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hc
Post Roaster
Joined: Apr 04, 2007
Posts: 4545
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 Posted:
June 07, 2008 - 12:07 AM |
 
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| Post subject: 2 top leaders of U.S. Air Force pushed out |
from iht.
2 top leaders of U.S. Air Force pushed out
By Thom Shanker
Friday, June 6, 2008
WASHINGTON: The Air Force's senior civilian official and its highest-ranking general were ousted by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday following an official inquiry into the mishandling of nuclear weapons and components, an episode that Gates called an indication of systemic problems in the Air Force.
The Air Force secretary, Michael Wynne, and the service's chief of staff, General T. Michael Moseley, were forced to resign after the inquiry found that the latest incident reflected "a pattern of poor performance" in securing sensitive military components, Gates said at a Pentagon briefing.
So deep and serious are the problems, Gates said, that he has asked a former defense secretary, James Schlesinger, to head "a senior-level task force" to recommend improvements in the safekeeping of weapons, delivery vehicles and other sensitive items.
Never before has a defense secretary ousted both a service secretary and a service chief, according to senior Pentagon officials. Since taking office 18 months ago, Gates has made accountability of theme of his tenure. He has also fired senior army officials, after disclosures of shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the service's premier medical facility for wounded soldiers.
"Our policy is clear," Gates said. "We will ensure the complete physical control of nuclear weapons, and we will properly handle the associated components at all times. It is a tremendous responsibility, and one we must and will never take lightly."
The inquiry involving the Air Force was an effort to determine how four high-tech electrical nosecone fuses for Minuteman nuclear warheads were sent to Taiwan in place of helicopter batteries. The mistake was discovered in March — a year and a half after the erroneous shipment.
Most troubling, a senior Pentagon official said in advance of the briefing, was that little had been done to improve the security of the nuclear weapons infrastructure after it was disclosed last year that the Air Force unknowingly let a B-52 bomber fly across the United States carrying six armed nuclear cruise missiles.
Gates emphasized that neither incident posed a danger of a nuclear mishap. Nevertheless, he said, the inquiry made it clear that the Air Force has suffered for years from a loss of expertise in handling nuclear materials. He acknowledged that the Air Force has taken steps to improve the situation, but he said more must be done, and with outside scrutiny, to fix "structural, procedural and cultural problems."
Pentagon officials said Moseley met Thursday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and that Wynne was meeting with Gates's deputy secretary, Gordon England.
The mishandling of the nosecone fuses was viewed as another indication of lack of discipline within America's nuclear infrastructure, and was another embarrassment for the people in charge of those weapons.
Last year, the Air Force disclosed that it unwittingly let a B-52 bomber carrying six armed nuclear cruise missiles fly from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana last August. About 36 hours passed before the missiles were properly secured, officials have said.
Those errors in handling nuclear weapons components was more than just an indication that the cold war-era focus on these powerful weapons had become fuzzy. It put the Bush administration in a difficult position, as the United States government is struggling to prevent the technology for nuclear weapons from spreading to nations that do not already have them and has criticized North Korea and Iran for their nuclear ambitions, and even criticized Russia for not sufficiently safeguarding its stockpile.
After the incident with the nosecone fuses was discovered, Gates told the Air Force and navy secretaries "to conduct a comprehensive review of all policies, procedures, as well as a physical site inventory of all nuclear and nuclear-associated material equipment across their respective programs."
Admiral Kirkland Donald, the director of Navy Nuclear Propulsion, the head of the investigation, gave his report to Gates last week.
Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, applauded Gates's move. "Secretary Gates's focus on accountability is essential and had been absent from the office of the Secretary of Defense for too long," Levin said in a statement. "The safety and security of America's nuclear weapons must receive the highest priority, just as it must in other countries."
A separate inquiry into contracts for the Air Force's flying stunt team, the Thunderbirds, had added to the service's troubles over recent months.
In April, a Pentagon investigation found a $50 million contract to promote the Thunderbirds was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. No criminal conduct was found, but three officials were subjected to administrative penalties.
Those specific incidents only added to a sense of frustration Gates has felt toward some Air Force actions regarding weapons procurement, budgets and execution of the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his aides.
Gates has said he has been struggling for months to bring more surveillance aircraft to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Air Force has more than doubled the number of armed Predator and Reaper hunter-killer aircraft over Iraq and Afghanistan since last early last year, but aides to Gates said he was still unsatisfied, and he appointed a task force to accelerate surveillance vehicles into the combat zone.
