U.S. Credibility and Lost Bomb

When I was a kid, I had faith, and believed in the U.S. Navy and the standards of excellence I was sure it practiced (“Lost Bomb, Lost Credibility,� Editorial, May 11). Of course, I also believed someday I’d wind up as the New York Yankees’ ace pitcher.

As an adult, I know the difference between fantasy and reality, and the reality about the Navy is that its record of handling nuclear and other weapons is very poor.

The Iowa, and other recent Navy accidents should come as no surprise, except perhaps that we heard about them so quickly. Besides lost atomic weapons and burning ships, it now turns out the Navy has spilled over a million gallons of diesel oil in Alaska. Navy officials use their “neither conform or deny� policy not for national security, but more like gangsters taking the Fifth Amendment.

The Soviets already know our secrets (I think it was some spies in the Navy named Walker who told them). The only ones kept in the dark are U.S. citizens. The Navy won’t tell us it has had more than 375 nuclear weapons “accidents and incidents� between 1965 and 1977 alone, just like it won’t tell us about the nuclear missiles in the Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor.

Far from being the best and the brightest, today’s all-volunteer Navy reminds me of the U.S. auto industry in the mid 1970s: Fat, arrogant, impotent and clueless. After all, this is the group that made John Poindexter an admiral. The Navy would be a lot funnier if it was only its credibility that was lost, but these Vegas and Pintos of the seven seas put more than their reputation at risk.

How many more Americans are they going to be allowed to kill before they’re forced to get their act together and stop lying?

JOE GALLIANI

Long Beach