US Air Force sets up new command for nuclear forces

The command,located at Barksdale Air Force base in the southern state of Louisiana,will combine nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers as well as the intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM force 8212; which had previously been under the Air Force Space Command in Colorado.

8220;We needed to refocus on the nuclear mission and not lose sight of that,8221; Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley told reporters ahead of Friday8217;s ceremony.

He said there had been some 8220;painful lessons8221; but the new command would 8220;reinvigorate our nuclear enterprise.8221;

An outside panel headed by former defense secretary James Schlesinger concluded that the US Air Force had for years given the nuclear forces a lower priority and failed to manage the mission with rigor.

The panel found 8220;an unambiguous,dramatic and unacceptable decline in the air force8217;s commitment to perform the nuclear mission and,until very recently,little has been done to reverse it.8221;