Fergie's Tech Blog

USAF Officers Probed Over Missile Documents

Via The Washington Post.

The Air Force announced Thursday that two officers who worked at a missile base in North Dakota have been taken off the job while the military investigates allegations that they took home classified components used in underground launch control centers.

The officers were supposed to have destroyed the two devices and had signed documents stating that they had, said Maj. Laurie A. Arellano, an Air Force spokeswoman. The Band-Aid-size devices, now obsolete, were used on equipment inside the launch center to detect equipment tampering.

"There is no risk to the security of the weapon system, and no possibility of an inadvertent launch as a result of this being taken from the weapon facility," Arellano said.

The officers, whose names have not been released, are no longer stationed at Minot. "They are not, obviously, working missile alert duties until the investigation is complete," Arellano said.

The Air Force also announced that three members of a ballistic missile crew from Minot Air Force Base who fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices have been sanctioned and "decertified from missile operations."

posted by Fergie @ 8/29/2008 09:46:00 PM