AIR FORCE OFFICERS CITED FOR LEAVING BLAST DOORS OPEN AT ICBM FIELDS

In another black mark for the Air Force’s nuclear mission, missileers at the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile fields twice this year were cited for leaving blast doors open in their control centers, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The blast doors that separate the ICBMs and the underground launch control center are a key defense against would-be intruders or terrorists and are always supposed to be kept shut while one of two airmen staffing the control center is on a sleep break. The Air Force, however, punished officers at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana earlier this year for leaving the doors open. In the separate incidents, officers received varying punishments, from a letter of admonishment to forfeiture of pay. “The only way that you can have a crew member be in ‘rest status’ is if that blast door is shut and there is no possibility of anyone accessing the launch control center,” Global Strike Command chief Lt. Gen. James Kowalski told the Associated Press. Kowalski emphasized that the airmen are trained to keep the blast doors shut during sleep breaks. “This is not a training problem. This is some people out there are having a problem with discipline,” he said.