[Infowarrior] - Gates Orders Inventory of US Nukes

[Richard Forno]

Gates Orders Inventory of US Nukes

Mar 27, 9:37 PM (ET)

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080328/D8VM4P8G2.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a full
inventory of all nuclear weapons and related materials after the mistaken
delivery of ballistic missile fuses to Taiwan, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Gates told officials with the Air Force, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency
to assess inventory control procedures for the materials and to submit a
report within 60 days.

Earlier this week, Gates directed Navy Adm. Kirkland H. Donald to take
charge of a full investigation of the delivery mistake in which four
cone-shaped electrical fuses used in intercontinental ballistic missile
warheads were shipped to the Taiwanese instead of the helicopter batteries
they had ordered.

It was the second nuclear-related mistake involving the military that has
been revealed in recent months. In August an Air Force B-52 bomber was
mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from
Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. At the time,
the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

The electrical fuses were delivered in fall 2006, but the military did not
fully realize the gravity of the blunder until last week. The revelation
sparked sharp protests from China and forced President Bush to acknowledge
the error in a phone call Wednesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

While the shipment did not contain nuclear materials, the error is
particularly sensitive because China vehemently opposes U.S. arms sales to
Taiwan. U.S. officials were quick to say that the incident did not suggest
any change in policies toward Taiwan arms sales.

But China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, in a statement posted
on the agency's Web site, that China had sent a protest to Washington
expressing "strong displeasure."

He said China demanded the U.S. investigate the matter and report back to
China to "eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created
by this incident."

Despite quarterly checks of the inventory, defense officials said they never
knew the fuses were gone. Only after months of discussions with Taiwan over
the missing batteries did the Pentagon finally realize - late last week -
the seriousness of what had happened.

During that time, according to a senior Taiwan defense official, the U.S.
initially asked Taiwan to dispose of the missile fuses. U.S. officials said
that early on it was thought the Taiwanese had simply received the wrong
batteries.

Once the error was discovered, the military quickly recovered the four
fuses, which are linked to the triggering mechanisms in Minuteman nuclear
missile nose cones. But Gates has demanded sweeping reviews to discover how
it happened and whether it indicates a broader problem in the security of
the military's nuclear weapons and related materials.

In his memo released Thursday, Gates ordered a physical inventory of all
nuclear related items. Donald, whose assessment is separate from the
agencies' inventories, must provide Gates with an initial report by April
15.

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