The New York Times reports that the U.S. shipped four fuses for nuclear missile warheads to Taiwan instead of helicopter batteries (the shipment itself did not contain nuclear material, and the U.S. says this was not an intentional shipment). China, of course, can get kind of touchy about issues involving Taiwan. This is a weird story–the Times says the shipment was made more than a year ago, but the mistake was only noticed last week.
This isn't the first time there's been a mistake made in this area–last year, six nuclear warheads were mistakenly flown from North Dakota to Louisiana. After last year's screw-up, the Air Force supposedly investigated. Might be worth it for Congress to hold hearings on this matter to find out why these two incidents occurred, and whether any steps have been taken to remedy the situation. Some basic questions need to be asked–how is it that no one even noticed the fuses for more than a year? Were they in a secure area? Are we doing a good enough job of safeguarding this material? Why don't we even have basic inventory systems in place that would catch this kind of mistake sooner?
This is a reminder that one of the next president's first tasks will be simply to make sure that the government regains a basic level of competence.
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