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safety protocols would have to have been ignored to load the warheads onto the plane, he said. "I just can't imagine how all of this happened," said Philip Coyle, a senior adviser on nuclear weapons at the Center for Defense Information. "The procedures are so rigid; this is the last thing that's supposed to happen." At no time was there a risk for a nuclear detonation, even if the B-52 crashed on its way to Barksdale, said Steve Fetter, a former Defense Department official who worked on nuclear weapons policy in 1993-94. A crash would ignite the high explosives associated with the warhead, and possibly cause a leak of plutonium, but the warhead's elaborate safeguards would prevent a nuclear detonation from occurring, he said. "The Air Force takes its mission to safeguard weapons seriously," Thomas said. "No effort will be spared to ensure that the matter is thoroughly and completely investigated." Along with the 5th Munitions Squadron commander, the munitions crews involved in mistakenly loading the nuclear warheads at Minot have been temporarily decertified from performing their duties involving munitions, pending corrective actions or additional training, Thomas said. "This is really shocking," Coyle said. "The Air Force can't tolerate it, and the Pentagon can't tolerate it, either." http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/09/odd-synchronicity-fossett-minot-b- 52.html The nukes were released from the stockpile for a specific reason. Officers, who have spent most if not all of their careers certified in the world of tactical nuclear weapons, authorized this release and were satisfied that their orders were correct. For the last 39 years there has been a ban on flying nuclear weapons on combat aircraft and the only acceptable means of 134 The error comes after the Air Force announced last March the 5th Bomb Wing won two service wide safety awards during fiscal year 2006.