Top Air Force officials asked to resign over nuclear mishaps

Several lawmakers on Thursday hailed Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s decision to ask for the resignations of the Air Force’s two top officials.

Gates asked Chief of Staff of the Air Force Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to submit their resignations following an investigation into several flaps raising concerns about the security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Gates said he asked for the resignations after he consulted with President Bush and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

{mosads}“Secretary Gates’s focus on accountability is essential and had been absent from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for too long,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Levin will be overseeing the nomination hearings of the future Air Force leaders.

“The safety and security of America’s nuclear weapons must receive the highest priority, just as it must in other countries. The secretary took appropriate action,” Levin added.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the panel’s former chairman, said that there is “no room for error” when it comes to nuclear weapons. “There is no room for less than full accountability,” Warner said.

“The secretary of defense has determined that he no longer has confidence in the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force to lead their subordinates to issue such orders.”

Moseley and Wynne resigned because of the Pentagon’s concern over two incidents. Last August, a B-52 bomber flew from North Dakota to Louisiana with nuclear weapons.

The second incident occurred earlier this year, when the Pentagon discovered that four nuclear warhead fuses were accidentally shipped to Taiwan in 2006.

An investigation led by a Navy admiral concluded that the Air Force’s focus on its nuclear mission has declined, Gates said in a statement on Thursday. He added that the Air Force also lacks a culture of “critical self-assessment.”

“Individuals in command and leadership positions not only fell short in terms of specific actions, they failed to recognize the systemic problems,” Gates said.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) used the resignations to score points in the battle over the Air Force’s decision to pick Northrop Grumman and EADS North America to build a new refueling tanker instead of Boeing.

“Today’s resignations raise new red flags about procurement and oversight within the Air Force,” she said in a statement Thursday.

“For months the Air Force has stonewalled Congress and the American people in answering basic questions about the tanker decision. Now … the administration itself has expressed a lack of confidence in the decision-making and leadership of the Air Force’s top officials,” said Murray, who represents a state with many Boeing employees.

Gates only mentioned the nuclear flaps as a reason for the resignations, but tensions between the Pentagon leadership and the Air Force have been brewing for months over several acquisition and policy issues.

Bush nominated Wynne to the top Air Force post in August 2005.

Moseley took office in November 2005. He has been in the Air Force for more than 30 years, serving in a variety of commands.