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WASHINGTON: The United States mistakenly sent Taiwan
four fuses used to trigger nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles in
late 2006 and only discovered the error last week, the Pentagon said
Tuesday.
Nose cone assemblies containing
the fuses were recovered Monday from Taiwan where they had been held
in storage after being shipped there as helicopter batteries, senior
Pentagon officials said.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
has ordered an investigation into the incident and a comprehensive
review of the US inventory of all nuclear-related components as well
as of policies and procedures, the officials said.
“Those who are responsible will
be held accountable. The secretary is quite forceful on this,”
said Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for
policy.
President George W. Bush still
had confidence in the Air Force leadership, White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino said, adding “he’s glad that the result is that they
got the parts back.”
“But he’ll be interested to
hear what the results are from that investigation,” she said.
It was the second major nuclear
security breach uncovered in just over six months, following the
mistaken transfer of nuclear-armed cruise missiles from one US base
to another aboard a B-52 bomber in September.
China was notified of the
shipment, Henry said.
“Our policy on Taiwan arm sales
has not changed. This specific incident was an error in process only
and is not indicative of our policies, which remain unchanged,” he
said.
--AFP
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