Author Topic: Pentagon chief raps poker scandal, demands ethical behavior  (Read 551 times)

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rangerrebew

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Pentagon chief raps poker scandal, demands ethical behavior
« on: November 17, 2013, 01:05:38 pm »
Another glaring example of political hypocrisy!  There is no way an ex member of congress should be "demanding" ethical behavior because as a member of an all corrupt congress, Hagel has no room to judge.  He wouldn't recognize "ethical behavior" if it were sitting on his lap as he never saw it in congress.


Pentagon chief raps poker scandal, demands ethical behavior

By James Rosen

McClatchy Washington BureauNovember 15, 2013 
 


MANUEL BALCE CENETA — ASSOCIATED PRESS





WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday made his first public comments on a recent military scandal as he condemned the behavior of a senior officer fired last month for allegedly cheating at the poker table.

Hagel criticized the bizarre episode surrounding Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, whom President Barack Obama removed last month from his post as deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command.

Giardina was fired while being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for his alleged use of counterfeit poker chips at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

In condemning multiple lapses in conduct by military personnel, Hagel appeared also to be alluding to last month’s separate firing of Maj. Gen. Michael Carey as commander of 20th Air Force, which oversees the Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles that are part of Strategic Command’s arsenal. Officials haves said Carey’s removal was tied to alcohol abuse.

Among other lapses first reported by the Associated Press, service members working at a nuclear missile base in Montana failed a safety and security inspection.

Hagel made the comments during a change-of-command ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, in which Adm. Cecil D. Haney replaced Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler as head of the command that runs U.S. air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons.

Without mentioning Giardina by name, Hagel made it clear that he had violated the high ethical standards required of the military and civilian men and women who help operate the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

“Perfection must be the standard for our nuclear forces,” Hagel said. “And Gen. Kehler has vigorously enforced that standard throughout his tenure – reflecting his own background as an (intercontinental ballistic missile) officer. As you all know, this close scrutiny, and the most rigorous evaluations we have within the Department of Defense, have recently exposed some troubling lapses in maintaining this professionalism.”

By praising Kehler’s enforcement of ethical standards, Hagel appeared to be clearing him of any responsibility for his former deputy’s behavior. Haney was head of U.S. Pacific Command before taking on his new assignment, which makes him the first African-American director of STRATCOM since President George H.W. Bush established it in 1992 as a successor to the Strategic Air Command.

Hagel also put the 2,700 people who work at U.S. Strategic Command on notice that breaches in professional or personal conduct will not be tolerated.

“To our STRATCOM professionals, I would say, you have chosen a profession where there is no room for error,” Hagel said. “That’s what the American people expect from you, and you must deliver. Americans trust you with their security. They count on you.”

Hagel drove home the same point in a meeting after the ceremony with junior officers who work at the nuclear arms hub, which is one of three commands among nine altogether that is organized around function rather than geography.

“Secretary Hagel conveyed that Strategic Command is responsible for the military’s most sensitive and important missions and the nation is counting on all personnel, at all levels, to maintain the highest standards of conduct in performing these duties,” said Carl Woog, the Pentagon’s assistant press secretary.



In addition to its critical nuclear mission, Strategic Command in recent years has expanded to oversee U.S. space-based systems and to protect the nation’s crucial infrastructure against hacking or other cyber attacks.

The scandal surrounding the disgraced admiral, who allegedly played cards at a casino just across the Iowa state line from Offutt Air Force Base, is the second to engulf the Navy in recent months.

In the separate Navy scandal, at least three midlevel officers face criminal charges and two admirals are blocked from accessing classified materials because of their ties to a Singapore-based company that services Navy ships in Asia and beyond.

Hagel noted in his speech that stealth bombers operated by Strategic Command, responding to “a series of dangerous provocations” by North Korea, had conducted an unusual aerial sortie in March.

“To assure our Republic of Korea allies, a pair of B-2 bombers assigned to Strategic Command flew a nonstop mission from the United States to South Korea, sending a clear message of American resolve and helping to de-escalate the crisis,” Hagel said.

