[Infowarrior] - USAF leadership quits over nuclear issue

[Richard Forno]

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USWAT00960720080605

Air Force leadership quits over nuclear issue
Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:38pm EDT

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on  
Thursday the Air Force's top two officials resigned after incidents  
that raised questions about the security of America's nuclear weapons  
and parts.

Defense officials said the two were effectively fired amid mounting  
strain between the Air Force and the Pentagon over spending priorities  
and other issues. A senior U.S. defense official tied the decision  
directly to the findings of an investigation into the U.S. military's  
mistaken shipment of fuses for nuclear missiles to Taiwan.

Gates said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen.  
Michael Moseley, the top civilian and military leaders, had submitted  
their resignations and that he had accepted them.

He told a press briefing that he would recommend replacements for  
Wynne and Moseley at a later time.

Meanwhile, Gates said former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger would  
head a senior level task force to "recommend improvements necessary to  
ensure that the highest levels of accountability and control are  
maintained in the stewardship of nuclear weapons."

Both Wynne and Moseley were asked to resign, and both have submitted  
their resignations, an official said.

The resignations follow a string of embarrassing incidents for the Air  
Force.

"Over the last several months, you could sense that some change was  
coming and probably people would be fired," said Loren Thompson, a  
military analyst at the Lexington Institute.

In August 2007, an Air Force bomber mistakenly armed with six nuclear  
warheads flew across the United States. The Air Force fired a  
commander in response, but lawmakers criticized what they saw as a  
lack of accountability.

Senior Pentagon officials raised concerns about the issue as recently  
as last week, said one source familiar with the discussions.

NUCLEAR PROBE WAS CRITICAL OF AIR FORCE

Concern about the security of U.S. nuclear and nuclear-related  
equipment escalated in March when the Pentagon admitted the erroneous  
fuse shipment to Taiwan in 2006. The U.S. military never caught that  
error, which was brought to light by Taiwanese authorities.

© Thomson Reuters 2008.