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Former Air Force Chief Laments Nuclear Review
Former U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne last week criticized an investigation into nuclear-weapon security lapses as coming “from a Navy perspective” and said his forced resignation was unrelated to the review’s findings, Air Force Times reported (see GSN, June 6). Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley lost their jobs last month after a review of two embarrassing incidents found that the Air Force had wavered in securing its nuclear weapons and components. In August 2007, air crews at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., mistakenly loaded six nuclear-armed cruise missiles onto a B-52 bomber that flew to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The inadvertent weapons transfer was not noticed for about 30 hours, when Barksdale personnel unloaded the missiles from the aircraft (see GSN, Sept. 5, 2007). The second incident involved the inappropriate transfer of nuclear warhead fuses to Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered an investigation of the problems, and the review led by U.S. Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald found serious issues with Air Force leadership. Wynne, however, said his dismissal was triggered by a disagreement with Gates over the future of the Air Force, not by the weapon incidents. His said the Donald report misunderstood Air Force methods. “He looked at us from a Navy perspective. ... I think his guys, because of their nuclear submarine background, did not see a shop with things on the floor as being a very good shop because on a nuclear submarine everything has a place and needs to be in that place. So I think they just see things very differently than we do,” Wynne said. “The fact that we have 500 sites with nuclear components, and they don’t, leads us in different directions about how we delegate responsibility.” He acknowledged that improvements to security procedures are necessary (see GSN, May 30). “Enforcing ‘train as you fight’ [procedures] would have helped. ... If we would have managed that and the discipline characteristics as if we were going to war, we would have probably saved ourselves the embarrassment,” Wynne said (Air Force Times I, July 14). Meanwhile, Wynne’s ousted colleague Gen. Moseley officially retired from the Air Force on Friday after a 37-year career. Presiding over Moseley’s retirement ceremony, Wynne praised him as a “warfighter, diplomat, historian and airman.” Moseley returned the compliment. “It was a real treat and honor to work with Mr. Wynne and fight the good fight for what was best for the U.S. Air Force,” Moseley said. “Every day, at every opportunity, I always felt we were working with the best interests of the republic, doing what was right for
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