Air Force Fires 9 Nuclear Commanders Involved in Cheating Scandal

March 28, 2014 | Edited by Lauren Mladenka and Geoff Wilson

Consequences - “The Air Force took the extraordinary step Thursday of firing nine midlevel nuclear commanders and announcing it will discipline dozens of junior officers at a nuclear missile base, responding firmly to an exam-cheating scandal that spanned a far longer period than originally reported,” Robert Burns reports for the AP. “A 10th commander, the senior officer at the base, resigned and will retire from the Air Force.”

--“Air Force officials called the discipline unprecedented in the history of America's intercontinental ballistic missile force… In an emotion-charged resignation letter titled ‘A Lesson to Remember,’ Col. Robert Stanley, who commanded the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom, lamented that the reputation of the ICBM mission was now ‘tarnished because of the extraordinarily selfish actions of officers entrusted with the most powerful weapon system ever devised by man.’ 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 fired the officer overseeing its missile squadrons. It said Col. Donald Holloway, the operations group commander, was sacked "because of a loss of confidence in his ability to lead."

--“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 ICBM bases and to reinforce "core values" including integrity.” Full story here. http://bit.ly/1gv5FHI

Faulty logic - “Like doctors relying on leeches after Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, Thursday’s action by the Air Force to punish missile officers who had cheated on tests, or their superiors, is a 20th century patent medicine for a 21st century wound,” writes Mark Thompson in a piece for Time. “The service, at a Thursday news conference, said it would cashier nine mid-level nuclear officers and will discipline scores of junior officers at Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base following a test-taking scandal that erupted there earlier this year. The colonel in charge of the base also submitted his resignation Thursday, along with most of his subordinate commanders, for their ignorance of widespread cheating on their watch.”

--“The Air Force maintained that such a broad cashiering of officers in charge of nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile force—450 ICBMs siloed at bases in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming—was unprecedented. That may be true, as far as it goes. But the real issue is the lethargy that pervades the nation’s missileers since they’ve spent the past 20-plus years primed to attack… well, no one. That’s the key: to keep the nuclear edge sharp, the U.S. military needs a clear, identifiable, acknowledged like-sized foe against which to hone it. Lacking such an enemy, the atomic blade, inexorably, will dull over time. It’s called, for lack of a better term, human nature. Let’s face it: Staring down the Soviets with the doctrine of mutually-assured destruction made a bizarre kind of sense during the Cold War, but those ICBMs are worthless when it comes to keeping Vladimir Putin’s troops out of Ukraine.

--“The Air Force has identified more than a half-billion dollars in ICBM infrastructure improvements to be spent on ‘our Minuteman squadrons, ICBM helicopter support and some critical communications areas,’ [Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee] James said. Absent a foe, apparently, there’s always funding.” Full story here. http://ti.me/1dSuR6k

Full Air Force ICBM report - “ICBM Test Compromise at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana & Assessment of Twentieth Air Force ICBM Training, Evaluation, and Testing Culture” prepared by Lt. Gen. James M. Holmes. http://1.usa.gov/1jDavWt

Tweet - @NTI_GSN: Air Force Meets Skepticism in Claim on Extent of Missile-Control Exam Cribbing http://bit.ly/1rKWpUj

The Librarians - “Investigators dubbed them the ‘librarians,’ four Air Force nuclear missile launch officers at the center of a still-unfolding scandal over cheating on proficiency tests,” Robert Burns reports for the AP. “‘They tended to be at the hub’ of illicit exchanges of test information, said Adam Lowther, one of seven investigators who dug into details of cheating that has embarrassed the Air Force and on Thursday brought down virtually the entire operational command of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.”

--“At least 82 missile launch officers face disciplinary action, but it was the four "librarians" who allegedly facilitated the cheating, in part by transmitting test answers via text message. One text included a photo of a classified test answer, according to Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, who announced the probe's findings Thursday.” Read the full story here. http://abcn.ws/1rKxnER

Tweet - @Cirincione: An intense talk with @maddow last night: "Nuclear base scandals raise concerns of 'rot'" http://on.msnbc.com/1gJFM8n

Failure - “A congressionally mandated panel says a key Energy Department agency has ‘failed’ in its mission to effectively oversee U.S. nuclear-arms operations,” reports Diane Barnes in a piece for Global Security Newswire. “Drastic reforms are crucial to address ‘systemic’ management shortcomings at the National Nuclear Security Administration, according to preliminary findings unveiled on Wednesday by the co-chairs of the Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise… The unmistakable conclusion of our fact-finding is that, as implemented, the 'NNSA experiment' involving creation of a semiautonomous organization has failed," according to Norm Augustine, who headed the bipartisan group with retired Adm. Richard Mies.”

