US mistakenly sent nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan

[dr. what]

Ooooops?

Pentagon Admits Mistake in Arms Shipment
By LOLITA C. BALDOR – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military's mistaken delivery to Taiwan of electrical fuses for an intercontinental ballistic missile raised concerns Tuesday over U.S.-China relations and triggered a broad investigation into the security of Pentagon weapons.

While the shipment did not include nuclear materials, the error is particularly sensitive because China vehemently opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Four of the cone-shaped fuses were shipped to Taiwanese officials in fall 2006 instead of the helicopter batteries they had ordered.

Despite quarterly checks of the inventory, defense officials said they never knew the fuses were gone. Only after months of discussions with Taiwan over the missing batteries did the Pentagon finally realize — late last week — the gravity of what had happened.

Once the error was discovered, the military quickly recovered the four fuses. How it happened, and whether the incident constitutes a violation of any treaty or agreement governing international sales of missile technology, were lingering questions.

At a hastily called news conference Tuesday, Ryan Henry, the No. 2 policy official in Defense Secretary Robert Gates' office, said President Bush as well as Chinese leaders were informed of the mistake — an error Henry called intolerable.

"I can not emphasize forcefully enough how strong the secretary feels about this matter and how disconcerting it is to him," Henry told reporters. He added that in an organization the size of the Defense Department there will be mistakes, but that "they cannot be tolerated in the arena in strategic systems, whether they are nuclear or only associated equipment, as was in this case."

In a comment directed at the Chinese concerns, Henry said the error does not suggest that U.S. policies on arms sales to Taiwan have changed.

Taiwan, which split from China amid civil war in 1949, is the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations. Chinese officials repeatedly complained about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan during meetings with Gates in Beijing last fall. The U.S. insists it only provides weapons that would allow Taiwan to defend itself.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has threatened to attack should the self-governing island make its de facto independence formal. Washington has hinted that it would go to war to protect Taiwan.

The nearly two-year saga of the fuse shipment began in August 2006.

According to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, the fuses, contained in four large shipping containers, had been sent from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming to a Defense Logistics Agency warehouse at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The containers apparently ended up in an unclassified area, rather than a classified section where they belonged.

In August 2006, the cylindrical containers — measuring nearly 33 inches high and almost 19 inches in diameter — were sent to the government of Taiwan. There they were placed in storage, U.S. officials said.

At some point in 2007 — exactly when is not clear — Wynne said that Taiwanese authorities notified U.S. officials that they did not get the batteries they had ordered. Discussions ensued for months, during which, "we, on our side, thought we were talking about different sorts of batteries. There was an effort to resolve and to reimburse them," said Henry.

Finally, late last week, U.S. military officials realized what had been shipped to Taiwan and worked immediately to get the fuses back. They have now been recovered.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush "appreciates that they are taking action, and that there is a full investigation underway."

Asked whether Bush still has confidence in Air Force leadership, Perino said: "Yes, yes he does."

F.E. Warren spokesman Sgt. Kurt Arkenberg said it appeared that no one at the Cheyenne, Wyo., base was responsible for the mix-up.

Arkenberg said Hill is a repository for new and used aircraft and missile components, and parts are routinely shipped between there and F.E. Warren.

Col. Mike Morgan, commander of the 90th Space Wing at F.E. Warren, said in a statement that the Wyoming base has "stringent accountability procedures in place" for shipments to the Utah base.

Henry said that if the incident is a violation of any treaty or agreement, it was unintentional.

"We are being totally transparent. We have corrected the situation," he said. "The United States stands up to its treaty obligations and we're dealing with this in the most straightforward manner we can."

Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the Chinese have been briefed by U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing.

"We told them what happened, because this was obviously an accident," Hill said after a speech in Washington. "We've been very transparent with them about what happened."

Gates has ordered a full investigation, and in a memo Tuesday he put Navy Adm. Kirkland H. Donald in charge and asked that Donald report back with an initial assessment by April 15.

Henry said an examination of the site in Taiwan where the components had been stored after delivery indicated that they had not been tampered with. He said the components were "quite dated," as part of a system designed in the 1960s.

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.

The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile and are linked to the triggering mechanism in the nose cone, but they contain no nuclear materials.

This is the second nuclear-related mistake involving the military in recent months. Last August an Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. At the time, the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

[Jadeite]

Conspiracy nutcases are going to jump all over this. I've seen people claim that the B-2 crash on Guam didn't really happen and that it was a cover story for something else.

