Air Force General Visits Base

The man who will lead a new Air Force effort to better-control its nuclear arsenal was in North Dakota today Lieutenant General Frank Klotz is the commander of Global Strike Command and is responsible to shore-up the somewhat tarnished image of America s ability to take care of its most dangerous weapons It made headlines around the globe Six nuclear-tipped missiles were mistakenly flown from Minot Air Force Base across the heart of America on board a B-52 bomber and no one knew it had happened until the flight had ended in Louisiana That was August 2007 Now barely two years later a new entity built specifically to ensure no repeat of that sort of mistake has its first command As of Tuesday Global Strike Command took control of the nation s intercontinental ballistic missiles - and in February GSC will assume command of airborne nukes The man charged with leading the new command is three-star General Frank Klotz Lt Gen Frank Klotz Global Strike Command People seem to be genuinely pleased and enthusiastic about the change General Klotz says by separating the nuclear mission from other missions - his command can have a finely tuned set of procedures and training systems to assure the security and safety of all nuclear weapons under Air Force control And he says he s picking men and women who specialize in nuclear weapons handling Lt Gen Frank Klotz Global Strike Command So they have walked a mile in the same shoes that the people here at Minot wear They understand the business They understand the challenges they have in performing the mission And they will be in my view wonderful and marvelous advocates and champions for the bases and the mission and the people The general says the new structure in the Air Force relieves the stress on Air Combat Command and Space Command - that formerly included nuclear weapons under their control Lt Gen Frank Klotz Global Strike Command There was just no way anyone could humanly focus specifically on this nuclear deterrance and global strike mission The senior leadership of the Air Force indeed the senior leadership of the nation felt that it was vitally important that we have that focus It was the lack of that focus that was cited as one reason for the nuclear mistake two years ago that led to the creation of what General Klotz now leads the Global Strike Command At Minot Air Force Base Jim Olson KX News Lieutenant General Klotz will be back at Minot Air Force Base in February when Global Strike Command takes over control of airborne nuclear weapons systems such as B-52 bombers