USAFA Cracking Down on Students for Widespread Cheating Last Spring

Jan. 29, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The U.S. Air Force Academy has kicked out students and reprimanded others after nearly 250 cadets were suspected of using online learning to cheat on tests and plagiarize assignments last spring.

USAFA sent freshmen, sophomores, and juniors home from the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus in March 2020 as the new coronavirus spread across the U.S. For the first time, the school of more than 4,000 students pivoted to distance learning to finish out the semester.

But that presented opportunities for students to game the system, away from the watchful eyes of professors, other cadets, and a wall bearing the school’s honor code: “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.”

“Infractions ranged from failing to properly cite sources, to using unauthorized online tutoring websites to receive solutions to exam questions in real time, to completing final exams in small groups,” the school said Jan. 29.

They were caught through “existing Dean of Faculty academic safeguards,” and most of the 249 students admitted to cheating, USAFA said.

One student was expelled and one resigned from the service academy because of their misconduct, spokesman Mike Slater said. Others must complete six months of probation and remediation, while some cases are still under review. The school hopes remedial measures will dissuade students from violating the rules again.

“Remediation is a consequence and not an act of leniency,” USAFA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark said. “If earned, remediation provides an opportunity to reset the moral compass.”

The school waited for students—who run the process of holding fellow cadets accountable for honor code violations—to return to campus for the fall semester before taking punitive measures.

“The process is currently progressing slower than normal, primarily due to COVID restrictions, but the academy is dedicated to ensuring cadet accountability throughout the entire honor process,” the school said. “Cadets in violation of the honor code are not allowed to represent the academy until they complete the required remediation.”

The incident highlights the challenges of increasingly digital education, particularly as the pandemic has forced schools across the globe to go virtual. Though all USAFA cadets are back on campus for the 2020-2021 school year, classes are still a mix of in-person and online instruction.

USAFA isn’t the only service academy to run into misconduct issues during remote learning. Last year, 73 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating during an online calculus final—the largest cheating scandal in the school’s recent history.

The Air Force Academy has dealt with its own spates of cheating in the past, including a 2019 incident when 10 cadets were suspected of cheating on final exams, and in 2014 when 40 freshmen were investigated for copying lab work for a chemistry class.

The 2014 investigation was the “fourth probe of cheating involving a group of cadets at the Air Force Academy since 2004,” according to the Associated Press.

USAFA is taking the latest cheating as an opportunity to overhaul its honor code for the first time in several years.

“The purpose of the review is to provide findings and recommendations for improvement to the Honor Program, ensuring the Cadet Honor Code and Honor Program relevantly and effectively achieve cadet character development,” the school said.

A review committee will discuss ways to better encourage “living honorably” with senior leaders, school alumni, cadets, and other stakeholders. There is no set timeline for finishing the review or implementing its findings.

Clark acknowledged the probe during a Jan. 21 AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event, but did not say what happened last spring to prompt a new look at the entire honor system.

Video: Mitchell Institute on YouTube

“We recognize that we need to take a look at the honor code, and make sure that we’re serving these cadets well, so that they are internalizing it and understanding what it means to live honorably,” Clark said.

The point is not to threaten a cadet’s career, he said, but to put them back on the right track if they do violate the school’s trust. Still, students need to take misconduct seriously: “It could have a pretty significant impact on your career, if your career gets to continue,” he said.

“The honor code is there to develop these folks that we bring in from all different walks of society, from all different places, and develop them so that by the time they graduate, … they are committed to that honorable living, not only as graduates, but for the rest of their lives, that it is something that they actually believe in,” Clark said.

Acting SECAF’s Goals: Sustain Momentum, Then Pass the Baton

Jan. 28, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth is focused on ensuring continuity in the department until a Senate-confirmed successor is secured, championing Air Force and Space Force priorities as the 2022 defense budget takes shape, and “telling the Department of the Air Force’s story,” according to a Jan. 28 departmental release.

“My plan, in whatever time period required, is to hand the baton off to somebody else,” Roth said in the release. “My goal is to ensure that the enterprise is able to continue to operate in its normal, outstanding fashion and that I support the Airmen and the Guardians in terms of getting them what they need to do their jobs.”

Roth also said he’s dedicated to helping the department sustain its “momentum on both the air side and the space side,” and keeping its eyes fixed on reaching goals laid out by the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

“We can’t afford to sit idle,” he said in the release.

