TO THE AIR FORCE

For losing command and control of six nuclear warheads during a 3½-hour B-52 flight over the central U.S. The late-August incident left Air Force senior leadership scrambling to salvage the service’s credibility nationally and inter¬nationally. A servicewide investigation was launched immediately, and initial disciplinary actions were swift — those immediately responsible for losing track of the nuclear warheads were relieved of their duties. But a mistake of this mag¬nitude, in which nuclear weapons in the supposed safekeeping of the Air Force were mistakenly loaded onto the B-52 and apparently not missed throughout the flight, warrants further disciplinary action at far higher levels.