March 17, 2014

CHEATING SCANDAL HITS AIR FORCE ICBM FORCE

By ExchangeMonitor

In the latest scandal to hit the Air Force’s nuclear force, 34 airmen that stood watch over the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile fleet have been accused of cheating on a proficiency exam. New Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in a joint press conference yesterday that an investigation into the incident is ongoing, and that the airmen had been decertified to work with nuclear weapons and have had their security clearances revoked. James and Welsh repeatedly emphasized that the incident hadn’t impacted their confidence in the nuclear force. “This was a failure of some of our airmen,” James said. “It was not a failure of the nuclear mission.”

According to James and Welsh, the cheating occurred in August and September, but it was uncovered only through a separate investigation into illegal drug use among airmen, including a pair of officers at Minot Air Force Base and one at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The cheating was discovered through text messages, and was isolated to Malmstrom Air Force Base, James and Welsh said. Seventeen of the officers actively cheated on the test, which assesses the knowledge to perform standard operational duties, and 17 others knew about it but did not report it, they said. “There was cheating that took place with respect to this particular test. Some officers did it. Others apparently knew about it, and it appears that they did nothing, or at least not enough, to stop it or to report it,” James said. “Now, this is absolutely unacceptable behavior and it is completely contrary to our core values in the Air Force.”

The incident represents the latest black eye for the Air Force’s nuclear mission. Several ICBM units failed examinations last year, and in December it was revealed that Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, the commander of the ICBM force, had been removed from his position after a drunken escapade in Russia.

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