DEMOCRAT
Air Force officials described a persistent culture of "undue stress and fear" that led 92 out of 550 members of the military's nuclear missile corps to be involved in cheating on a monthly proficiency test on which they felt pressured to get perfect scores to get promoted.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Thursday that at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, roughly half of the 183 missile launch officers have been implicated in the cheating.
The cheating scandal is the latest in an array of troubles that now have the attention of senior defense officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The Associated Press began reporting on the issue nine months ago, revealing serious security lapses, low morale, burnout and other issues in the nuclear force.
The Air Force recently announced the cheating scandal that grew out of a drug investigation.
But James and Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, who heads Global Strike Command, insisted that the failures haven't affected the safety of the military's nuclear mission.
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