Nuclear Devices Falling Into The Hands Of....
It is a real and present concern. Nuclear devices falling into the hands of renegades, guerrillas, terrorists of all stripes of political and ideological conviction in their armed "struggle" against the conventions they abhor. Thus it is that the world at large frets over the attainment of nuclear proficiency by rogue countries like North Korea, Syria, Iran. If these countries are inspired to become nuclear agents why not all the other wealthy countries of the near and far East?Pakistan and India, neighbours who live contiguously and nervously alongside one another, at continual loggerheads over religion and territory - Kashmir for example - both own hundreds of nuclear warheads. Cooler heads will always prevail, we desperately hope and pray. In any event, the deed is done, the technology is theirs and perhaps the fact they each measure up to one another will ensure sufficient deterrence.
And then there is the first nation on earth to have achieved their nuclear ambition, the one country in the world that we hope and feel has the needed maturity to ensure these are never used. Wait a minute: didn't the U.S. drop two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima? It's a moot point; did this end-of-days scenario ensure the end of WWII or did the bombs represent scientific curiosity sated?
What the world learned through the horrendous bombing of those cities was the devastating finality potential of settling political arguments. So these monsters, while having escaped the dungeon of forevermore into reality, have to be carefully tended lest they escape again to wreak havoc where they land. It's a no-brainer, really. These horribly destructive attempts by mankind to mimic nature at her most violent must be carefully tended.
What's that about familiarity breeding contempt? It shouldn't should it? There is danger in that. The most fearsome weapon known to man must be isolated and protected from use; its usefulness lays in its deterrence-value. There is no room for carelessness in handling such deadly devices; the mass dead can not be resurrected. We choose not to be bringers of doom.
Yet some 70 (!) U.S. Air Force personnel faced discipline over a truly egregious lack of disciplinary cognizance in handling a deadly cargo of decommissioned nuclear warheads by loading them onto a B-52 bomber and flying them 1,900 kilometres across the United States. These missiles each had up to fifteen times the strength of the Hiroshoma-destroyed atomic bomb. Quite obviously stringent rules detailing the handling of such warheads were ignored.
Yet the warheads, loaded onto the bomber for conveyance were not readied for the journey; due diligence, proper safety inspections and routine safety issues were disregarded when the warheads were not first removed from the missiles. The deputy chief of staff for the air force commented that there had been an "erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards".
How's that for an understatement, given the cargo, the conveyance, the distance, the potential for accident? "They did not follow the formal scheduling processes that would have allowed them to do the proper maintenance and handling of those weapons." The handling of which represented an "unprecedented string of procedural errors" initiated when airmen failed to conduct a required inspection before loading.
And after landing, the missiles sat on a runway in Louisiana for a full nine hours before it came to anyone's notice that the warheads were intact, albeit not activated. The potential that sharp eyes seeking to do irreparable damage might have taken advantage of the situation to trigger the warheads or to abscond with them is always there. It's a strange world we live in.
What feared malevolent forces might aspire to achieve by design, American forces almost succeeded in producing by slovenly inattention to duty and safe practise.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Technology
posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 22, 2007
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