I won’t have too much time for blogging for a few weeks, starting now. I hope, at a minimum, to follow the news and at least call out a few worthwhile stories without necessarily adding my two cents. Today I pick this one, a Wayne Madsen story (subscription only) via Godlike Productions.
Between August 24 and September 6, 2007, the U.S. Air Force’s nuclear chain-of-command was severely compromised by a rival chain established out of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and extending through the offices of the Air Force Secretary and Chief of Staff, the Air Force’s Cyber-Warfare element, and into the strategic bombing commands located at Minot and Barksdale Air Force Bases. In the weeks before and after this time period, there is ample evidence to suggest that the security of nuclear weapons, particularly at Minot, was placed in severe jeopardy by the rival chain-of-command.
…On April 21, 2008, Gates, speaking to young Air Force officers at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, criticized the Air Force for refusing his orders to get more involved in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates’ criticisms stunned the audience and reverberated throughout the Air Force. Here was a Secretary of Defense indicating that a subordinate service was insubordinate. Gates was likely hinting at the existence of the rival nuclear chain-of-command directed from Cheney’s office.
The rival nuclear chain-of-command that was responsible for the Minot nuclear incident, REX REDUX, and associated events is as follows:
Vice President Dick Cheney
– Chief of Staff David Addington
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley
– Gen. Lawrence Stuztriem, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Strategic Studies Group - CHECKMATE
– Dr. Lani Kass, ex-Israeli Air Force, Cyber Warfare, US Air Force, CHECKMATE
Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, Commander 8th Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base
Col. Bruce Emig, Commander 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base (relieved of command after nuclear incident)
Maj. Gen. Stephen Goldfein, Commander Air Warfare Center, Nellis Air Force Base
Now that’s interesting. Check it out.
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