Yesterday, the United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, accepted the resignations of two of the US Air Force’s main leaders, as the Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and the Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley decided to step down after being involved in two recent incidents concerning the safety of the US’s nuclear weapons.

The first error, recently revealed, happened last year when a shipment to Taiwan that was supposed to carry helicopter batteries, was mistakenly loaded with four cone-shaped, electrical fuses used by intercontinental missiles to trigger nuclear warheads. As if the incident wasn’t enough to learn a valuable lesson, in another turn of events, a B-52 bomber cruised across the United States after being mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

"I believe that we needed a change of leadership to bring a new perspective and to especially underscore the importance of accountability in dealing with these kinds of problems," said Mr. Gates, as quoted by Timesonline.

Even though the two mistakes did not pose a nuclear mishap danger, the incidents were labeled as a firm proof of leadership insufficiency, degradation of authority, standards of excellence and technical competence plus a pattern of poor performance.

Mr. Gates explained that their mission to properly handle the nuclear weapons and their associated components represents a tremendous responsibility and one of the country’s highest priorities and that the job requires extremely vigilant people who do not take their assignments lightly.

At this point, a strategy for an oversight improvement of nuclear weapons is being prepared and the first set of recommendations is expected to be presented within the next 60 days.