Military Times reported this week that a B-52 bomber flew from North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana with a payload of cruise missiles. The cruise missiles weren’t supposed to be nuclear, but five nuclear-warheaded missiles were included by mistake.

Can you imagine if the plane had been headed into combat? “Mr. President, I’m afraid we’ve just started a nuclear war—honest, sir, we thought it was just a regular missile!”

In all seriousness, confusing a nuclear and a non-nuclear warhead is a seriously bad thing to do. Does it happen often, and this is the first time we’ve heard about it? Was it a one-time, inept screw-up? How can it be prevented? The military is investigating, and I hope the investigators do a good job.

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