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the nation's strategic nuclear forces, welcomed Hagel's move.
• "I remain concerned by the lapses in judgment and discipline displayed by some nuclear missile launch officers in recent months, and I applaud Defense Secretary Hagel's swift and appropriate actions to identify the root causes of those issues," Udall said. "Our nation demands a great deal of the men and women in our nuclear enterprise for good reason."
• Since May, the AP has reported that nuclear missile force officers, from the commanding officer on down, had engaged in numerous misbehaviors or lapses. Some of those included failing security tests, violating security rules like leaving the blast door open while one of two officers napped, morale so low an officer complained of "rot" in his force and a report citing worryingly high levels of burnout.
• Personnel issues are important because ICBMs are kept on alert every hour of every day, and the potential for human error is ever-present. Some argue that the men and women who hold the keys to the nuclear missiles have lost some of their focus on the mission, while others say their commanders are more to blame.
• Not at issue, at least in the short term, is the Obama administration's commitment to keeping the bulk of the current nuclear force, which is comprised of ballistic missile submarines, nuclear-capable bombers and the Air Force's fleet of 450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles based in silos in five states. Hagel recently reiterated his support for the nuclear force and said he is not questioning its safety.
• Hagel directed his concern mainly at the Air Force and its Minuteman 3 missiles, which have been the source of many of the problems the AP reported.
• And just last week, in a disclosure that apparently startled Hagel, the Air Force said a drug investigation that began at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., which operates one-third of the ICBM force, led to a separate investigation of alleged cheating on proficiency tests by 34 officers who operate the missiles there.
• Those 34 officers had their security clearances suspended in a scandal that the commander at Malmstrom, Col. Robert W. Stanley II, told the AP in an interview last Friday had left his force "brokenhearted."
• Last month an Air Force investigation revealed that Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, who was commander of the nuclear missile force, had engaged in embarrassing behavior while leading a U.S. government delegation to a nuclear security exercise in Russia, including heavy drinking and cavorting with suspicious women. He had been fired in October, just days after another senior nuclear officer, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, was relieved of command at U.S. Strategic Command amid allegations linked to counterfeit gambling chips.

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