Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
1/31/2014
As the number of Air Force officers implicated in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana grew to 92 this week, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James suggested the service was suffering from “systemic” problems. Air Force officials previously said 34 airmen had been involved in cheating on a proficiency exam at Malmstrom, but they increased that number to 92 this week as an investigation into the incident was close to wrapping up. The airmen have been temporarily decertified from working with nuclear weapons, James said.
James spent much of last week touring Air Force bases that perform nuclear work, and she said she came away with a feeling that the problems persisted throughout the Air Force’s nuclear ranks. There is “some sort of a cultural issue that is going on in the force,” James said. “… I heard repeatedly from teammates that the need for perfection has created a climate of undue stress and fear. Fear about the future. Fear about promotions. Fear about what will happen to them in their careers.”
Hagel Convenes Meeting of Top Officials
Also this week, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel convened a meeting of 15 top Pentagon officials to discuss the challenges facing the Air Force’s nuclear mission. “It was a candid and wide-ranging discussion of the types of challenges that are faced by people who work in the nuclear enterprise, and … all the participants found it a very useful discussion,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said. He added: “I think the general consensus in the room was that we all need to accept the reality that there probably are systemic issues in the personnel growth and development inside the nuclear mission. Now, exactly what they are and how to address them … that’s what they spent the bulk of the two hours talking about.”
James Remains Confident in Nuclear Mission
James emphasized that she remained confident in the Air Force’s nuclear mission. “There are multiple checks and balances in this system, and there are a variety of ways that we ensure its reliability and safety, not the least of which are the fact that we have DoD inspections and we have outside groups that come in and evaluate our nuclear teams to ensure that they know how to perform and how to do their jobs,” she said.
Even though a passing grade on the test is a 90 percent, airmen felt pressure to cheat to get a 100 percent on the test because scores on the tests had a significant impact on promotions for their commanders. “A very terrible irony in this whole situation is that these missileers didn’t cheat to pass, they cheated because they felt driven to get 100 percent. Getting 90 percent or 95 percent was considered a failure in their eyes,” she said. “This is not a healthy environment. I think we need to re-look the way we do these tests and we very much need to move toward a whole-person concept when we are evaluating our airmen, not just look at test scores.”
‘We Are Going to Get to the Bottom of This’
She noted that airmen at Malmstrom were retested after the cheating scandal was revealed, and 95.5 percent passed, which she said “demonstrates to me that our people know what their jobs are, they know how to perform.” Maj. Gen. Stephen Wilson, the commander of Global Strike Command, said he directed nuclear surety inspections at each of the Air Force’s ICBM bases, and airmen at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota passed the first test, receiving two “outstanding” grades and six “excellent” grades during the review. He also said Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes from the Air Education and Training Command has been tasked with investigating the circumstances and root causes of the incident, and a force improvement plan is being developed in conjunction with the Navy. “It’s about getting good people, motivating them, making sure they’re trained, confident and proud, that both they’re professionally and personally fulfilled,” he said.
James added: “We are going to get to the bottom of this. This mission is going to get, going forward, senior level, very persistent oversight; the oversight it deserves, and that’s from the SecDef on down. And we’re gonna have a comprehensive, holistic action plan to address all of these observations.”
Contingency Plans in Place
With 92 airmen at Malmstrom decertified, Wilson said the remaining airmen at the base have had to work extra shifts as compensation and staff members from the 20th Air Force have been drafted to help augment the ICBM force at Malmstrom. “There’s been no operational impact and we do not see an operational impact in the mission at Malmstrom Air Force Base,” Wilson said.