--“Officials attributed the National Nuclear Security Administration's history of high-profile security lapses at atomic-complex facilities and soaring cost overruns in major projects to problems that became embedded in the nation's nuclear weapons culture after the end of the Cold War. Congress established the agency in 2000 following the Wen Ho Lee spy scandal at Los Alamos National Laboratory, giving it the responsibility to oversee arms activities that were previously handled by the Energy Department itself. Today, both organizations contain ‘too many people [who] can stop mission-essential work for a host of reasons,’ Mies said in a written statement to the committee, provided for a Wednesday hearing. He added that ‘those who are responsible for getting the work done often find their decisions ignored or overturned.’” Read full report here. http://bit.ly/1maOcF0

NNSA budget - “Contrary to President Obama’s rhetoric about a future world free of nuclear weapons, most famously expressed in his April 2009 speech in Prague, the President is asking for a 7% increase for nuclear weapons research and production programs under the Department of Energy’s semi autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). 2 NNSA’s “Total Weapons Activities” are slated to rise to $8.3 billion in FY 2015, and to $9.7 billion by FY 2019, 24% above this current fiscal year 2014.”

--“Given budget caps, the Obama Administration is paying for increased funding for programs that will extend the service lives of existing nuclear weapons for decades, while giving them new military capabilities, while robbing from virtually all other programs. Increased nuclear weapons funding will be paid for off the back of nonproliferation and dismantlement programs, cut 21% and 45% respectively; by keeping cleanup funding flat, even as cost estimates of genuine cleanup rise; and potentially cutting funding for nuclear facility safety when ‘the decrease is to reduce base operational costs and funds higher NNSA priorities.’ NNSA has made explicit what its higher priorities are: The B61 and subsequent Life Extension Programs.” Read the full analysis from Nuclear Watch here. http://bit.ly/1o7VsGm

Thoughtful engagement - “Russia has taken over Crimea and threatens further aggression. Now is the time to act but also to think strategically,” write George Shultz and Sam Nunn in The Washington Post. “What basic strategic approach should the United States and its allies take, and how can that approach be implemented over time so that the tactical moves benefit our long-term interests? Is it possible to avoid the reemergence of a full-fledged Cold War psychology, which is encouraged by Russia developing an ‘I can get away with it’ mentality?”

--“Although current circumstances make it difficult, we should not lose sight of areas of common interest where cooperation remains crucial to the security of Russia, Europe and the United States. This includes securing nuclear materials — the subject of this week’s summit in the Netherlands — and preventing catastrophic terrorism, as well as destroying Syrian chemical stockpiles and preventing nuclear proliferation by Iran and others. We should also focus on building a framework for mutual transatlantic security by applying a cooperative and transparent approach to the region’s security challenges and building trust over time.” Read the full article here. http://wapo.st/1hDsB3L

Tweet - @NTI_GSN: Russia Launches Nuclear-War Drill, Saying It Was Long Scheduled http://bit.ly/1jf3kRC

Talks halted - “Washington is halting talks with Moscow that were aimed at improving understanding and cooperation around missile defense in response to events in Ukraine,” Global Security Newswire reports. “The bilateral antimissile talks had not seen much traction in recent years, even before Russia's incursion in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea put them into a deep-freeze. The discussions were aimed at assuaging the Kremlin's concern that U.S. missile interceptors planned for fielding in the coming years in Romania and Poland were no threat to Russia's long-range nuclear arsenal.” Full story here. http://bit.ly/1lrqBTg

Preparing for success - “It has become a constant refrain that members of Congress are prepared to take action against Iran should the nuclear negotiations break down,” write Jamal Abdi and Tyler Cullis in The Hill. “But instead of merely prepping for failure, it is critical that Capitol Hill start preparing for the possibility of a diplomatic success. Because unless Congress is ready to delegate to the president the necessary authorities to begin lifting sanctions if and when a deal is reached, those same sanctions that many in Congress credit for the recent diplomatic progress could end up being the biggest obstacle to a nuclear deal.”

--“Some may not believe that Congress and the president can put aside their differences to iron out a solution to one of the most polarizing foreign policy issues in Washington. But if U.S. and Iran negotiators can sit down at the negotiating table and work on overcoming more than three decades of mutual distrust, it should not be too farfetched to hope that Congress and the White House can reach agreement on lifting sanctions so that a major national security victory does not slip through our fingers.” Read the full piece here. http://bit.ly/1h2UCkp

Quick-hits:

--”The GOP Claim that Obama Scrapped a Missile Defense System as ‘a Gift’ to Putin” by Glenn Kessler in The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/1i1sbWt

--”The 2014 Nuclear Security Summit: Are We Safe Yet?” by Miles Pomper for the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. http://bit.ly/1jD6nWL

Events:

--“Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Initiative and its Relationship to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” Discussion with Ira Helfand and Guakhar Mukhatzhanova. March 31 from 9:30-11:30 at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/NxfOaY

--“Creating a Legacy for the Nuclear Security Summit.” Discussion with Kenneth Luongo and Sharon Squassoni. April 2 from 12:00-1:30 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2nd floor conference room A, 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. RSVP by email to PPP@csis.org