The Associated Press reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has dug into a thick report on a screw up at Hill Air Force Base that nearly triggered an international incident by sending four nuclear weapon fuses to Taiwan instead of helicopter batteries.

Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald conducted a wide-ranging investigation of the delivery foul-up and is trying to figure out how to avoid future faux pas like, say, sending an intercontinental ballistic missile to Odyssey House's ROTC program.

Hill isn't alone in such aptly named SNAFUs. In August, an Air Force B-52 was mistakenly armed with six nuclear cruise missiles and flown from from North Dakota to Louisiana. (Though property damage from an accidental nuclear strike in that part of the country would be considered negligible, several senators were annoyed.)