The expected replacement of the top Air Force officials is similar to Gates's decisions in March 2007 after disclosures of shoddy conditions at Walter Reed.
Francis J. Harvey was forced by Gates to resign as army secretary. That action followed by a day a decision that the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed, Major General George Weightman, would be relieved of command.
so let's say an accident happens and one of the nukes of the b52 goes off on top of an american city.
changes that the incident will be blamed on a mad man with a turban and all evil muslims?
think about it.
frenchy? |
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Click here to read the latest retarded PM Natalie sent me. Let's make her lose face and FINALLY leave this site. |
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Nathalie25
Board Legend
Joined: Aug 24, 2004
Posts: 10387
Location: Shanghai
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June 07, 2008 - 09:30 AM |
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think about it.
frenchy? |
Brazilian???????? |
_________________
功高盖主，必有祸出。人生是人类生命中内心和万般经历的真实写照。 http:/ |
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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Buddha
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 14444
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June 07, 2008 - 09:44 AM |
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Nathalie25
Board Legend
Joined: Aug 24, 2004
Posts: 10387
Location: Shanghai
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June 07, 2008 - 10:07 AM |
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| This article is too long to post, but if you skim every paragraph you'll see the amazingly huge number of protocals that were violated/ignored/missed. So many were violated, both manual and automated ones, that the speculation is that 'something was going on'. Hence, the hacker theory and the 'we were getting ready to nuke Iran' theory presented |
don't be sad or mad, you know you won't lose anything when you squids your posts~ |
_________________
功高盖主，必有祸出。人生是人类生命中内心和万般经历的真实写照。 http:/ |
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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Buddha
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 14444
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June 07, 2008 - 10:28 AM |
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true dat, the last time I squided my post I did not lose anything, but i did gain a new type of venereal disease.
let's stay on topic from now on. |
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Nathalie25
Board Legend
Joined: Aug 24, 2004
Posts: 10387
Location: Shanghai
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June 07, 2008 - 10:46 AM |
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| Those errors in handling nuclear weapons components was more than just an indication that the cold war-era focus on these powerful weapons had become fuzzy. It put the Bush administration in a difficult position, as the United States government is struggling to prevent the technology for nuclear weapons from spreading to nations that do not already have them and has criticized North Korea and Iran for their nuclear ambitions, and even criticized Russia for not sufficiently safeguarding its stockpile. |
you know people never quit their stubbornness for living, even with the nuclear weapsons~~~~~~~ambitions on producing nuclear weapons is another business for those countries to deal with, cause no one likes weakness to fool around, everyone wants to develop or to raise their own, even it will cause a lot. Air Force is just a tool for using their nuclear weapons for whatever reasons they want to do in wars or the situation for wars in purpose, nothing else~ |
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功高盖主，必有祸出。人生是人类生命中内心和万般经历的真实写照。 http:/ |
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Cambronne
Veejay
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 2012
Status: Offline
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June 07, 2008 - 09:49 PM |
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Well, remember what (supposedly) happened with NORAD on 9/11... Everything is possible. |
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Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. |
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genghis
Raver
Joined: Apr 02, 2008
Posts: 455
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
June 08, 2008 - 12:43 AM |
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| The Air Force's senior civilian official and its highest-ranking general were ousted by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday following an official inquiry into the mishandling of nuclear weapons and components, an episode that Gates called an indication of systemic problems in the Air Force. |
Yes, they were mishandled. Bush wanted them dropped on Iran and they never made it. Oopsie! |
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p1atl10
Board Royalty
Joined: Mar 18, 2005
Posts: 6293
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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June 08, 2008 - 01:25 AM |
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Pilot to Navigator: Is that Iran down there?
Navigator to Pilot: No Sir, That is Nebraska.
Pilot to Navigator: Close enough? Looks the same..... |
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Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.....Dave Barry |
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Nathalie25
Board Legend
Joined: Aug 24, 2004
Posts: 10387
Location: Shanghai
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June 08, 2008 - 10:12 AM |
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| Cambronne wrote: |
| Everything is possible. |
this rule only for the person who can judge the issues without any Prejudice ~~~~~~ |
_________________
功高盖主，必有祸出。人生是人类生命中内心和万般经历的真实写照。 http:/ |
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