Missile officer held
NZPA-Reuter Omaha A United States Air Force missile officer accused of failing to report contacts with the Soviet Embassy in Washington had access to secret codes that would be used to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, authoritative military sources said yesterday. But the sources at the Strategic Air Command headquarters at Omaha,
Nebraska, said that the codes were often changed for security reasons and it was unlikely the officer could have given the Soviets missiletarget information of much value. Second Lieutenant Christopher Cooke, aged 25, was arrested last week at his Titan II missile unit, based at McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas. A source at S.A.C. said, “a
missile launch officer must be familiar with his missile and the various codes, but he does not have specific target information.” Lieutenant Cooke would have had access to codes used to order the launching of Titans, the most powerful American intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as other codes used to authenticate the launch orders?
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Press, 3 June 1981, Page 9
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170Missile officer held Press, 3 June 1981, Page 9
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