Report links Air Force cheating to flawed leadership

WASHINGTON - A basic contradiction lies at the root of an exam-cheating scandal that decimated the ranks of an Air Force nuclear missile group, investigators say: Commanders were demanding perfection in testing and ethics but also tacitly condoned rule-bending or even willfully ignored cheating.

An Air Force investigation concluded that no commanders participated in or knew about the specific forms of cheating in which 91 missile officers were implicated at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. But nine commanders, representing nearly the entire operational chain of command in the 341st Missile Wing, were fired and the wing commander, Col. Robert Stanley, was allowed to resign.

"From the perspective of a young company-grade officer looking up the chain of command, leadership has delivered conflicting messages" on integrity and test performance, the report said. Leaders pressured young officers to achieve high scores "while tacitly condoning" acts that "take care of" crew members who might otherwise fall short of the expected perfect result, it said. This "blurs the line between acceptable help and unacceptable cheating," it said.

Malmstrom is home to one of three Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile wings, each responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles. The other wings are the 90th at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and the 91st at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

Beyond the investigation at Malmstrom, the Pentagon is undertaking two broader reviews of problems inside the ICBM force, including training failures, low morale, and security lapses that the Associated Press documented over the past year.