How Safe are US Nuclear Weapons in Turkey?
Sharon Behn
August 05, 2016 6:01 AM
U.S. B61 nuclear bombs are equipped with "Permissive Action Links" or PALs, which prevent arming and using the weapon without an authorization code. They are kept on special racks, inside secure underground vaults, inside protected aircraft shelters, inside a heavily guarded area, surrounded by two layers of fencing, lighting, cameras and intrusion detection devices, on protected airbases.
But this particular airbase, Incirlik, is in southern Turkey. The Turkish commander of the base recently was frog-marched off in handcuffs after being accused of being involved in a failed coup against the government.
And that is the problem, says non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterrey, California.
http://www.voanews.com/content/how-safe-are-the-us-nuclear-weapons-in-turkey/3451193.html
