For the first time in the history of Minot Air Force Base, the US Secretary of Defense paid a visit today.

Robert Gates flew to the base directly from Chicago, where President-Elect Barack Obama announced Gates agreed to stay on as Defense Secretary for his administration.

The secretary addressed a gathering of hundreds of airmen and toured the base.

Jim Olson Reports

Hours after President-Elect Barack Obama showed his confidence in sitting Secretary of Defense Robert Gates by announcing Gates would continue in the job, Gates himself was sitting in a B-52 bomber, showing his confidence in an air base that has caused him some headaches in the past year. Gates came to Minot Air Force Base to tell the men and women in charge of hundreds of nuclear weapons that mistakes like the one in the summer of 2007 - where six nuclear warheads were accidentally flown from Minot to Barksdale Air Force Base - are not acceptable.

(Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense) "Serious lapses of last year were unacceptable and resulted in severe consequences starting at the unit level and reaching up to the top senior leadership of the Air Force."


Gates told a gathering of more than one thousand airmen at a B-52 hangar at Minot's base that several steps have been taken to make sure nothing like that nuclear mistake happens again in the Air Force.

(Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense) "Based on everything that I have seen, heard and learned in recent months I strongly believe the Air Force is moving in the right direction to reclaim the standards of excellence for it which it was known throughout the cold war."


The defense secretary said there was one simple reason he came to Minot Air Force Base.

(Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense) "I'm told that a Secretary of Defense has never visited Minot but I wanted to tell you in person that as stewards of America's arsenal your work is vital to the security of our nation."


Gates then toured the base, getting a cockpit-seat look at a B-52 bomber, and inspecting training facilities where airmen learn the handling of Minuteman-Three missiles buried in the North Dakota countryside. And he reminded the men and women who handle both land-based and air-based nuclear weapons that their jobs are uniquely important.

(Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense) "Yours is the most sensitive mission in the entire United State's military. I am confident that it is in good hands."


At Minot Air Force Base, Jim Olson, KX News.

Gates was joined in his tour of Minot Air Force Base by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Norton Schwartz. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list