OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Offutt Air Force Base has two units: United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and the 55th Wing.
Strategic Command has the most important mission: strategic deterrence, which discourages adversaries from launching nuclear attacks. The 55th Wing plays a prominent role in intelligence surveillance, helping to provide information to senior leaders for potential courses of action.
"If STRATCOM gets involved, and that typically entails something with respect to our nuclear arsenal, then this is a very short interview because we're done. If the 55th Air Wing gets involved, then that's a lot more likely scenario than STRATCOM," Creighton Law Professor Michael Kelly said.
More than two million people are on the move from Ukraine and Kelly expects that number to increase if the conflict continues.
"If the US military gets involved in airlifts or humanitarian assistance for all of these refugees — and I don't know if they will, but if they do — then the 55th Air Wing out of Offutt could get involved in that from a command and control perspective," Kelly said.
If Russia or Belarus were to attack a neighboring NATO country, that will initiate Article 5 of NATO, wherein an attack on one is an attack on all. That is when STRATCOM gets involved.
"The reason that Nebraska Offutt Strategic Command is involved is because they're watching to make sure that they need to react, if it goes to that level," UNO Assistant Professor of Political Science Michelle Black said.
"Deterring the Russians from using any type of nuclear capability is job one and STRATCOM has responsibility for that strategic deterrence mission that puts them in a very prominent role working with the other combatant commands and Secretary of Defense up through the President," Retired Maj. Gen. of the U.S. Air Force Rick Evans said. Evans is also the Executive Director of the National Strategic Research Institute.
As the crisis plays out, experts warn of the potential implications for our country's service members.
"If you look at the three superpowers in the world today, that's China, Russia and the United States. Two of those are authoritarian regimes, only one is a democracy. This is very much authoritarianism versus democratic values. China and Russia have been very successful at weakening the democracy of this third superpower," Kelly said.
"We're being monitored on the actions that we're doing in this particular conflict, which could then lead into future conflicts just as we did in the past with Syria, just as we did with Crimea," Black said.
Yesterday, Admiral Charles Richard — Commander of U.S. Strategic Command — addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee where he assured that there will be 150,000 people ready to execute their strategic deterrence mission.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
