Oops! Pentagon Admits Missile Mix-up

Defense Dept. Accidentally Shipped Components For ICBMs To Taiwan in 2006

(CBS/AP)  The Defense Department announced on Tuesday that it mistakenly shipped non-nuclear components for an intercontinental ballistic missile to Taiwan but has recovered them and launched an investigation.

At the Pentagon, CBS News National Security correspondent David Martin reports that although the U.S. is constantly wringing its hands about the nightmare scenario of loose nukes falling into the hands of terrorists, this was another egregious case of the Pentagon not being able to keep track of its own nuclear weapons.

In this case it was a fuse for a nuclear warhead -- the electrical component which starts the firing sequence for a nuclear explosion. Four of them were accidentally shipped to Taiwan in response to a request to buy batteries for helicopters.

The four fuses had been in storage at Hill Air Force Base in Utah and were shipped to Tawain in 2006. Two years elapsed before the U.S. learned of the mistake -- and then only because the Taiwanese asked why they never received the helicopter batteries.

The fuses are now back in U.S. custody, and, according to Pentagon officials, there is no evidence they were ever taken out of their shipping containers, which means no harm was done -- although mainland China will undoubtedly cry foul since official American policy is to sell only defensive weapons to Taiwan.

Coming on the heels of the fiasco in which nuclear armed cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded on a B-52 bomber and flown across the country without anybody realizing it, this latest incident makes it hard to resist the conclusion that in the post Cold War era, the Pentagon has become sloppy in its handling of nuclear weapons, Martin says.

At a Pentagon news conference, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said the misshipped items were four electrical fuses for nose cone assemblies for ICBMs. He also said they were delivered to Taiwan in 2006 and had been sent instead of helicopter batteries that had been ordered by Taiwan.

The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile but contain no nuclear materials.

``This could not be construed as being nuclear material. It is a component for the fuse in the nosecone for a nuclear system,'' Wynne said.
``We are very concerned about it.''

Wynne said the matter is under investigation. He said the Taiwanese authorities notified U.S. officials of the mistake. He said the fuses had been in a shipping container sent from one U.S. Air Force base to another in 2005 and then delivered to Taiwan in 2006.

Wynne said the matter is under investigation.

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Taiwan official said Tuesday that the island's diplomats in Washington typically do not comment on Defense Department matters.

Ryan Henry, the No. 2 policy official in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said President Bush was notified of the mistake and the actions to recover the items. Henry called the mistake "disconcerting" and intolerable. He said the Chinese government has been notified of the error.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are especially sensitive because China vehemently objects to U.S. defense assistance to the island that Beijing deems to be part of China.

The United States follows a "one China" policy that recognizes there is a single China and that self-ruled Taiwan is part of it. While Washington switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, it remains the island's most important foreign backer, providing it with the means to defend itself against a possible Chinese attack.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing continues to claim the island as part of its territory and has threatened to attack if Taiwan formalizes its de facto independence.

[flreason]

This is yet another symptom of the disfunction caused by too few people spread too thinly in the military. I wonder if this slip up also involves people doing contract work for the government? I think the premise that it is cheaper and more efficient for the government to contract out "non-essential" jobs has proved fatally flawed. There are no non-essential jobs in the military--everything requires a degree of responsibility that contract companies cannot guarantee, since their employees are employed/work at will. The neocon argument that it is cheaper than having a larger military is also, I think, in question. America''s image abroad directly affects the bottom line. This administration has ignored the historical failings of mercenary armies: loyalty is often for sale to the highest bidder, and they have little respect for authority.

Democracy requires the commitment of its citizenry. We need universal service. When rich kids understand on a gut level the drudge of menial work, when rich and poor can see one another as people instead of stereotypes, the nation and democracy prosper. The "Greatest Generation" learned that when they served together in WWII. Citizenship is not a right, it is a privilege that requires involvement and sacrifice from all its citizens for the common good.

[skyk-2009]

Bottom line this is another HUGE mistake that happened under the republicans nose!

This kind of debacle has become common place for the repubs.

A vote for McCain equals more of the same!

McCain isn''''t Able!


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Posted by david1737 at 02:58 AM : Mar 26, 2008
+ report abuse

You are do right! How many times have we heard the word "Oops?" The Republican''s have shown beyond any doubt that they aren''t able to govern, have NO Statesman Qualities about them and have little understanding how the world really works.

[david1737]

Bottom line this is another HUGE mistake that happened under the republicans nose!

This kind of debacle has become common place for the repubs.

A vote for McCain equals more of the same!

McCain isn''t Able!