WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Air Force members Friday there is “no room for error” within America’s nuclear forces, commenting publicly for the first time on what he called “troubling lapses” in professionalism within the ranks.
Speaking at the headquarters of the military’s nuclear war-fighting command in Omaha, Neb., Hagel alluded to a series of missteps revealed by The Associated Press, including lapses among those who operate and support the Air Force’s nuclear missile force. Last month, two senior nuclear commanders were fired amid misconduct investigations, and in August, service members working at a nuclear-missile base in Montana failed a safety and security inspection.
“You have chosen a profession where there is no room for error,” Hagel said, directing his remarks to the hundreds gathered at U.S. Strategic Command for a change-of-command ceremony. “That’s what the American people expect from you, from all of us. And you must deliver.”
Hagel said the failures had been exposed by what he called “close scrutiny” and the Pentagon’s most rigorous evaluations. But while he credited the retiring head of the command, Gen. Robert Kehler, for enforcing tough standards, he also insisted that “perfection must be the standard of our nuclear forces.”
