What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

(Written December 25, 2014)

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

—by Robert Arvay
for The Bold Pursuit

On August 29 of 2007 the United States Air Force lost track of a number of nuclear bombs.  While the incident did not involve actual loss of the weapons, this lapse was so serious that it resulted in the resignations of two generals, and punishment of other commanding officers.  After all, these are weapons of mass destruction.  Knowing where they all are-- at every moment-- is critical.

More recently, live samples of the deadly Ebola virus were sent to the wrong laboratory, one which is not equipped to handle them.  A lab technician was possibly exposed to the disease which kills a high percentage of its victims.

In January of 2014, a number of junior Air Force officers were involved in a scandal involving their certification to serve in missile silos—the ones that can launch nuclear missiles worldwide.  The scandal was uncovered during an investigation into illegal drug use by some of the officers.

These three incidents made the news.  They make us wonder how many escape detection. 

We like to believe that everyday incompetence is confined to places like the post office and the department of motor vehicles, but the evidence shows that no place is exempt.  Operation Gun Runner, the Obama-care computer fiasco, the massacre of Americans in Benghazi, the failure to heed warnings about the Boston bombers, and the fact that people died because a few officials in the Veterans Administration falsified reports to get pay bonuses—all of these demonstrate a common theme. 

Modern technology is a wonderful thing, but it is no better than the people who come to work every day and press the buttons. 

No matter how good our technology becomes, it will be useless without personal honesty and integrity at all levels.  Without that, everything that can go wrong, as Murphy's Law tells us, will.

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