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American Morning

Ace in the Hole

Aired October 17, 2002 - 09:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Forty years ago this week, the world confronted the prospect of nuclear war. President John F. Kennedy, armed with evidence that the Soviet Union was putting missiles in Cuba, relied on an Air Force base in Montana to showdown Nikita Khrushchev and resolve the crisis peacefully. Kennedy called Alpha 01 squadron his ace in the hole, and it has been alert every since then.
And our Jeff Flock is there in Cascade, Montana.

Jeff, is this true this is the first time they have allowed live cameras in there?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is correct. Yes, they've had people down here to visit before, but never a live broadcast in this place, an extraordinary place. It's on the National Registry of Historic Places, in addition to being a live facility.

I told you last hour about the names on the wall, everyone that's been here since 1979. I am told, they painted over all the other guys that have been here since the '60s.

You talk ace in the hole, Bruce, I don't know if you're able to go to around to your left there, and show, number one, how thick the walls of the capsule are, but painted on the wall, "first ace in the hole," that's what President Kennedy called it.

I want to take you topside again, Paula. You know, you asked what this looked like, let me give you some perspective on where this was. The sun is now rising, and I think you get some sense of where we are out the hills and plains of Montana. There are 200 missile silos being controlled in facilities like this out here.

I guess I have to ask you, Captain Robinson, we wanted to get a sense for what goes through the mind of the men and women whose fingers are litter all on the nuclear switch.

CAPT. BRIAN ROBINSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: We all take the job very, very seriously. All of us have sworn an oath to protect and defend the United States. No one wants to launch a nuclear missile. However, we have jobs to do. We are here to answer aggression. And if necessary, we can and we will launch in support of the president's directives.

ZAHN: Captain, I know we can't tell folks too much about how it works, but suffice it to say, in the box there are keys. Number one, you have to have keys to get into the box, and then there are keys, and what happens when you get -- when and if you get a command to launch.

CAPT. ROB RIEGEL, U.S. AIR FORCE: If we get the authorized presidential directive, we go through several procedures, the final one of which is to insert the launch key here and put our hand on these cooperative launch switches. I have one. My deputy has two. And at the appropriate time, we'll turn those switches, look for indications and hope that it works.

FLOCK: You all have to be on the same page on this. You independently get this information, you independently have to reach this conclusion to launch. You're not telling him, hey -- my command, launch the missile.

RIEGEL: That's correct. If I were to tell him that, he would tell me in no under no uncertain terms that I was wrong, if in fact I was wrong.

FLOCK: All right, you were on September 11th, correct? Not in this particular facility, but in a facility like this. Give me some sense for what was going through your mind on that day, figuring perhaps you were a target yourself?

RIEGEL: It's nerve-racking, obviously. But as I said, when we are down here, we do our job day to day. And the job really didn't change for us once we were here in the capsule. We continue to monitor the status of the missiles, we continue to monitor security topside.

FLOCK :It didn't change on September 11th, despite what was going on in this country?

RIEGEL: My job can't change a bit.

FLOCK: We have extraordinary access here today. Jeff, I am going to ask, if you can see the, you have the top secret books there. It looks like something out of a movie, only the scary thing is this is all very, very real.

ROBINSON: Absolutely. This is 100 percent real.

FLOCK: Do you ever get a sense of the enormity of the job that you have?

RIEGEL: Every single day. Every day. And it has to stay in the forefront of our mind how important it is what we do here, and it has to stay in the forefront of our mind how absolutely frightening it can be.

FLOCK: Captain Riegel, Captain Robinson, appreciate the insight. I will let you get back to what you are doing. Typically, they would have on their screens, Paula, information which they have blacked out for purposes of this broadcast, but beyond that, this is what it looks like.

ZAHN: Back to you. Absolutely fascinating. What a sense of history there. Jeff, thank you, and please thank the powers that be for the great access this morning.

