US Mistakenly ships ICBM parts to Taiwan

Pinnacle - Broken Arrow refers to an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons, warheads or components, but which does not create the risk of nuclear war. These include:

* Accidental or unexplained nuclear detonation.
* Non-nuclear detonation or burning of a nuclear weapon.
* Radioactive contamination.
* Loss in transit of nuclear asset with or without its carrying vehicle.
* Jettisoning of a nuclear weapon or nuclear component.
* Public hazard, actual or implied.

AssassinsMace said:

Are you forgetting that a good number of the people arrested in the US charged with spying for China come from Taiwan?

Click to expand...

Hmm, but it's still only a small number. Plus weren't they based in the US? It's not like they were working in the Taiwanese gov/military. Taiwan itself can be trusted, but there are always individuals who will be a problem.

if they keep treating nuclear materials as reckless as the former USSR after breakup, then that's a big problem
that's another thing about wmd..keep too much and u also need to spend additional to store them properly, and train personnels to do exactly the same

Mr T said:

Hmm, but it's still only a small number. Plus weren't they based in the US? It's not like they were working in the Taiwanese gov/military. Taiwan itself can be trusted, but there are always individuals who will be a problem.

Click to expand...

Actually out of all the cases where there were arrests, almost half of them involved people from Taiwan.

AssassinsMace said:

Actually out of all the cases where there were arrests, almost half of them involved people from Taiwan.

Click to expand...

You missed the point. It's a small number of people - I didn't say anything about percentages. Taiwan is a fairly trustworthy ally even if there are a few bad eggs.

And weren't they working in the US, not Taiwan? I know at least in the recent case the guy had a US passport. In a situation like that it becomes America's responsibility to maintain security. Not so much whether America can trust Taiwan as whether it can trust itself!

AssassinsMace said:

Actually out of all the cases where there were arrests, almost half of them involved people from Taiwan.

Click to expand...

I have to agree with Assasin'sMace on this one. I get the feeling that Taiwan is riddled with spies. China and Taiwan have the same lanugage and culture which makes it easier, contact between them is increasing, which also makes it easier, the Chinese are very good at espionage and probably pay quite well. Many Taiwanese are somewhat pro-China or view the independence faction as dangerous, or are probably at least ambivalent abou the issue when large sums of money are involved . That's one of the reasons why I don't believe that Taiwan has a nuke program. The Chinese would certainly know about it!

Finn McCool said:

China and Taiwan have the same lanugage and culture which makes it easier

Click to expand...

Yet in the recent case it was a white guy selling the info. So if you can't trust Asians (might be working for the Chinese), can't trust Muslims (might be working for Al-Qaeda), can't trust Caucasians (might be selling it/working for the Russians), etc, eventually you're left with no one.

I suppose that trust is relative, in that everyone is under a degree of suspicion. A number of countries are probably trusted more than Taiwan, but that doesn't mean it isn't trusted at all. Personally I think it's a very bad idea to trust/suspect people based on their race, religion or culture.

I'd say if half of your espionage activities come from Taiwan nationals, that's a problem.

Remember that Taiwanese woman arrested in China for spying for Taiwan. The US lobbied for her release and they evertually got it. Then the US found out she transferred technology to China and was arrested in the US for espionage. It just goes to show many of these activties are probably independent and not actually considered Chinese "spies" in China. Meaning Taiwanese spies in some cases are freelance most likely for monetary purposes not political. Which says that alone is a Taiwanese problem.

AssassinsMace said:

I'd say if half of your espionage activities come from Taiwan nationals, that's a problem.

Click to expand...

But is it that simple? There've been a handful of cases reported in the last couple of years involving "Taiwanese" (none of whom are US citizens?). I doubt that's the sum of all the US' security threats.

Meaning Taiwanese spies in some cases are freelance most likely for monetary purposes not political. Which says that alone is a Taiwanese problem.

Click to expand...

Since when did only Taiwanese work for money? A heck of a lot of people do what they do for the pay-off. What about the Americans who sell the information on in the first place? The person who provides the information is as dangerous as the middleman who sells it on.

Just for a little perspective.

Could you imagine the reaction if this had been a Russian or Chinese Shipment to Iran?