US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered a complete inventory of the country’s nuclear arsenal and all associated components after the recent discovery that four nose-cone fuse assemblies for U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan instead of helicopter batteries. The mistake went unnoticed for more than 18 months. The Pentagon’s Press Secretary Geoff Morrell noted that Secretary Gates viewed the situation as “…totally and completely unacceptable” and that he had ordered the Air Force, the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to take inventory of and assess control measures for all nuclear weapons and their associated parts within 60 days, “to verify positive control and accountability of all such materials1.”

• 1. Josh White, “Gates Orders Nuclear Inventory Control: Measures to be reassessed,” Washington Post, March 28, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/27/AR200803...