Air Force Brass: Culture of Fear Led to Cheating - SFGate
A worrisome culture of fear that made launch officers believe they had to get perfect test scores to be promoted fueled a widening cheating scandal within the military’s nuclear missile corps, according to Air Force officials.
Half of the 183 launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been implicated in the cheating investigation and suspended, signaling deeper morale and personnel problems in a force critical to America’s nuclear security.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the scandal hasn’t affected the safety or reliability of the military’s nuclear mission. Speaking to Pentagon reporters Thursday, James and Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, who heads the Global Strike Command, said that so far it appears the cheating was confined to the Montana base, even while a climate of frustration, low morale and other failures permeates the nuclear force, which numbers about 550.
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