By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
The Pentagon is conducting a rare review and analysis of
whether it is prepared to deal with the theft or compromise
of the portable communications system dubbed the "nuclear ball," which allows the president or a deputy to order an atomic weapons attack.
In announcing the investigation Tuesday, the Pentagon's office of the inspector general did not reveal what precipitated it, but questions about nuclear safety procedures were raised after the Jan. 6 seizure of Capitol Hill.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was seen on security camera footage being escorted to safety, along with a military aide carrying the backup nuclear balloon, as the violent mob entered the Capitol.
The nuclear balloon, officially called the Presidential Emergency Briefcase,
enables communication with the office within the Pentagon that relays nuclear strike orders.
A backup system always accompanies the vice president so that he can communicate in case the president cannot.
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The inspector general's office said its review began this month.
It did not offer a timeline for when it will be completed.
"The objective of this assessment is to determine to what extent the processes and procedures of the Department of Defense are ready and adequate to alert officials
in the event that the Presidential Emergency Portfolio is lost, stolen or compromised," he
wrote Randolph R. Stone, assistant inspector general, in a July 19 letter to the director of the White House military office and the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
"This assessment will also determine the adequacy of the procedures that the Department of Defense has developed to respond to such an event," he added.
[The Police and the Armed Forces are investigating whether their members participated in the assault on the Capitol]
Two Democrats who had asked the Pentagon's inspector general to review the matter, Representatives Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Jim Cooper of Tennessee, said in a joint statement that
the January 6 riots raised questions about whether the Pentagon was aware of it.
Pence's nuclear balloon
was potentially in danger of falling into the hands of the insurgents.
"It is imperative that we fully understand
the processes and procedures that exist to protect the Presidential Emergency Portfolio, especially when its custodians may be in danger,
and we applaud the [inspector general] for accepting our request to initiate this assessment," they said.
In this image from a security video, former Vice President Mike Pence is seen being evacuated as insurgents take over the Capitol, during the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, in Washington, on February 6, 2021.
Lynch and Cooper wrote to the Pentagon's office of the inspector general in March requesting the review.
"The US Strategic Command, which is responsible for strategic deterrence and nuclear operations, allegedly did not know that the former vice president, his military aide, and the nuclear ball were potentially in danger and
only came to understand the severity of the incident several weeks later. , when the security camera footage was shown as a video display during the impeachment
[of former President Donald Trump] in the Senate, ”they wrote.