US unable to locate nuclear parts: report

The finding comes after the air force last year found that a bomber mistakenly flew across the US with six nuclear warheads onboard.  

Washington recently dismissed its top air force officials, including the Chief of Staff and Service, after a probe raised concerns about American nuclear safeguards in the light of the inadvertent shipment of nuclear missile nose cones to Taiwan.  

The Financial Times reported today that according to previously undisclosed details, the probe also concluded that the air force could not account for many sensitive components previously included in its nuclear inventory.  

The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said the Pentagon was evaluating the results of a "comprehensive inventory of all nuclear and nuclear-related materials [conducted] to re-establish positive control of these sensitive, classified components".  

The British daily quoted one official as saying that the number of missing components was more than a thousand.  

Admiral Kirkland Donald, the US naval officer who led the probe in the two incidents, had concluded that "the gradual erosion of nuclear standards and a lack of effective oversight by air force leadership" was the "common origin" in both the  cases.  

As the US pushes for global security measures to check nuclear proliferation, these incidents have raised concerns about the safeguard of weapons of mass destruction.  

Gates has asked James Schlesinger, a former defence secretary, to make recommendations for improving nuclear safeguards.