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‘unprofessional’ culture of nuclear weapons officers

US air force documents reveal ‘rot’ in culture of nuclear weapons officers Launch officers barely passed inspection at North Dakota base as evidence grows of cheating and ‘unprofessional’ behaviour  Associated Press in Washington theguardian.com, Friday 14 March 2014 Failings exposed last spring at a US nuclear missile base, reflecting what one officer called “rot” in the ranks, were worse than originally reported, according to air force documents obtained by the Associated Press.

Airmen responsible for missile operations at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, passed an inspection in March 2013 with a “marginal” rating, the equivalent of a “D’’ in school. But it now turns out that even that was only because of good marks received by support staff like cooks and facilities managers, as well as a highly rated training program. Launch officers, or missileers, entrusted with the keys to the missiles did poorly and, on their own, would have flunked, the records show.

“Missileer technical proficiency substandard,” one briefing slide says. “Remainder [of missile operations team] raised grade to marginal.”

The documents also hint at an exam-cheating problem in the making among launch crews at Minot, almost a full year beforeallegations of widespread cheating erupted this January at a companion nuclear base in Montana.

An official inquiry into the troubled inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot in March 2013 concluded that one root cause was poor use of routine testing and other means of measuring the proficiency of launch crews in their assigned tasks. For example, commanders at Minot did not ensure that monthly written tests were supervised. The analysis also said Minot senior leaders failed to foster a “culture of accountability”………

he pressure to be perfect apparently has driven some to cheat and others, possibly including commanders, to look the other way. There is no evidence that this has translated to unsafe handling of nuclear weapons duties, but an air force review found “a culture of toleration” at Minot that “allowed unprofessional and non-compliant behaviors”. It said launch crews had an “artificial sense of preparedness” for tests and inspections.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/13/nuclear-weapons-air-force-officers-cheating-rot

March 14, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general