Roth served as the Air Force’s comptroller until the Biden transition team tapped him to pick up where outgoing SECAF Barbara M. Barrett left off following her departure from the Pentagon. Before being chosen for the interim job, he planned to retire from federal service, the release noted.

“If I can help, I’m happy to serve,” he said in the release. “That’s what I’ve done for 40-plus years; so a matter of perhaps a few more months, I’m all in.”

But his additional experience performing the duties of the Air Force under secretary—first from June 2019 to October 2019, and then again from May 2020 to December 2020—have uniquely equipped him to tackle more than just numbers.

“A lot of the things that go to the Secretary run past the under’s inbox,” he noted in the release. “I’m a trained budgeteer, and that’s my sweet spot, but I did get involved in manpower issues and things like promotion boards, department-wide studies, and disciplinary matters. All of that, which I personally found fascinating, exposed me to other issues across the department.”

DOD: Taliban Violence Likely to Delay Full Afghanistan Withdrawal

Jan. 28, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Biden administration still wants to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan as long as the Taliban abides by the agreement reached last year, but that hasn’t happened yet, the top Pentagon spokesman said Jan. 28.

Last year, the U.S. reached a deal with the Taliban to remove all of its troops by May, provided the group reduces its violence and denounces its ties to al-Qaida.

“We obviously are still committed to ending this war, but we want to end it responsibly,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “It’s difficult to see how we get there from right where we are now.”

There are now 2,500 troops in the country to conduct counter terrorism and training missions—the lowest level since the beginning of the war. Military officials say that is enough to do the job they are given, but “the question is how much longer do they have to keep doing that job,” Kirby said.

New Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, in his Jan. 19 confirmation hearing, said he wants the war to end in the right way, without allowing violent groups to continue to threaten the U.S. Austin also raised the issue of Afghanistan in calls this week with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and other international military leads.

U.S. officials have said the violence in Afghanistan is unacceptably high and has not abated despite the negotiations. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a report released in November that enemy-initiated attacks in a three-month span from July to September had jumped 50 percent compared to the previous three months.

“The Taliban is calibrating its use of violence to harass and undermine the (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) and [the Afghan government] but [to] remain at a level it perceives is within the bounds of the agreement, probably to encourage a U.S. troop withdrawal and set favorable conditions for a post-withdrawal Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in the SIGAR report.

FEMA Asks DOD for Help Administering COVID-19 Vaccines

Jan. 28, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon is sourcing a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy military personnel to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine, an expected increase to the more than 20,000 Guard personnel already helping across the country.

The FEMA request, sent to the Defense Department on Jan. 27, is going through the sourcing stages just like any request for military forces from a combatant command, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing. An executable plan is expected within days, rather than weeks, because “we know there’s an urgency,” he said.

Guard personnel are working at 216 vaccine sites across the country, and there are about 1,000 DOD medical personnel on prepare to deploy orders if needed to help, said Max Rose, the COVID senior advisor to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

Austin’s first meeting in the job was with senior military leaders on the topic of COVID-19, and he recently met with Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna, the chief operating officer of the government effort previously known as Operation Warp Speed on how to help with vaccine distribution.

“We have to move further, we have to move faster, we have to be as bold as possible all the while remembering that it is our utmost prerogative to protect the United States at home or broad,” Rose said.

The FEMA request comes as the DOD itself is struggling to administer vaccines to its own population. As of Jan. 28, the department has received 769,000 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and about 366,000 doses have been administered, Joint Staff Surgeon Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs told reporters.

U.S. Transportation Command and the Defense Logistics Agency have distributed the vaccine to 306 sites around the world.

The vaccine is voluntary for U.S. military personnel. Friedrichs said the department has seen a higher take rate among older personnel and fewer younger people getting the jab. This means some troops are deploying or conducting key missions, such as those central to national security and nuclear security, having declined the shot.

DOD is “not compelling people to get the vaccine, this is truly something people have to volunteer for,” Friedrichs said. The Pentagon does not have numbers of how many service members have said no to the shot.

