The nation’s nuclear capabilities have been operationally unaffected by the outbreak of COVID-19, but the command has imposed minimum contact measures across installations, said Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear operations and strategic deterrence across all services.
“This pandemic has our full attention,” said Richard in a Tuesday telephone briefing with journalists from Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha.
“We minimize the cross-section for exposure, you go into prescreens on your people who are going in, you have contingency plans to pre-quarantine or separate out people, pre-isolate them to make sure they have a minimum risk of infection,” he said in describing some of the measures underway or planned.
The command has canceled meetings, instituted more virtual teleconferences, minimized contact on critical watch bases, canceled tours, and required individuals with recent qualifying travel to self-quarantine.
“Our strategic nuclear forces remain ready to execute,” he said. “We have had no impact to our ability to accomplish our mission.”
To date, the commander said there have been no positive COVID-19 tests across Stratcom installations, and he said less than 10 individuals are in preventative self-quarantine.
Across the forces, he said “less than 20” individuals each in the Air Force and Navy are also in self-isolation as a preventative measure.
“The potential for a contagious pandemic like this is not novel to us, we had plans in place that we have updated and are executing,” Richard said.
He added that the command is designed to operate in isolation for long periods of time.
With respect to nuclear deterrence, the commander said he has not noticed any activities by adversaries such as Iran or North Korea “beyond what is normal.”
Richard added that the increased use of advanced communications capabilities and efficiencies is “exciting,” and will lead to a “new normal” of more efficiently accomplishing command business.
