Jun 6, 2008 9:20 AM

Bosses Nuked, Some Air Force Missileers Cheer

Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn’t just kick the Air Force’s two top leaders to the curb yesterday. When he fired chief of Staff General "Buzz" Moseley and Secretary Michael Wynne, he was telling the service that the long, slow decline of its nuclear corps is officially over. Hallelujah, says one Air Force nuclear missileer. Until […]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn't just kick the Air Force's two top leaders to the curb yesterday. When he fired chief of Staff General "Buzz" Moseley and Secretary Michael Wynne, he was telling the service that the long, slow decline of its nuclear corps is officially over.

Hallelujah, says one Air Force nuclear missileer.

Until 1992, the Air Force's Strategic Air Command controlled nearly every aspect of the country's nuclear bomber and missile operations. Then SAC was disbanded. The Air Force's nuclear specialists became bureaucratic orphans. "The nuke community was fucked the day they killed SAC," the missileer tells Danger Room. "Mosley and Wynne just happened to be driving when the car hit the tree."

First, the newly established Air Combat Command took over the missile job. But it quickly became clear that this fighter-and-bomber squad wasn't the right place for intercontinental ballistic missile operators. "So then they stuck them under Air Force Space Command -- an even worse fit," the missileer says.

ICBM specialists used to spend their entire careers doing nuclear work. But under Space Command, officers had to start branching out -- operating satellites, rather than prepping for an atomic strike. They had to take classes on space warfare, instead of nuclear maintenance. "For the past 15 years or so, the Air Force has not been growing nuclear experts… We've lost an entire generation of officers."

In 2005, Space Command chief General Lance Lord "punctuated all that nonsense by getting rid of the ICBM badge." Everyone under his command was supposed to wear Star Trek-esque "Space Wings"
instead.

That may seem like a minor deal to civilians. For missileers, it was a huge blow to their pride; they took it as a sign that they were now second-class citizens -- their heritage gone, their unique training, ignored. "Ever since Space Command took over nukes, they've watered down the natural progression of a nuclear officer with Space nonsense."

Gates, in his talk yesterday the Pentagon, acknowledged this slide:

During the course of the investigation, other issues indicating a decline in the Air Force's nuclear mission focus and performance became apparent.
Rather than an isolated occurrence, the shipment of the four forward-section assemblies to Taiwan was a symptom of a degradation of the authority, standards of excellence and technical competence within the nation's ICBM force. Similar to the bomber-specific August 2007
Minot-Barksdale nuclear weapons transfer incident, this incident took place within the larger environment of declining Air Force nuclear mission focus and performance...
*Years ago the career path for Air Force personnel in the nuclear field was well established and prestigious. However, the overall mission focus of the Air Force has shifted away from this nuclear mission, making it difficult to retain sufficient expertise. ** *

Moseley and Wynne's firings aren't the only steps to fix the problem. Gates spoke of "a substantial number of Air Force general officers and colonels [who are] potentially subject to disciplinary measures, ranging from removal from command to letters of reprimand."

And the chatter yesterday in the Air Force's missile corps wasn't just about their bosses being fired. According to a memo from Space Command, Gen. Moseley, in one of his last acts as Air Force Chief of Staff, officially "approved the reinstatement of the missile badge."

ALSO: