Unlike his political counterparts within the Bush Administration who toe-the-line and are fearful to make hard decisions until they publish a tell-all book, Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Robert Gates demonstrates true leadership. 

Today, Gates, who recently criticized the United States Air Force leadership, made his comments and concerns stick with the forced retirements of both Air Force Secretary, Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. T. Michael Moseley due to systemic problems with the security of nuclear materials in the Air Force's care.

What was believed to be the straw that broke the Defense Secretary's back is the classified report detailing the erroneous shipment of six armed nuclear cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana last August, according to sources close to the task force that recently returned from Minot Air Force base.  The problems that led to this scary blunder necessitates a continuous inspection into, and significant improvements in, the safekeeping of weapons, delivery vehicles and other sensitive items.

"Our policy is clear," Gates said. "We will ensure the complete physical control of nuclear weapons, and we will properly handle the associated components at all times. It is a tremendous responsibility, and one we must and will never take lightly."

Another Pentagon official close to the issue stated, "what was most damaging was that little had been done to improve the security of the nuclear weapons infrastructure after the nuclear incident."

Unfortunately, as the United States government is struggling to prevent nuclear proliferation from rogue nations, it can't even keep its own house in order.  The Air Force's mismanagement of its nuclear stockpile only supports the national criticism of this administration's execution on the Global War on Terror.  After all, if the US can't control its own nuclear stockpile, how can the Bush Administration criticize Russia for not sufficiently safeguarding its stockpiles, or expound upon the dangers of pursuing a nuclear program in countries where terrorism flourishes?

Leadership issues within the Air Force appear to reach deeper according to Gates, from weapons procurement, budgets and execution of the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Secretary's fundamental criticism that reaches the heart of both the current Air Force leadership and future leadership, where he believes "an unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers."

Today, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) stated: "What is so encouraging is that Secretary Gates is walking the walk on accountability." OhMyGov! agrees.

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