The nuclear-capable, bat-winged planes soared through the skies over South Korea on March 28 to reassure South Korea and Japan after a series of threats from North Korea.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/15/208748/pentagon-chief-raps-poker-scandal.html#storylink=cpy
« Last Edit: November 17, 2013, 01:06:42 pm by rangerrebew »

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Re: Pentagon chief raps poker scandal, demands ethical behavior
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2013, 07:31:38 pm »
Quote
In condemning multiple lapses in conduct by military personnel, Hagel appeared also to be alluding to last month’s separate firing of Maj. Gen. Michael Carey as commander of 20th Air Force, which oversees the Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles that are part of Strategic Command’s arsenal. Officials haves said Carey’s removal was tied to alcohol abuse.
Reported today by the  BBC:
Quote
The general in charge of the US Air Force's long-range nuclear missiles was sacked for conduct "unbecoming of a gentleman" during a work trip to Russia in July, a report says.

The newly declassified document says Maj Gen Michael Carey drank too much and met "suspect" foreign women.

He could not recall significant events or was "untruthful", the report says.

Gen Carey's removal came days after the Navy sacked an admiral overseeing nuclear forces over illegal gambling.

It is one of several scandals to rattle the American military's nuclear establishment in recent months.

Gen Carey, a two-star general in the 20th Air Force, was responsible for maintaining intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at three bases across the US - a total of 450 missiles.

He is now special assistant to the commander of Air Force Space Command.
 
No details were given when he was removed in October.

The internal report by the Inspector General of the Air Force is based on interviews with the general and members of the US delegation to a nuclear security training exercise.

"Maj Gen Carey consumed alcoholic beverages to the extent that it impacted his conduct," the report says. It adds that this included briefings, banquets and other events.

It goes on: "Maj Gen Carey engaged in inappropriate or improper behaviour when he chose to meet up with and continued to associate with the foreign national women... especially given his own acknowledgement that the women were suspect."

He had met them at a restaurant and danced with one of them a day after, it says.

According to the report, during a flight layover in Zurich en route to Moscow "he appeared drunk and, in the public area, talked loudly about the importance of his position as commander of the only operational nuclear force in the world and that he saves the world from war every day".

During a tour of a monastery, the general was said to be slurring his words and interrupting the tour guide.

They later went to a restaurant where a Beatles tribute band was performing and the general kept pestering the translator to ask the group to let him sing with them.

Gen Carey then spotted the two women he had met the previous night and left the US delegation to sit with them.

The investigators interviewed Gen Carey, but he appeared to have forgotten much of what happened in Russia.

Their conclusion was the general "either had a poor recall of significant events, perhaps due to his alcohol consumption, or was untruthful during the interview".

The general had been rude to the Russian hosts and to members of the delegation, they said.

And he had complained his forces "suffered from low morale".

Gen Carey has made no comments about the report, which was the result of a Freedom of Information request.

Before being sacked, Gen Carey was in charge of 9,600 people at three operational wings, had served in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and had received 13 major awards.

In October, two days before Gen Carey was sacked, US Navy Vice-Adm Tim Giardina was removed as deputy head of US Strategic Command.

He was accused of using counterfeit gambling chips of "a significant monetary amount" at an Iowa casino.

In August, a nuclear missile unit at Malstrom Air Force base in Montana failed a safety and security inspection, after which a senior security officer was relieved of duty.

In May, it was reported that 17 officers in charge of maintaining nuclear missiles were sidelined over safety violations at Minot Air Force base in North Dakota.
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Re: Pentagon chief raps poker scandal, demands ethical behavior
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2013, 07:39:24 pm »
Gen. Carey deserved exactly what he got, should the report be accurate.

Poker and gambling in the culture, on the other hand ....

You show me a group of squaddies and I'll show you people who are so bored in barracks that they will bet on raindrops running down a window pane. Sit in and you'll see the only place people bet on chess matches. Double or nothing on darts games (darts may be swapped for knives at the judge's discretion). When your whole career is a gamble with the highest stakes possible, risking a bit of cash is not that bad.

Just - don't get caught. And definitely don't get caught cheating.
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