US Air Force fires nine nuclear missile officers in cheating investigation
28 March 2014, 07:43 -- The US Air Force on Thursday said it has fired nine mid-level nuclear missile officers at a base in Montana after an investigation of a test-cheating scandal. The officers were expected to continue to serve in other jobs but were relieved of their nuclear command jobs, The Washington Post reported.
Dozens of junior officials will be disciplined in the broadening cheating scandal among Air Force officers who maintain and operate nuclear-armed missiles, the Post reported.
The nine officers who were fired from nuclear duty were based at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where nearly half - 92 of 190 launch officers - had at one point been suspended for suspected cheating on the proficiency test.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James conceded at a press briefing that there were 'some systemic issues in our missile community.'
The investigation showed the cheating dated back to November 2011, officers said. The probe was triggered by suspicions of drug use by officers in charge of the missiles.
US nuclear missile crew rated 'substandard' - report
Airmen responsible for intercontinental ballistic missile operations at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota passed an inspection in March 2013 with a 'marginal' rating, the equivalent of a D grade at school. But that was only possible because the support staff, such as cooks and facilities managers, received high marks. Documents given to the Associated Press show that launch officers who operate 150 Minuteman 3 missiles failed their part of the inspection.
The documents also prove that there was an exam-cheating problem in the launch crew ranks at Minot. Similar allegations were made against Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in January 2014.
An Air Force enquiry into the poor performance in the inspection at Minot Base in March 2013 found below-standard use of routine testing and some other ways of gauging launch crew competency. For example, the review found that the commanders at Minot failed to supervise monthly written tests for launch officers.
The obtained documents read that group testing was meant to be 'taking care of each other' and that the missileers felt pressure to get perfect scores on every test because promotions often depended on it.
Initially the Air Force called the March 2013 inspection 'a success'. But after AP learned about the 'marginal' scoring in the missile operations part of the inspection it was admitted that 19 officers had to surrender their launch authority in April.
Later it leaked out that of 11 Minot crews tested on a missile launch simulator for inspection three were rated 'unqualified'. The Air Force defines that rating as 'an unacceptable level of safety, performance or knowledge'. Five of the 11 crews were given a top rating and three got a second-level assessment.
In September the inspection showed much better results, as 11 of 12 launch crews earned top scores. In January 2014 all Minot crews earned top marks.
In October AP reported that two US missile technicians – one at Minot and the other at Malmstrom – assigned with launch keys were discovered repeatedly leaving a blast door open while sleeping. The concrete-and-steel doors to US underground launch control centers are never to be left open if one of the officers inside is asleep because an intruder might compromise the secret launch codes. Sleep rests are permitted during a 24-hour shift but the rules stipulate that the door designed to protect the crew from the blast effects of a direct nuclear strike must be closed if one is napping. However, the Air Force claimed that in both cases security was not compromised 'due to the multiple safeguards and other protections in place'.
According to the Air Force, a total of 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles are stored evenly at three air bases. Each base has security forces for underground launch control centers, as well as officers and support staff working on the premises.
Yet the core of each base's mission rests with the missileers' professional abilities.
The Air Force documents were released by a group called Speaking Truth to Power. This private organization sued the US Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear operations, for refusing to answer public information requests. After that, Speaking Truth to Power, which campaigns for the elimination of nuclear weapons, shared the documents with AP.
Voice of Russia, DPA, RT
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