May 29, 2014

NAVAL PROPULSION PROGRAM LATEST TO ENDURE CHEATING SCANDAL

By ExchangeMonitor

Navy officials are dealing with their own nuclear cheating scandal weeks after it was revealed that dozens of Air Force officers cheated on a nuclear proficiency exam. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and Adm. John Richardson, the head of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, said yesterday that approximately 20 sailors are believed to be involved in cheating on an exam that may have involved classified information. The officials declined to disclose a specific number of sailors involved because of the fluid nature of an investigation into the incident. “To say that I’m disappointed would be an understatement,” Greenert said in a news conference yesterday. “Whenever I hear about integrity issues, it’s disruptive to our unit’s success and it’s definitely contrary to all of our core values, our Navy core values. And it affects the very basis of our ethos.”

The cheating involved Naval officers who were training to be instructors at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in Charleston, S.C. The cheating was revealed when a Naval officer came forward and informed officials that it was taking place, Richardson said. He said the last cheating incident in the Navy occurred in 2010 and involved a submarine crew. “Integrity is a foundational element of our program, and when confronted with problems, we respond aggressively and forcefully,” he said. Air Force officials said pressure for perfection on proficiency exams likely drove cheating among the ranks of its ICBM officers, but Richardson said that did not appear to be a factor in the Navy cheating scandal.

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