An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operation test at Vandenberg AFB, CA, February 23, 2021. (Air Force Staff Sgt. Brittany E.N. Murphy)
Decommission and Deployment Advances U.S. Nuclear Triad Multi-State
CASE STUDY
Under federal law and to meet national security requirements, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) was directed to implement a strategy “to accelerate the development, procurement, and fielding
and adaptability to manage and respond to shifting global requirements. The proposed ICBMs and supporting upgrades would allow the United States to continue to offer long-term tangible evidence to both allies and potential adversaries of our nuclear weapons capabilities, thus contributing to nuclear deterrence and assurance, and providing a hedge against arms competition. There are three missile fields strategically placed within five states overseen by commands at Malmstrom Air Force Base (AFB), F.E. Warren AFB, and Minot AFB with supporting facilities in an additional two states making for a complicated consultation that had a large geographic reach and required coordination with numerous federal, state, Tribal, and nonfederal entities. Starting in 2018, the ACHP began to provide recommendations to the Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center and Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) to think through how the DAF would complete the Section 106 consultation process, taking into account previous undertakings associated with the MMIII weapons system. In September 2020, the Air Force Global Strike Command initiated Section 106 consultation and successfully concluded consultation in December 2022 with the official execution of a project programmatic agreement that created a standardized and phased process to identify, assess, and resolve adverse effects on historic properties affected by the undertaking, enabling the DAF to meet the undertaking’s schedule and compliance with Section 106. The success of the consultation was found in four key areas: internal coordination, research and understanding, active listening, and common language. The subject matter experts of the AFCEC were integrated into the overall project
planning. DAF practitioners understood how the missile fields and infrastructure were already considered historic properties and that federally recognized Indian Tribes needed to be given the opportunity to share information about properties of religious and cultural significance within the missile fields and interconnecting underground corridors. The DAF actively listened to all consulting parties, allowing a flow of information regarding historic properties to be acknowledged early and throughout project planning. The project programmatic agreement was structured using the phases of the undertaking and used DAF language to explain the process and when the substantive steps of the Section 106 process would be met resulting in a realistic and proactive agreement.
of the ground-based strategic deterrent program” as part of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019 [Public Law 115-232 Section 1663]. Specifically, the DAF was tasked in recapitalizing the full intercontinental ballistic missile (or ICBM) weapon system (i.e., missiles and launch facilities) without phasing or splitting the program. The purpose of the action was to replace all land-based Minuteman III (MMIII) missiles deployed in the continental United States with the Sentinel (originally referred to as the Ground Based Strategic Deployment) weapon system. Implementing the action would ensure the United States continued to have effective, responsive, and resilient ICBMs and associated infrastructure for the land-based leg of its nuclear triad and the capacity
Construction crews trenched miles of utility corridors in the 1960s during the original construction of the Minuteman missile fields, before passage of the NHPA and NEPA. (USAF)
“We are tremendously pleased with the effort that the Air Force put into developing the consultation plan and carrying it out to engage such an important number and array of stakeholders in that consultation, and to developing an agreement that very successfully incorporated historic preservation goals at every stage of the process and of the program…This stands as a model for how an agency can carry out such a comprehensive and effective consultation on such an important program.” —Reid Nelson, ACHP Executive Director
The Three Affiliated Tribes Veterans post the colors during a ceremony at Fort Berthold Reservation New Town, ND, on July 19, 2022. (Airman 1st Class Evan J. Lichtenhan/USAF)
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IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A Report on Federal Historic Properties • 2024 | 31
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