Hagel, who was getting briefings at Minot on Friday and then planning to speak to airmen there, ordered two reviews in February—one by Pentagon officials and a second by outside experts—as a result of a series of Associated Press stories that revealed lapses in leadership, morale, safety and security at the nation's three nuclear Air Force bases.
Hagel acknowledged years of neglect since the Cold War's end rendered America's nuclear mission less relevant in a world of drones and counterterrorism. And he vowed renewed accountability.
One of Hagel's predecessors, Robert Gates, fired his top military and civilian Air Force leaders in 2008 because of similar problems. But Hagel said, “Previous reviews of our nuclear enterprise lacked clear follow-up mechanisms.”
The new reviews concluded that the management structure of U.S. nuclear forces is so incoherent that top-level officials often are unaware of trouble below them. The reviews also found a “disconnect” between what nuclear force leaders say and what they provide to troops in the field.
To illustrate the degree of decay in the intercontinental ballistic missile force, the reviews found that maintenance crews had access to only one tool set required to tighten bolts on the warhead end of the Minuteman 3 missile, and that this single tool set was being used by crews at all three ICBM bases, in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. When one crew needed it, it was sent by another—by Federal Express.
Hagel said Friday the crews now have tool kits at each of the three bases and will soon get two each.
The reviews also noted the poor morale across the force, saying that that culture debilitates people who might otherwise flourish. Missile crews in Launch Control Centers complained that equipment remained broken for months or years, and launch centers were even forced to shut down because of problems that persisted for a decade.
Among his more significant moves, Hagel authorized the Air Force to put a four-star general in charge of its nuclear forces, according to officials.
The top Air Force nuclear commander currently is a three-star. Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson is responsible not only for the 450 Minuteman ICBMs but also the nuclear bomber force. Hagel has concluded that a four-star would be able to exert more influence within the Air Force and the appointment would send a signal to the entire force that the mission is taken seriously, the defense officials said.
Hagel also OK'd a proposal to upgrade the top nuclear force official at Air Force headquarters in the Pentagon from a two-star general to a three-star.
The review's authors, retired Air Force Gen. Larry D. Welch and retired Navy Adm. John C. Harvey Jr., found fault with one of the unique features of life in the nuclear forces. It is called the Personnel Reliability Program, designed to monitor the mental fitness of people entrusted with the world's deadliest weapons.
