UPDATE 4-US Air Force leadership quits over nuclear issue
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  (Recasts with new material; adds fresh quote)\nBy Kristin Roberts\nWASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary\nRobert Gates said on Thursday the Air Force's top two officials\nresigned after incidents that raised questions about the\nsecurity of America's nuclear weapons and parts.\nDefense officials said the two were effectively fired amid\nmounting strain between the Air Force and the Pentagon over\nspending priorities and other issues. A senior U.S. defense\nofficial tied the decision directly to the findings of an\ninvestigation into the U.S. military's mistaken shipment of\nfuses for nuclear missiles to Taiwan.\nGates said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of\nStaff Gen. Michael Moseley, the top civilian and military\nleaders, had submitted their resignations and that he had\naccepted them.\nHe told a press briefing that he would recommend\nreplacements for Wynne and Moseley at a later time.\nMeanwhile, Gates said former Defense Secretary James\nSchlesinger would head a senior level task force to "recommend\nimprovements necessary to ensure that the highest levels of\naccountability and control are maintained in the stewardship of\nnuclear weapons."\nBoth Wynne and Moseley were asked to resign, and both have\nsubmitted their resignations, an official said.\nThe resignations follow a string of embarrassing incidents\nfor the Air Force.\n"Over the last several months, you could sense that some\nchange was coming and probably people would be fired," said\nLoren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute.\nIn August 2007, an Air Force bomber mistakenly armed with\nsix nuclear warheads flew across the United States. The Air\nForce fired a commander in response, but lawmakers criticized\nwhat they saw as a lack of accountability.\nSenior Pentagon officials raised concerns about the issue\nas recently as last week, said one source familiar with the\ndiscussions.\nNUCLEAR PROBE WAS CRITICAL OF AIR FORCE\nConcern about the security of U.S. nuclear and\nnuclear-related equipment escalated in March when the Pentagon\nadmitted the erroneous fuse shipment to Taiwan in 2006. The\nU.S. military never caught that error, which was brought to\nlight by Taiwanese authorities.\n((Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, Jim Wolf and\nDavid Morgan; Editing by Stacey Joyce))\n((kristin.roberts@reuters.com; 1 202 898 8398; Reuters\nMessaging: kristin.roberts.reuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: USA AIRFORCE/