Report On Misplaced Nukes

Miltary.com has the results of the investigation of last August's "Now where did I leave those nuclear weapons?" incident. It's ain't purdy.

During the analysis of the incident by the Defense Science Board (DSB), released this month, the ugly truth came out: America's nukes are so neglected that they are stored alongside conventional missiles, with nothing but an 8.5 x 11-in. sheet of paper to differentiate the two. The last day in August, Air Force personnel loaded the nuclear warheads on a routine repositioning of weapons stocks, believing them to be cruise missiles.

The system of checks and balances has degraded to a point that six of the planet's most powerful weapons were missing for 36 hours -- and no one noticed until they had landed in Louisiana. "The process and systemic problems that allowed such an incident have developed over more than a decade and have the potential for much more serious consequences," the report warns.

Holy crap. Six bombs, each more than 10 times more powerful than the Nagasaki weapon, treated so casually? If we can't handle our nukes securely, just how vulnerable are the bombs belonging to the other nations in the nuclear club? The probability of a nuclear terror incident just went up.