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14 Sep, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Alarmed by Trump's irrational behavior and the insurrection, Gen. Mark Milley took the extraordinary step of ordering officials at the National Military Command Center not to accept any orders—incl. to launch nuclear weapons—unless he was directly involved.cnn.com/2021/09/14/pol…
While somewhat reassuring given the circumstances, Milley's Jan. 8 actions were arguably extralegal because the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff only advises the president and others and does not have the legal authority to impede or override a president's military orders.
Flashback to Trump's State of the Union address on January 30, 2018:
According to USAF Doctrine Publication 3-72, "Nuclear Operations" (December 18, 2020), the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in the nuclear chain of command if the president includes him, but _only_ to transmit the president's orders down the chain. doctrine.af.mil/Portals/61/doc…

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Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
15 Sep
Tonight in 1980 at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, the number five engine on the right wing of a B-52H on ground alert caught fire during a drill. The aircraft was loaded with 8 Short-Range Attack Missiles (armed with 170-200-kt W69 warheads) and 4 B28 bombs (70 kt to 1.45 Mt). Image
That night, a southeast wind gusted up to 35 mph. The B-52 pointed in that direction. That alone kept the flames away from the fuselage. Had the nose been facing west, the fire would have incinerated all six crew members as they evacuated and burned the weapons in the bomb bay. Image
Because the crew did not follow the correct procedure to shut off the fuel lines before evacuating, the fire burned for three hours. Eventually, a crew member broke through the fire line, climbed into the B-52, and properly engaged the shutoff valves, extinguishing the blaze. Image
Read 12 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
14 Sep
OTD in 1954—for its ninth nuclear test—the USSR staged a live-fire nuclear wargame near Totskoye, ~600 mi. SE of Moscow. At 9:33am (local), a 40-kt atomic bomb exploded 1,150 feet in the air between two groups of soldiers, some just 2 miles from the blast.
The roughly 45,000 soldiers were then ordered into mock battle under highly radioactive conditions for the remainder of the day. Most had no protective equipment and were not warned about the dangers. Some who were issued gas masks removed them in the oppressive 115F (46C) heat.
Exposures that day were reportedly ten times the maximum allowable level for US soldiers for an entire year. The 1,000,000 people who lived within 100 miles of the blast were given no warning at all. For more about this "monstrous" exercise, see washingtonpost.com/archive/politi….
Read 9 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
13 Sep
White House Military Office Coast Guard aide Lt. Cdr. Jayna McCarron was on “Football” duty in Wilmington this morning at the start President Biden’s trip to Idaho and California. The ~45-lb. briefcase follows Biden 24/7, enabling him to authorize a nuclear strike at any time. ImageImage
His briefing at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise over, President Biden heads next to Sacramento, California, for a briefing on California's recent wildfires and to survey some of the damage from the air. Lt. Cdr. McCarron still has the Presidential Emergency Satchel. Image
At Sacramento Mather Airport (Mather AFB, until 1993), Lt. Cdr. McCarron descended the aft stairway on Air Force One and handed off the satchel to—could it be—her Space Force counterpart? If so, this would be the first time I’ve seen an aide from Space Force with the “Football.” ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
11 Sep
Twenty years ago today, US Strategic Command was one week into its annual Global Guardian nuclear command and control exercise. Bombers had been armed with nuclear weapons, ICBMs and several SSBNs were on alert, and three E-4B command posts were airborne. omaha.com/local/on-strat…
Which is why, when Air Force One landed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana (carrying President George W. Bush from Sarasota, Florida, to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and, finally, back to Washington, DC), this is the first thing that happened: politico.com/magazine/story…
In 2016, William Arkin and Robert Windrem reported that three dozen live nuclear weapons were aboard strategic bombers at three US Air Force bases that day. The other bases were almost certainly Minot AFB in North Dakota and Whiteman AFB in Missouri. nbcnews.com/storyline/9-11…
Read 9 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
10 Sep
Nuclear fracking, anyone? Today in 1969, in the second of three Project Plowshare experiments (Rulison), a 40-kt nuclear device was detonated in a 8,425-ft. shaft near Grand Valley, Colorado, to stimulate the flow of natural gas. The gas was—surprise!—too radioactive to sell.
The other two tests of nuclear explosives to increase natural gas production were Gasbuggy (29 kt, December 10, 1967), near Farmington, NM, and Rio Blanco (three 33-kt devices, May 17, 1973, near Rifle, CO), which was also the 27th and final Project Plowshare experiment.
For the 50th anniversary of the Rulison test in 2019, some residents of Parachute, Colorado, (which was known as Grand Valley in 1969) reflected on what happened that day and its consequences for their community. cpr.org/2019/09/06/rem…
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
29 Aug
Today in 2007 at Minot AFB, North Dakota, munitions crews accidentally loaded a B-52H bomber with six Advanced Cruise Missiles, each armed with a live W80-1 nuclear warhead with a variable yield of 5-150 kilotons. The plane sat on the tarmac overnight without any special guards.
Early the next morning, before takeoff, the B-52's radar navigator closely inspected only the 6 missiles on the right-wing pylon, all of which properly carried dummy warheads. The pilot signed the manifest listing 12 unarmed ACMs as cargo without conducting a final verification.
This was supposed to be a routine fight supporting the USAF's March 2007 decision to retire the ACM by ferrying the missiles stored at Minot to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, for disposal (by August 2007, more than 200 unarmed ACMs had been safely transported to Barksdale). It wasn't.
Read 6 tweets

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