It's about damn time II

[fatman]

One more reason why Gates is one of my favorites in this Administration.

Air Force leadership leaving in historic shake-up
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
18 minutes ago
 


WASHINGTON - In an extraordinary shake-up, the Air Force's top uniformed and civilian officials are leaving their jobs, U.S. officials said Thursday after an internal report on a mistaken shipment to Taiwan of warhead fuses for nuclear missiles pointed substantial blame at the Air Force.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down, said defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Air Force officials had no immediate comment.

Gates was expected to make a public announcement later in the day and to emphasize the importance of the Taiwan fuse debacle in his decision to remove the service's top leaders.

More than the other military branches, the Air Force in recent years has endured trouble at the top. Still, it is extremely rare for a service to lose its most senior uniformed and civilian leaders at the same time. There was no immediate word on who would be nominated to succeed Moseley and Wynne.

In another embarrassing setback, this one last August, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

That error was considered so grave that President Bush was quickly informed.

Gates' Air Force decision is the latest example of his impatience with Pentagon leaders he deems to be out of line. In March 2007, three months into his tenure, he forced the Army secretary, Francis Harvey, to quit. Gates was unhappy with Harvey's handling of revelations of inadequate housing conditions and bureaucratic delays for troops recovering from war wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Bush was aware of the new changes, but the White House "has not played any role" in the shake-up, said press secretary Dana Perino.

Moseley, who commanded coalition air forces during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, became Air Force chief in September 2005. Wynne took office in November 2005; before that he was the Pentagon's top acquisition and technology official under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In response to flaws exposed by the nuclear weapons error last year, Moseley said the Air Force would change the way bomber crews organize for their nuclear training mission. It was disclosed in recent days that the bomber unit, based at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., had failed portions of a nuclear security and safety inspection in May, although it did not lose its certification.

Gates seemed to be especially disturbed by the mistaken fuse sale to Taiwan. He was briefed last week on the conclusions of an internal investigation of the matter but the written results have not been released.

Four cone-shaped electrical fuses used in intercontinental ballistic missile warheads were shipped to the Taiwanese ? instead of the helicopter batteries Taiwan had ordered. The fuses originated at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo., but the mix-up apparently occurred after the parts were shipped to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

After the March disclosure of that mistake, Gates ordered a full inventory of all nuclear weapons and related materials.

At the time the erroneous sale was disclosed by the Pentagon, Ryan Henry, a senior aide to Gates, said mistakes involving elements of the nation's strategic nuclear arsenal "cannot be tolerated."

In another incident, the Pentagon inspector general found in April that a $50 million contract to promote the Thunderbirds aerial stunt team was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. No criminal conduct was found.

Moseley was not singled out for blame, but the investigation laid out a trail of communications from him and other Air Force leaders that eventually influenced the 2005 contract award. Included in that were friendly e-mails between Moseley and an executive in the company that won the bid.

"It is my sense that General Moseley's command authority has been compromised," Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at the time.

Link

[Universe Prince]

In another embarrassing setback, this one last August, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

G'huh? How the frak does that happen?

[Plane]

In another embarrassing setback, this one last August, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

G'huh? How the frak does that happen?

On May 22, 1957, E.E. "Pete" Gardner was piloting his tiny Cessna aircraft into Kirtland Air Force Base on the high, dusty deserts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gardner noticed that about a mile away a massive B-36 Air Force bomber also was preparing to land. The largest aircraft ever built by the United States, the B-36 had a wingspan two-thirds the length of a football field. As Gardner watched the lumbering bomber, he saw what he assumed was a paratrooper fall from the B-36, which was then at about 1,700 feet elevation.
What Gardner didn?t know and wouldn?t know for years, was that the B-36 accidentally had dropped a Mark-17 hydrogen bomb, with parachutes attached to slow its fall. Stretching 24 1/2 feet in length and five feet in diameter, the Mark-17 was an awe-inspiring weapon, weighing 42,000 pounds. The bomb?s explosive yield, officially still classified information, is known to have been at least 10 megatons, or about 625 times the explosive force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Recalls Gardner:


"I told my passenger that if he could sit up, he would see a man parachuting from a bomber off our left wing tip. Almost immediately thereafter, the parachute impacted the ground (and) there was one hell of an explosion. I distinctly recall my passenger saying. ?Gee, that?s pretty. I wonder if they are going to do it again??"

The non-nuclear explosive in the weapon detonated, blasting a crater 25 feet wide, hurling metal parts a mile distant. Unsure what he had witnessed, Gardner mentioned the incident to a reporter, who contacted the air base. A bomb indeed had fallen, said an Air Force spokesman. It was ?just an ordinary bomb? producing no damage when it hit, the Air Force official said.
The bombing of Albuquerque was a secret for decades, as the federal government classified documents describing the accident. It simply was too embarrassing to admit the United States had built the world?s most powerful weapon and then accidentally dropped it outside one of its own cities.
http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1201/Morrissey/Morrissey.html

There was one dropped off the coast of Spain and one in the water near Savanna too.

The one in Spanish waters was recovered.

[fatman]

In another embarrassing setback, this one last August, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.

G'huh? How the frak does that happen?

Which occurence are you wondering about, the arming of the plane or the crew not knowing?  I think I can understand the crew not knowing, but how could you not know when you arm the plane?  I'm sure Plane could enlighten us, but I think firing these two for this alone (and then there's the ICBM fuses) is justified and merited.  It's nice to see some accountability.

I did notice that the Secretary was in place under Rumsfeld, are they purging the Rummies from the DoD?

[Universe Prince]

Which occurence are you wondering about, the arming of the plane or the crew not knowing?

Both. How does no one notice such a thing?

[fatman]

Damned if I know.  When you find out, let me know.

[Universe Prince]

I suspect we may both be waiting on that for a long time.

[Plane]

This could not happen without some rule breaking.

That is why heads are rolling.

[sirs]

Here Here

[Lanya]

The Bombing of Albuquerque! 
Great story. 

Interesting that the top brass are being shown the door.  Good thing.

[sirs]

The best part is there wasn't a "fire them now" mentality.  There was a thorough investigation, and in the end, the appropriate measures were taken.  Good for Gates, and good for the DoD. 

He's also a big proponent of the surge, I believe, that has been so successful at stemming the Iraqi insurgent/terrorist violence.  I have to admit it when it happens, I was wrong for not supporting the surge initially.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Here here.

Actually, the expression is hear, hear.

It means "Listen, listen" , not "in this place, in this place"

Just thought you ought to know.

[fatman]

The best part is there wasn't a "fire them now" mentality.  There was a thorough investigation, and in the end, the appropriate measures were taken.  Good for Gates, and good for the DoD. 

He's also a big proponent of the surge, I believe, that has been so successful at stemming the Iraqi insurgent/terrorist violence.  I have to admit it when it happens, I was wrong for not supporting the surge initially.

Hey sirs, you and I agree!

I'm glad that the investigation was thorough and not a knee jerk reaction, that also adds credibility to the issue.  I like Gates a lot and have met him in person a few times.  I played football with his son in high school, he lived in WA until he left to take a job at (I think) Texas A&M.