Editorial: A major mistake

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007 | 6:57 a.m.

A B-52 bomber took off from an Air Force Base in North Dakota late last month with a dozen cruise missiles attached to the wings, but no one knew half of them mistakenly were armed with nuclear warheads.

The flight, which ended in Louisiana, has raised concerns in Congress and in the Pentagon , particularly because it took several hours before crews at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota realized nuclear warheads were missing.

Then, the missiles sat on a runway in Louisiana for nearly 10 hours before anyone there realized there were nuclear warheads attached to six of them, according to The Washington Post.

"Nothing like this has ever been reported before, and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., co-chairman of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation.

The military was quick to say the warheads were not activated and did not pose a threat, adding that the warheads were never out of the Air Force's control. Those assurances, however, are of little consolation.

It is unbelievable that it took so long for the Air Force to realize the warheads were missing, much less find them. Has the military not been paying attention to the repeated federal warnings that terrorists want to acquire nuclear weapons?

Markey said the Air Force's failure to keep track of the warheads has "frightening implications" for the security of the nation's nuclear weapons, and he is right. Congress should demand a complete investigation into this situation and ensure that the nation's nuclear weapons are secure.