9 lose ICBM commands in exam-cheating scandal

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, finish their statements before taking questions during a news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, March 27, 2014. The Air Force is firing nine mid-level commanders and disciplining dozens of junior officers at a nuclear missile base in response to an exam-cheating scandal that spanned a far longer period than originally reported. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, finish their statements before taking questions during a news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, March 27, 2014. The Air Force is firing nine mid-level commanders and disciplining dozens of junior officers at a nuclear missile base in response to an exam-cheating scandal that spanned a far longer period than originally reported. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON - The Air Force reassigned nine midlevel nuclear commanders Thursday and announced it will discipline dozens of junior officers at a nuclear-missile base in response to an exam-cheating scandal that spanned a far longer period than originally reported.

A 10th commander, the senior officer at the base, resigned from his command post and will retire from the Air Force.

Air Force officials called the discipline unprecedented in the history of America’s intercontinental ballistic missileforce. The Associated Press last year revealed a series of security and other problems in the missile force, including a failed safety and security inspection at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., where the cheating occurred.

Separately, another of the Air Force’s nuclear-missile units - the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. - announced that it had removed the officer overseeing its missile squadrons. It said Col. Donald Holloway, the operations group commander, was removed from the post “because of a loss of confidence in his ability to lead.”

The 90th Missile Wing offered no further explanation for Holloway’s removal and said it “has nothing to do with the recent commander-directed investigation into the testing compromise at Malmstrom.”

No evidence of cheating was uncovered at the Wyoming air base or one in North Dakota where intercontinental ballistic missiles are based, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command.

Together, the moves reflect turmoil in a force that remains central to American defense strategy but in some ways has been neglected. The force of 450 Minuteman 3 missiles is primed to unleash nuclear devastation on a moment’s notice, capable of obliterating people and places halfway around the globe.

In a bid to correct root causes of the missile corps’ failings - including low morale and weak management - the Air Force also announced Thursday a series of new or expanded programs to improve leadership development, to modernize the three intercontinental ballistic missile force bases and to reinforce “core values” including integrity.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, the service’s top civilian official, said at a Pentagon news conference that a thorough review of how testing and training are conducted in the missile force has produced numerous avenues for improvements.

“We will be changing rather dramatically how we conduct testing and training going forward” while ensuring that performance standards are kept high, James said.

James had promised to hold officers at Malmstrom accountable once the cheating investigation was completed and the scope of the scandal was clear. None of the commanders who were removed from their posts was directly involved in the cheating, but each was determined to have failed in his leadership responsibilities.

“They weren’t aware this was going on in any way, shape or form, and I think they should have been,” Wilson said in explaining the decision to remove the commanders.

Wilson said investigators determined that the cheating, which officials originally said happened in August or September last year, began as early as November 2011 and continued until November 2013. Wilson is responsible not only for the missile force but also for the B-52 and B-2 bombers that are capable of launching nuclear attacks.

The cheating involved unauthorized passing of answers to exams designed to test missile-launch officers’ proficiency in handling “emergency war orders,” which are messages involving the targeting and launching of missiles.

When the cheating was first revealed, Air Force leaders condemned it as violating the most basic Air Force values. They also suggested that it reflected an unhealthy pressure from commanders to achieve perfect test scores. The tests are one part of a training and evaluation system that is supposed to ensure that every one of the more than 500 missile-launch officers is fully proficient.

The most senior person touched directly by the cheating scandal was the commander of Malmstrom’s 341st Missile Wing, Col. Robert Stanley. He was permitted to resign, James said.

Nine key commanders below Stanley - all of them colonels, lieutenant colonels or majors - were removed from posts, including the commanders of the 341st Wing’s three missile squadrons, each of which is responsible for 50 Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles.

Also sacked were the commander and deputy commander of the 341st Operations Group, which oversees all three missile squadrons as well as a helicopter unit and a support squadron responsible for administering monthly proficiency tests to Malmstrom’s launch crews and evaluating their performance.

Members of all three missile squadrons were implicated in the cheating, either by providing or receiving test answers or knowing about the cheating and not reporting it.

No generals are being punished in regard to the cheating. Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, who was removed in October from his post as commander of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for all three 150-missile wings of the missile force, is still on duty as a staff officer at Air Force Space Command but has requested retirement; his request is being reviewed.

Carey was removed after a military investigation determined that he had engaged in inappropriate behavior while leading a U.S. government delegation to a nuclear-security exercise in Russia last summer. He was replaced by Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein.

The cheating at Malmstrom was discovered in early January during an unrelated drug investigation that included two launch officers at Malmstrom and others at several other bases. The drug probe is continuing.

Wilson said four officers who also have been under investigation over suspected drug possession were “at the center” of the cheating ring.

A total of 100 missile-launch crew members at Malmstrom were identified as potentially involved in the cheating, but nine were cleared by investigators. Another nine of the 100 are being handled separately by the Air Force Office of Special Investigation; eight of those nine cases involve possible criminal charges stemming from the alleged mishandling of classified information.

Of the remaining 82 officers, an estimated 30 to 40 are eligible to be retrained and returned to duty on the missile force; the rest face unspecified disciplinary action that could include dismissal from the Air Force, officials said. Of the 82 facing disciplinary action, 79 are still at Malmstrom; the three others had moved to other bases or left active duty.

Wilson said the changes in training and testing will be far-reaching.

“We’re not just putting a fresh coat of paint on these problems,” he said. “We’re taking bold action.”

After the cheating was announced in January, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel began a pair of in-depth reviews of the nuclear forces to determine why the missile force has suffered so many setbacks over the past year. Hagel said he his goal was to restore public confidence in the nuclear force.

Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns of The Associated Press; by David S. Cloud of the Tribune Washington Bureau; and by Helene Cooper of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/28/2014

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