Press Release
25 June 2008
Gates Accepts Senior USAF Resignations Reports Jane’s Defence
Comment by Caitlin Harrington Jane’s Defence Weekly Staff Reporter
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Mandy Castle
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For Immediate Release
Washington , DC , (June. 6, 2008) US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced on 5 June that he had accepted the resignations of the US Air Force's (USAF's) two top officials after concluding they failed to ensure proper oversight of the nation's nuclear arsenal.
- US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has accepted the resignations of the US Air Force's top civilian and military leaders
- Gates decided to accept the resignations after determining a lack of leadership oversight of the USAF's nuclear mission
- Gates has created a new task force to sharpen the USAF's focus on stewardship over the US nuclear arsenal.
Gates said he accepted the resignations of both Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley after a discussion with President George W Bush and with the support of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
Caitlin Harrington, Jane’s Defence Weekly, commented ‘ Gates decided to accept the resignations after reviewing the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the accidental shipment to Taiwan in 2006 of four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles. The investigation concluded that the USAF and the Defense Logistics Agency failed to maintain positive control of the nuclear components. It also cited a lack of effective air force leadership oversight.’
Caitlin Harrington Jane’s Defence Weekly further commented ‘ Gates was not notified about the 2006 Taiwan accident until March of this year. News of the incident came after another USAF nuclear mishap in August 2007: a pylon carrying six nuclear-tipped AGM-129 cruise missiles was accidentally loaded on a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and flown between Minot and Barksdale airfields in the United States.’
Gates said the Taiwan incident was the final straw that led him to believe the USAF had widespread problems regarding "perhaps its most sensitive mission": stewardship of nuclear weapons.
“I think it was the second incident that prompted me to believe there were serious systemic problems here that went well beyond the incident involving Minot and Barksdale," he told reporters at a 5 June press briefing.
Gates blamed the USAF leaders for failing to pay more attention to the deteriorating state of affairs until two "internationally sensitive" nuclear-related incidents had taken place.
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