Gangster Government

BISMARCK, N.D. -- The Air Force announced Thursday that two officers who worked at a missile base in North Dakota have been taken off the job while the military investigates allegations that they took home classified components used in underground launch control centers.

The officers were supposed to have destroyed the two devices and had signed documents stating that they had, said Maj. Laurie A. Arellano, an Air Force spokeswoman. The Band-Aid-size devices, now obsolete, were used on equipment inside the launch center to detect equipment tampering.

"There is no risk to the security of the weapon system, and no possibility of an inadvertent launch as a result of this being taken from the weapon facility," Arellano said.

The officers worked at the time at Minot Air Force Base's 91st Space Wing, now known as the 91st Missile Wing. They were among the crew members who work 90 feet underground behind huge blast doors, prepared to launch nuclear missiles.

The officers, whose names have not been released, are no longer stationed at Minot. "They are not, obviously, working missile alert duties until the investigation is complete," Arellano said.

The Air Force also announced that three members of a ballistic missile crew from Minot Air Force Base who fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices have been sanctioned and "decertified from missile operations."

The crew members, two lieutenants and a captain from the 91st Missile Wing, were in a missile alert facility about 70 miles from Minot when they fell asleep in a crew rest area on July 12, the Air Force said.

Arellano said the officers received written reprimands and will forfeit a portion of their pay for two months under Article 15 reviews, which allow punishments without a court proceeding or public record. Six other officers, including two squadron commanders, also received disciplinary letters in their military files, Arellano said.