ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force has announced six possible permanent locations for Global Strike Command, which will be in charge of all nuclear missiles and nuclear-coded bombers.
Expected to become initially operational in September, the command is currently headquartered at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., on a temporary basis.
On Wednesday, the Air Force announced the following sites are being considered for the command’s permanent home:
■ Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
■ F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.
■ Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.
■ Minot Air Force Base, N.D.
■ Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
■ Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.
The Air Force expects to select a site by June, according to an Air Force news release.
The sites will be judged based on criteria including, "availability of requisite expertise, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, transportation and access, communications and bandwidth, and security to support the [command] headquarters," the news release said.
In October, the Air Force announced it was creating the command after an independent task force’s report recommended putting one major command in charge of the service’s nuclear enterprise.
The task force was formed after a series of nuclear blunders, culminating with the Air Force’s admission that it had accidentally sent nuclear missile parts to Taiwan.
An investigation into the incident revealed systemic problems in how the Air Force handles nuclear weapons, promoting Defense Secretary Gates to fire the Air Force’s top leadership.
The task force found the Air Force’s nuclear mission had lost its focus since Strategic Air Command was disestablished in 1991.
It recommended the service’s nuclear enterprise fall under Air Force Space Command, but the Air Force decided to create an entirely new major command to handle the nuclear mission, partially due to the fact that Space Command will head the service’s cyber mission.
"It was our conclusion that a major command that did space, cyber and nuclear perhaps was too much for a single organization to address with the necessary focus," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said in October.
