Air Force nuclear transport work falls short

The active-duty Air Force wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is the only one in the U.S. military tasked with one of the nation’s most sensitive and secretive missions: transporting nuclear weapons.

In military parlance, the mission is called Prime Nuclear Airlift Force, or PNAF.

The 62nd Airlift Wing has a motto for that mission: “PNAF... Perfect... Always!”

Not anymore.

For the first time, the wing received an overall rating of “unsatisfactory” after a weeklong inspection that concluded Monday.

The rating stems from an isolated incident involving an individual assigned to the mission, said an Air Mobility Command official with knowledge of the inspection’s findings. The official declined to provide further details.

Lt. Col. Glen Roberts, an AMC spokesman, said neither nuclear weapons nor related components were used during the inspection and the public was not at risk.

“There was never any danger,” he said. “The Air Force policy is we don’t get into specifics on the inspections.”

Roberts said the wing, which has performed the mission since 1997, can continue to do so even with the “unsatisfactory” rating.

Among the six areas the teams from the AMC’s inspector general’s office look at is personnel reliability, or the physical and psychological health of the crew members who handle, secure and transport the weapons and nuclear components.

The inspectors also examine mission management and safety, as well as how the weapons and components are handled, loaded and moved.

The airlift wing is best known for flying its C-17 cargo jets into Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying supplies and people for the war effort. The flight crews based at McChord also get attention for bringing humanitarian relief into disaster zones such as Haiti and Japan.

The nuclear mission is much less publicized but extremely demanding on airmen.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported in 2007 that the job is so sensitive that something as simple as a traffic ticket or as traumatic as a death in the family must be reported.

“If you are worried about anything other than dealing with these items (nuclear weapons), you should not be on a mission,” Capt. Nathan Higgins, an aircraft commander, told the newspaper at the time. “We want to make sure you are up to the challenge, that your head is in the mission.”

Roberts said a typical “nuclear surety” inspection — which occurs every 18 months with more limited inspections in between — requires that hundreds of items meet the Air Force’s exacting standards for this mission.

“Perfection is the standard with this mission, and all members are held to that standard,” he said.

Select flight crews from the 4th Airlift Squadron fly the weapons, but other units within the wing contribute to the mission.

That includes providing security, maintaining the aircraft and meeting the medical needs of the flight crews, wrote Col. R. Wyn Elder, the wing’s commander, in an online commentary that appeared on its website shortly before the inspection.

“There is no margin for error in operations within the nation’s nuclear enterprise ... I can’t stress it enough: PNAF is the 62nd AW’s number one, no-fail mission,”

A spokeswoman at McChord referred all questions about the rating to Air Mobility Command, based at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., the mission’s certifying officer and AMC commander, was briefed on the findings of the inspection Wednesday.

He will evaluate the findings and give orders to correct the problems and could hold responsible parties accountable, including possible discipline, Roberts said. An inspection team will return to reinspect within 90 days.

The wing has always received a grade of “satisfactory” – the only other overall rating – in prior inspections.

A story by the wing’s public affairs office in March said it had passed its nuclear surety inspection, and the McChord office that manages the safe and reliable transport of nuclear weapons and components had won a safety award for the 12th time in 13 years.

The story noted the office oversaw the safe delivery of more than 32,000 pounds of nuclear or nuclear-related cargo worldwide last year.

Christian Hill: 253-274-7390 christian.hill@thenewstribune.com

This story was originally published November 25, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Air Force nuclear transport work falls short."