It looks like the Department of the Air Force will start removing 50 of Malmstrom’s 200 missiles this month. That is according to Major General Thomas Deppe, who is the 20th Air Force Commander and spoke about it in this ARTICLE. The 20th Air Force is responsible for the Minuteman III missiles at Minot, Malmstrom, and F.E. Warren.

Key information and quotes from Deppe:
-“We’re deactivating a squadron and we hope to start that by the end of this month at Malmstrom, Mont.”
-He said Congress didn’t have many comments on it, and the Montana Legislature was not happy about it.
-Now we’re basically right in the middle of a 30-day Environmental Impact Statement, which is required. “If there are no objections from that, we should be able to start by the end of the month with our deactivation,” Deppe said.

It looks like Montana’s Congressional Delegation may have to eat their words about not letting this happen, although it is not a done deal yet. They’ve all vowed not to let it happen in the last year and during the campaign season. We’ll see if they have the clout to get it done. It will hurt each of them politically if it does and they get nothing in return.

In regards to getting something in return, here’s a suggestion from Jack the Blogger to our Senators and Congressman:
Try to get something (another mission) in return. One idea would be a National Missile Defense mission which would use the resources where these 50 missiles came from. It appears North Dakota (U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, and a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee) has been able to corner the market on this mission, along with Alaska.
How about unmanned aerial vehicles for Northern border security? Or how about using the runway for government contractors to test new planes.

There are a lot of ideas out there, you just need the desire and the clout to do something.