tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post4511760822426452349..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: More Minot WoesGeorge Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-77916923744390446672008-09-03T09:08:00.000-04:002008-09-03T09:08:00.000-04:00Dear Brian,I have had some experience with classif...Dear Brian,<BR/><BR/>I have had some experience with classified information. You might say that I had some rather intensive training in security procedures. I doubt that many in government not directly dealing with security matters have more than a vague understanding of certain things. I don't think that the AG, any AG, got 120 hours of security training. <BR/><BR/>The investigation revealed a flaw in the procedures in the Justice Department. I am sure that there is a much greater awareness and this will not happen again. That's why we continually have these kind of investigations. They are not criminal investigations, but rather more like audits to plug the holes.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>RoyRoy Lofquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16536815900678298041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-45847329982672731852008-09-03T08:32:00.000-04:002008-09-03T08:32:00.000-04:00You are completely right: this is not a partisan i...You are completely right: this is not a partisan issue. Political appointees Dems and Reps alike have been guilty of it in the past, and are likely to be guilty of it in the future.<BR/><BR/>But it is the Republicans who have had the leadership role for the last 8 years and so by nature of bad timing (perhaps?) they are to be setting the example.<BR/><BR/>My point is, leadership is about respect and setting the example. You can't berate and punish those at the bottom for the same mistakes that you let those at the top get away with. Either the entire chain of command plays by the same rules or none of it does.<BR/><BR/>While the Attorney General is not in the chain of command of the military, he is an influential and public figure in the Administration.<BR/><BR/>If President Gore was in office this critique would apply equally to the Democrat leadership.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067430045814230107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-84104677582776289762008-09-03T08:13:00.000-04:002008-09-03T08:13:00.000-04:00Dear Brian,This is not a partisan issue. I relucta...Dear Brian,<BR/><BR/>This is not a partisan issue. I reluctantly cite the case of Mr. Berger who stole Top Secret documents from the National Archive and secreted them under a construction trailer.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>RoyRoy Lofquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16536815900678298041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-29130193111772442062008-09-03T07:19:00.000-04:002008-09-03T07:19:00.000-04:00Former MMIII guy here. Let me get this straight. ...Former MMIII guy here. Let me get this straight. These guys violated classified handling protocols involving a secret document and got punished fairly severely, more than I have seen for similar incidents in my day.<BR/><BR/>Yet when it's <A>revealed</A> in a Federal investigation that Alberto Gonzales repeatedly mishandled, improperly classified and generally treated with disdain Top Secret SCI data, and he gets nothing?<BR/><BR/>No wonder we have discipline problems with leadership failures like that.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04067430045814230107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-88670715444386773802008-09-02T14:21:00.000-04:002008-09-02T14:21:00.000-04:00Some old cliches seem appropriate:Where there's sm...Some old cliches seem appropriate:<BR/><BR/>Where there's smoke there's fire.<BR/>Mountains out of mole hills.<BR/>Nit picking.....<BR/><BR/>In college, it is the bane of speech and English writing teachers: filler. This is the useless words, paragraphs, phrases, illustrations etcetera that pad the paper.<BR/><BR/>I have used it (embarrassingly) in some of my consultant reports when a project that required inordinate research that resulted in a thin report; the client expects more for the bill presented.<BR/><BR/>So here the investigators a big perception problem with the lax security at Minot. The investigators HAVE to PROVE they were thorough. After they found the major "bugs" and squashed them (the cockroaches and the crickets) they go after the next layer (the ants and the fleas) then they'll be down to the dust mites.<BR/><BR/>The politicians DEMAND more. More facts. More heads. More bodies. WE MUST GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS!!!!<BR/>And, by golly, the investigators will deliver more bodies, appropriately dressed, spiced, and cooked to perfection.<BR/><BR/>(How's that for hyperbole and post padding?)<BR/><BR/>Of course none of the second guessing on my part DOESN'T mean that there isn't some additional breaches that must be fixed.JoeChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14319588770631597756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-5914458866665102582008-09-02T12:16:00.000-04:002008-09-02T12:16:00.000-04:00Reads to this former nuclear bomb commander like m...Reads to this former nuclear bomb commander like much ado about nothing. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with SAC's dissolution--they weren't the only MAJCOM that had nuclear weapons controls. USAFE & PACAF managed a passel of sunshine packages as well. <BR/><BR/>The issue is about training, leadership and command. Nuclear certification isn't a one-time requirement and HRP/PRP management isn't simply checking off paperwork boxes. <BR/><BR/>The sequence of events that has taken place, some serious and some simply press hysteria, is indicative of some serious lapses at Minot. <BR/><BR/>This one, however, reads like much ado about nothing. Where are Gen. Ripper, Gen. Turgidson and Col. Bat Guano when their nation needs them?Ed Rasimushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13667325554289268659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-56017390391534862022008-09-02T02:07:00.000-04:002008-09-02T02:07:00.000-04:00Dear Sirs,I was involved with the Minuteman II pro...Dear Sirs,<BR/><BR/>I was involved with the Minuteman II program in the early 60's. I am privy to the permissive link procedures necessary to launch a missile. That's not a big thing. They were classified "Confidential" which is a great big sign saying "Steal Me". The violations as described are, in a strategic sense, relatively meaningless. They indicate to me that the missile command, whatever its title today, is responding to the recent changes in DOD to get shipshape.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/>RoyRoy Lofquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16536815900678298041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-14824732485380911462008-09-01T23:38:00.000-04:002008-09-01T23:38:00.000-04:00General LeMay would not have tolerated any of this...General LeMay would not have tolerated any of this. SAC needs to be reactivated. It had an effective culture all its own.PCSSEPAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06409465703196815386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-41235991384096683912008-09-01T22:36:00.000-04:002008-09-01T22:36:00.000-04:00I try to explain to my friends that SAC is dead &a...I try to explain to my friends that SAC is dead & buried - but they don't understand.<BR/><BR/>Space Command could use some of the values and disipline that SAC was built on.<BR/><BR/>DK<BR/>USAF 1977-1982Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04720797578461643391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-22883696277251001892008-09-01T20:34:00.000-04:002008-09-01T20:34:00.000-04:00From a retired USAF officer:This may well be the r...From a retired USAF officer:<BR/><BR/>This may well be the result of merging SAC with Space Command. The two cultures were very different, even if they looked similar to pilot types with stars on their shoulders.<BR/><BR/>Dissolve SAC into Space Command and add in possible low morale due to the perception that the strategic nuclear deterance mission is not a high priority and you get ... this sort of dangerous lapse.forwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05110108120511792179noreply@blogger.com