At first when I saw this news it worried me a bit. Then after reading pieces on it....it makes lots of sense and describes something that has been missing for eight years. Two guys were fired (asked to resign) for incompetence, not appropriately correcting or getting to the bottom of the issues, and lack of accountability. Those are totally appropriate reasons for getting rid of people. What has been lacking even more...than firings for that reason....was how the administration described the reasons for the departure of these two. Incompetence, poor follow up on the issues and accountability. For the first time in eight years, that I can recall some people were let go and the reasons were very apparant and not hidden. Well done Gates.
They should really keep people around who lose nukes. You make a good point. But, really, it's part of a bigger conspiracy. I'm sure.
And another perspective on the issue: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55395 these unnamed sources claim that Gates was unhappy with the direction of these two guys leading the air force for some period of time, preceding the 2 nuclear warhead events. The article references a recent history that describes that the two guys fired/resigned and Gates were on very different tracks with regard to the direction of the Air Force.