A U.S. Air Force unit assigned to oversee approximately 2,000 nuclear warheads in New Mexico for the time being will not be permitted to carry out its normal operations, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 27).

The 898th Munitions Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base will have another inspection and could have its decertification reversed by June, Air Force Material Command spokesman Ron Fry said. Until that happens, other certified Air Force units will oversee the weapons stored in an underground facility at Kirtland.

The situation poses "no risk to security, safety or health," Fry said.

Fry said that squadrons responsible for nuclear arms are assessed using a strict protocol.

"This is a business where, as part of the mission, you can't get a score of 99 out of 100 and pass. It's got to be 100 percent," he said.

"The decision to decertify was not made lightly," Fry said. "In this case, it was the right action to take to give the unit time to identify and implement necessary changes" (Tim Korte, Associated Press I/Sun News, Feb. 10).

The 898th squadron, its parent air wing and another air wing all failed a November nuclear confidence assessment at Kirtland. While it was first decided not to decertify the squadron, Brig. Gen. Everett Thomas, head of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, advised that the action be taken in order to give the unit time to fix whatever issues led to the failure.

Fry attributed the decertification to administrative issues like the managing of paperwork and records. Five high-level noncommissioned officers have been assigned to other duties in accordance with efforts to rectify unit failings.

Federation of American Scientists nuclear expert Hans Kristensen said the rtrasnfers of the officers probably means that the unit's troubles go further than a single inspection failure. A reinspection has been set for June.

The Air Force has a recent history of issues with nuclear-weapon oversight that include unknowingly flying nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the continental United States in 2007 and the accidental shipping of ICBM fuses to Taiwan in 2008. Efforts to address the problems led to the establishment of the service's new Global Strike Command.

Kirtland and the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada are the Air Force's two largest nuclear warhead storage sites (Korte/Burns, Associated Press II/Washington Post, Feb. 12).