50 Top 10 Lists of 2007

Top 10 Underreported Stories

#2. A Nuclear Six-Pack

In August, when six nuclear weapons were accidentally loaded onto the wing of a B-52 bomber and flown from North Dakota to Louisiana, it was not so much a case of imminent danger — experts agree that if the plane had crashed, fail-safe devices would have prevented the warheads from detonating — but rather a glaring display of how easily our nuclear safeguards can fall apart. In violation of security protocol, the crew only checked the missiles on the wing that contained dummy warheads. And the mistake, which marks the first time in nearly 40 years that nukes have flown over U.S. airspace on the wings of a bomber, went unnoticed for more than 36 hours.

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