[Sidewinder]

Components of a NUCLEAR MISSILE getting shipped to a nation the US does NOT want to acquire nuclear weapons is way beyond "Oops." (Taiwan did have a nuclear weapons program in the 70s, but US pressure led to its cancellation-- understandable, considering China already had nukes at the time and the US saw NO good in getting caught up in a nuclear war between the two.) I'm sure some poor airman is going to become the scapegoat for this fuckup.

Conspiracy nutcases are going to jump all over this. I've seen people claim that the B-2 crash on Guam didn't really happen and that it was a cover story for something else.

Links, please? I'm curious what the B-2 crash is supposed to cover. (Yes, I know it's a crackpot theory.)

[Jadeite]

Links, please? I'm curious what the B-2 crash is supposed to cover. (Yes, I know it's a crackpot theory.)

The relevant post:

Show me a video footage or pictures that clearly shows a crashed B-2 Stealth Bomber...if you cannot produce such evidence then I'm entitled to propose that there was no such plane crash; on the contrary, it appears that something was burning out of control at that military installation -remember that this base also guards unconventional ordnance like nuclear, chemical or bacteriological warheads...maybe the USAF is reluctant to inform the public opinion that some environmental hazard is floating over Guam right now.

[SirNitram]

The US military incompetence with it's nukes is growing at quite an alarming rate. Oh, wait. This is what happens when you outsource and overwork.

[Sea Skimmer]

The US military incompetence with it's nukes is growing at quite an alarming rate. Oh, wait. This is what happens when you outsource and overwork.

I don’t think that’s the case, I think it’s just that news of the fuckups are reaching the media more. Remember that the US lost a couple dozen complete nuclear warheads during the Cold War, and at least 11 were never recovered. Nuclear weapons safety and security has never been as good as it’s made out to be, but that’s half the point, presenting that aura of excellent security is a deterrent to people actively trying to screw with the things.

Production of US nuclear warheads BTW has always involved a very high level of outsourcing. The original Y-12 facility at Oak Ridge which built all of the early US nuclear bombs for example was always run by civilian contractors. The Pantex plant which does all current work assembling and disassembling nuclear bombs has been run by contractors for something like 45 years.

Personally I’d be way more concerned about one of our SSNs colliding with yet something else and having a major reactor leak… in say the English Channel.

[Turin]

I don’t think that’s the case, I think it’s just that news of the fuckups are reaching the media more. Remember that the US lost a couple dozen complete nuclear warheads during the Cold War, and at least 11 were never recovered. Nuclear weapons safety and security has never been as good as it’s made out to be.

Why is that, though? The fuck-ups we've been hearing about are the sort of thing that could be totally prevented by "quarantining" nuclear weapons and their components. I've been involved in projects involving manufacturing facilities that deal with controlled substances (pharma), and anything controlled has a separate set of facilities for virtually everything, making it almost impossible for controlled substances to move into "uncontrolled" areas. Yet from the previous thread on the B-52 accidentally being loaded with live warheads, someone mentioned that this sort of basic separation doesn't exist. If private industry can manage to do it (with their only motivation being avoidance of getting sued) why can't the military?

[brianeyci]

Why is that, though?

Not intended to be offensive to anybody in the military, but the military has often been seen as a way out of the gutter or a home for rednecks. Bar a few exceptions, the best and brightest don't see the military as an option. Unlike the British with their officer and a gentleman.

The military may be far more educated than the average American, but that's only because there's little correlation between education and intelligence because the education system's fucked up.

The military is a job like any other, and it's a government job. Just like security guard, police officer, bouncer, construction worker, or any other physically demanding jobs (I know there are many trades in the military which are not combat arms but regardless if you're a pussy better stay out of the army) it attracts certain types of personalities. Like people leaving a brick to keep a security door open or letting someone in without a keycard, this could just be filling out the wrong forms on a bad hair day.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

I guess the US is finally feeling guilty over absorbing that traitor Zhang Hsien-Yi.

Time to nuke the 3 Gorges Dam!

[wjs7744]

I can just imagine the reactions of the men unloading their new batteries only to discover what they actually had. Once they figured out what they were, they must have been scared shitless.

[Pulp Hero]

Okay, big security breach. The fuckup was pretty major and an investigation is needed to fix this from happening again.

However, the 24hr news channels are freaking out too much just because it was some part "TEH NUKEZ!". The fuses were just really fancy electrical firing devices, yes the functioning is classified, but really it isn't too hard to figure out electrical firing devices.

[Beowulf]

Something that hasn't been really pointed out yet. These fuses are for Mark-12s. They date back to the 1950s. In all likelihood, the Kryton switches are useless. At worst, they're historical curiosities.