems handling nukes.
"Gates acknowledged that problems in securing the nuclear arsenal go back decades"
In the lead up to the first Gulf War (1990), Gen Mike Duncan was fired for making inappropriate comments to the press, and he was replaced by Gen Merrill "Pete" McPeak. As CSAF, McPeak reorganized the Air Force, taking apart the Strategic Air Command, and pretty much putting fighter pilots (with limited experience with nukes) like himself in charge, instead of bomber pilots (who have experience with nukes).
Bottom line, McPeak put into motion this tendency to have fighter pilots, with no experience in nuclear weapons, in charge of the branch of the military with two of the three legs of the nuclear triad.
And now McPeak is advisor to the campaign of Barack Obama.