A place for everything ...

Some folks repeatedly misplace their keys, glasses, wallets, purses and other items that should not be so elusive. Such insufficient attention to detail isn't just inconvenient. It's needless and potentially hazardous. But the perils of losing track of your stuff are far more harrowing when the missing items are nuclear weapons.

Incredibly, some U.S. Air Force personnel did just that last August when the pilots and crew of a B-52 unwittingly carried six air-launched cruise missiles with nuclear warheads more than 1,100 miles, from an air base in North Dakota to one in Louisiana. The crew that loaded the missiles wrongly assumed that all 12 had "dummy" (phony) warheads, when, in fact, six had nuclear warheads. The next day, the B-52's navigator failed to fully inspect the missiles under the plane's wings before departure.

Four Air Force colonels have since been relieved of their commands, and 65 lower-ranking officers and airmen "disciplined." The Air Force recently adopted "new procedures" that recognize this reality: "Nuclear weapons require special consideration because of their political and military importance, destructive power, cost and potential consequences of an accident or unauthorized act."

In the Air Force's case, that "special consideration" now will include plainly marking which warheads are nuclear and which aren't.

Meanwhile, if you want to quit losing your keys, try adopting some "new procedures" of your own.