Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
1/17/2014
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 this week that an investigation into the unprecedented 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. The Air Force officials did not further elaborate on how the cheating took place. “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.”
There are about 190 airmen in the ICBM force at Malmstrom and about 500 in the entire ICBM force, and each of the remaining officers were expected to take a Strategic Command-approved proficiency exam by the end of this week. During a Jan. 15 press conference, Welsh said 97 of 100 airmen that had been tested passed, which he said aligned with historical levels. Welsh said that also gave him confidence about the nuclear mission. “Based on everything I know today, I’m confident about the mission, not about the integrity, of these particular airmen,” Welsh said. “That’s the part that’s so disappointing.”
Further Actions Planned
Welsh also said that Global Strike Command ordered a limited nuclear surety inspection focused on operations crew procedures in the near future, and Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will visit Global Strike Command next week to discuss the issue. Welsh and James are also planning visits to all three ICBM bases next week “to ensure that our airmen have no question about our expectations of those who perform this vital mission,” Welsh said, later adding: “Admiral Haney and I believe that the operational capability to conduct the mission is not impacted at this point in time. The integrity issue, clearly, has got to be a concern with this kind of activity at this level. And we’re going to look into this with every means at our disposal.”
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.
