Think Tank Report: B61s Unsafe in Turkey

US B61 nuclear bombs held on Incirlik AB, Turkey, are at risk of seizure from terrorist groups that are active in the region and as civil unrest in the country continues, the Stimson Center think tank said in a report released this week. The US has about 50 B61 weapons at the base, and the Stimson Center found in its report that it is an “unanswerable question” if the US could keep the weapons under control in light of the recent attempted coup in the country. “From a security point of view, it’s a roll of the dice to continue to have approximately 50 of America’s nuclear weapons stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, just 70 miles from the Syrian border,” report co-author Laicie Heeley said in a news release. The report calls on the military to remove all B61s from Europe, and cancel procurement of additional B61s that would be stored in Europe. The move would save more than $6 billion over the life of the program, the report states.