FLOCK: Will do. Thank you, Paula.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 17, 2002 - 09:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Forty years ago this week, the world confronted the prospect of nuclear war. President John F. Kennedy, armed with evidence that the Soviet Union was putting missiles in Cuba, relied on an Air Force base in Montana to showdown Nikita Khrushchev and resolve the crisis peacefully. Kennedy called Alpha 01 squadron his ace in the hole, and it has been alert every since then.
And our Jeff Flock is there in Cascade, Montana.

Jeff, is this true this is the first time they have allowed live cameras in there?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is correct. Yes, they've had people down here to visit before, but never a live broadcast in this place, an extraordinary place. It's on the National Registry of Historic Places, in addition to being a live facility.

I told you last hour about the names on the wall, everyone that's been here since 1979. I am told, they painted over all the other guys that have been here since the '60s.

You talk ace in the hole, Bruce, I don't know if you're able to go to around to your left there, and show, number one, how thick the walls of the capsule are, but painted on the wall, "first ace in the hole," that's what President Kennedy called it.

I want to take you topside again, Paula. You know, you asked what this looked like, let me give you some perspective on where this was. The sun is now rising, and I think you get some sense of where we are out the hills and plains of Montana. There are 200 missile silos being controlled in facilities like this out here.

I guess I have to ask you, Captain Robinson, we wanted to get a sense for what goes through the mind of the men and women whose fingers are litter all on the nuclear switch.

CAPT. BRIAN ROBINSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: We all take the job very, very seriously. All of us have sworn an oath to protect and defend the United States. No one wants to launch a nuclear missile. However, we have jobs to do. We are here to answer aggression. And if necessary, we can and we will launch in support of the president's directives.

ZAHN: Captain, I know we can't tell folks too much about how it works, but suffice it to say, in the box there are keys. Number one, you have to have keys to get into the box, and then there are keys, and what happens when you get -- when and if you get a command to launch.

CAPT. ROB RIEGEL, U.S. AIR FORCE: If we get the authorized presidential directive, we go through several procedures, the final one of which is to insert the launch key here and put our hand on these cooperative launch switches. I have one. My deputy has two. And at the appropriate time, we'll turn those switches, look for indications and hope that it works.

FLOCK: You all have to be on the same page on this. You independently get this information, you independently have to reach this conclusion to launch. You're not telling him, hey -- my command, launch the missile.

RIEGEL: That's correct. If I were to tell him that, he would tell me in no under no uncertain terms that I was wrong, if in fact I was wrong.

FLOCK: All right, you were on September 11th, correct? Not in this particular facility, but in a facility like this. Give me some sense for what was going through your mind on that day, figuring perhaps you were a target yourself?

RIEGEL: It's nerve-racking, obviously. But as I said, when we are down here, we do our job day to day. And the job really didn't change for us once we were here in the capsule. We continue to monitor the status of the missiles, we continue to monitor security topside.

FLOCK :It didn't change on September 11th, despite what was going on in this country?

RIEGEL: My job can't change a bit.

FLOCK: We have extraordinary access here today. Jeff, I am going to ask, if you can see the, you have the top secret books there. It looks like something out of a movie, only the scary thing is this is all very, very real.

ROBINSON: Absolutely. This is 100 percent real.

FLOCK: Do you ever get a sense of the enormity of the job that you have?

RIEGEL: Every single day. Every day. And it has to stay in the forefront of our mind how important it is what we do here, and it has to stay in the forefront of our mind how absolutely frightening it can be.

FLOCK: Captain Riegel, Captain Robinson, appreciate the insight. I will let you get back to what you are doing. Typically, they would have on their screens, Paula, information which they have blacked out for purposes of this broadcast, but beyond that, this is what it looks like.

ZAHN: Back to you. Absolutely fascinating. What a sense of history there. Jeff, thank you, and please thank the powers that be for the great access this morning.

FLOCK: Will do. Thank you, Paula.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com