WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented action in a time of war, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates simultaneously fired the civilian and military leaders of the Air Force on Thursday, saying that oversight standards for the U.S. nuclear arsenal had deteriorated on their watch.
The immediate reason for the requested resignations of Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne was a report on the accidental shipment of nuclear triggers to Taiwan. However, the dismissals came amid a long-brewing dispute between Gates and the Air Force leadership.
The nuclear-trigger investigation -- led by Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, the military's senior official on nuclear safety matters -- found that the Air Force had failed to focus on its nuclear mission even after last year's high-profile incident in which a B-52 bomber crew unknowingly flew six nuclear warheads from North Dakota to Louisiana.
"The stewardship of our nuclear deterrent is the most sensitive mission that we have," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference. "The declining standards . . . in my view required strong action."
Gates was particularly disappointed that the Air Force had not taken significant steps to shore up its nuclear controls after the B-52 incident, said Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell. The nuclear weapons, on cruise missiles attached to the plane's wings, were not discovered missing from their repository at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota for about 36 hours.
"If the Air Force had rectified this widespread cultural problem and taken the necessary corrective action after Minot, we would not be talking to you today," Morrell said. "A change in leadership would not have been necessary."
Gates said the dismissals were necessary because the Air Force began focusing on its nuclear problems only after the shipment to Taiwan was disclosed this year. In addition, he said, the Air Force had not been sufficiently critical of its past performance.
He acknowledged that problems in securing the nuclear arsenal go back more than a decade, but he added that the current leadership should have recognized and corrected them. He appointed a task force led by James R. Schlesinger, Defense secretary under President Ford, to recommend improvements in the oversight of nuclear weapons.
