Audit: Bases improperly recorded nukes items
Air Force Almost half of the assets were at two of the installations: Hill Air Force Base, Utah; and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Above, the entrance to Malmstrom.
By Michael Hoffman – Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 20, 2010
Nine Air Force bases improperly cataloged or failed to record nearly 1,000 nuclear-related items, though none of the accounting errors compromised the safety or security of any weapons, according to service officials.
An internal audit, conducted a year ago and released in May, examined 25 bases that take part in the nuclear mission. The Air Force Directory of Logistics requested the survey to validate an inventory of more than 18,000 nuclear weapons-related items — everything from warheads to missile bolts — valued at $1.7 billion.
At the nine bases, auditors found 932 items on site but not listed on “accountable records,” according to the report, obtained by Air Force Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. Almost half of the assets were at two of the installations: Hill Air Force Base, Utah; and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.
Hill has a history of bookkeeping failures. Airmen mistakenly shipped four nuclear nosecones to Taiwan in 2006; two years later, an investigation found items improperly stored and inventoried. The problems at Hill coupled with a cross-country flight of a B-52 accidentally loaded with six nuclear warheads led Defense Secretary Robert Gates to fire the service’s top civilian and uniformed leaders.
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