Remember the nuclear weapons that were shipped across the country (perhaps inadvertently, perhaps not, but certainly without proper procedures and controls. And now this:

The U.S. Air Force mistakenly shipped fuses that are used in nuclear weapons to Taiwan in 2006, believing the crates contained helicopter batteries, officials at the Pentagon announced this morning.

The error — undetected by the United States until last week, despite repeated inquiries by Taiwan — raises questions about how carefully the Pentagon safeguards its weapons systems. It also exposes the United States to criticism from China, a staunch opponent of a militarized Taiwan.

Pentagon officials said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has launched a full investigation. The devices — which, when attached to a missile, help launch the detonating process — have been returned to the United States, and President Bush has been briefed.

“There are multiple players; there are multiple parties involved,” said Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense policy. “We’ll do a thorough investigation, and those who are found responsible will be held accountable.”

Among other things, officials will try to determine why no one noticed that the four boxes of components were missing, even though Pentagon policy requires inventory reconciliation every three months. The probe will also focus on whether any other material has been wrongly shipped or cannot be located. An initial evaluation suggests the devices were not tampered with while they were in Taiwan, officials said.

Henry, who called the error “disconcerting,” said the government of Taiwan acted “very responsibly,” quickly notifying the United States that the four boxes it received in fall 2006 did not appear to contain what had been ordered. However, both he and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne added, more than a year passed before the United States realized what had been shipped and moved to get the fuses back.

“It wasn’t until this week that we became aware that they had something akin to a nose-cone assembly,” Ryan said. “There were early communications, but we thought we were hearing one thing, and in reality they were saying something different.”

More at the link.