WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates ousted the US Air Force's top military and civilian leaders on Thursday, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after nuclear missile warhead fuses were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan.

Gates said at a news conference he had accepted the resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne - a highly unusual double firing.

Gates cited two embarrassing incidents in the past year.

In one, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the US without anyone realizing nuclear weapons were aboard.

In the other, four electrical fuses for ballistic missile warheads were mistakenly sent to Taiwan in the place of helicopter batteries. Gates said an internal investigation found a common theme in the B-52 and Taiwan incidents: "a decline in the Air Force's nuclear mission focus and performance."

In a reflection of his concern about the state of nuclear security, Gates said he asked a former defense secretary, James Schlesinger, to lead a task force that will recommend ways to ensure the highest levels of accountability and control are maintained in Air Force handling of nuclear weapons.

In somber tones, Gates said his decision to remove Wynne and Moseley was based on the findings of an investigation of the Taiwan debacle by Admiral Kirkland Donald. The admiral found a "lack of a critical self-assessment culture" in the Air Force, making it unlikely that weaknesses in the way critical materials such as nuclear weapons are handled could be corrected, Gates said.

The Donald report is classified; Gates provided an oral summary.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/07/2008 page1)