As of Jan. 28, there are 138,783 cases of COVID-19 in the Defense Department, and cases have been rising at a rate coinciding with the rest of the country. The department has been able to “aggressively expand testing,” meeting 100 percent of its requirement last week, Friedrichs said.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Jan. 29-31

Jan. 28, 2021

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

Jan. 29:

The U.S. and the Soviet Union announce that a cease-fire is possible if Iraq makes an “unequivocal commitment” to withdraw all troops from Kuwait and takes “concrete steps” in that direction.
In the State of Union address, President George H.W. Bush repeats that the U.S. goal is to “drive Iraq out of Kuwait, to restore Kuwait’s legitimate government, and to ensure the stability and security of this critical region.”
A Joint STARS aircraft detects 50 Iraqi tanks moving toward Saudi Arabia.
Using deception, 1,500 Iraqi troops in three battalions attack Khafji in Saudi Arabia, and then come under coalition air attack. For the first time, coalition ground forces counterattack. Elements of the 1st Marine Division engage with anti-tank and automatic weapons.

Jan. 30

Marines lose three armored vehicles in the battle for Khafji, while Iraqis lose 24 tanks and 13 armored vehicles.
USAF fighter-bombers destroy oil pumping pipes and manifolds to stop one of biggest-ever oil spills.
Commanders report that the U.S. has lost 12 aircraft, that the U.K. has lost five, and that Italy and Kuwait have lost one each.

Jan. 31

An AC-130H gunship, supporting Marines around Khafji, is shot down by Iraqi infrared surface-to-air missile, and 14 crew members are killed.
Two US soldiers are captured by Iraqi soldiers at Iraqi-Saudi border.
Saudi troops, assisted by Qatari forces, U.S. Marines, and heavy air support, recapture Khafji.
Coalition aircraft attack and rout two Iraqi divisions assembling north of Khafji for attack.

Check out our complete chronology of the Gulf War, starting with Iraq’s July 1990 invasion of Kuwait and running through Iraq’s April 1991 acceptance of peace terms.

Little Rock C-130s Return from Africa, Middle East Deployment

Jan. 28, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Airmen and C-130s from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., recently returned from a four-month deployment supporting combat operations in the Middle East and Africa.

The Airmen and aircraft from the 41st Airlift Squadron, along with Airmen from the 19th Operations Group, 19th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 19th Logistics Readiness Squadron, and 19th Operations Support Squadron supported C-130J operations in U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and U.S. Africa Command. They returned home to Arkansas between Jan. 19-26.

A young family member helps taxi in a C-130J Super Hercules at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., on Jan. 21, 2021, following its return from a four-month deployment. **Photo: Senior Airman Aaron Irvin**

Air Force C-130 squadrons have been deploying in their entirety, as opposed to piecemeal from multiple units, since September 2019. Air Mobility Command began this model with KC-135s in August 2019, and C-130s followed suit the next month. Little Rock and Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, operate under a “4/12 deployment initiative, which allows the airlift squadrons at each base [to] receive a full year of dwell time before a four-month deployment, according to a release.

Brown: USAF Has Been ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ Too Long When It Comes to EMS

Jan. 27, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is pushing the Air Staff to publish an electromagnetic spectrum warfare strategy in the spring, saying USAF has been “asleep at the wheel” for nearly three decades.

The strategy will lay out “where we’re headed and where we’re taking the Air Force” in EMS warfare, Brown said in a virtual event sponsored by the Association of Old Crows. It will include “the operations we need to do in that area, and how we fund it; that is all part of the conversation.”

The strategy will interlock with a defense-wide EMS strategy promised in the same forum by Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. John E. Hyten in early January, and also due out in the spring. At the time, Hyten said the Joint Requirements Oversight Council will, for the first time, give each service tasks to perform in EMS warfare.

The new Air Force strategy will break with decades of “neglect” in the elecromagnetic spectrum, as the Air Force faced no peer competition in its Afghanistan and Iraq operations, Brown said. The service will shift from being entirely defensive in EMS operations to offensive as well, and plans to make major shifts instead of small improvements.

“Bottom line, we are not deterring our adversaries like we need to,” Brown asserted. Chinese and Russian cyber forces “have invaded the U.S. without a declaration of war,” he added, and the U.S. posture “hasn’t deterred them from using influence operations and misinformation to change the narrative.”

“We cannot continue to let this happen. We must make significant changes,” he said. If the Air Force continues “to do things as we have, changing incrementally, it will not be ‘accelerate change or lose,’ it will simply be, ‘lose.’”

The threat is far more “dynamic” and rapidly evolving, and the Air Force has not kept up, Brown said. The service has been “asleep at the wheel” practically since Operation Desert Storm, which took place 30 years ago.

Providing EMS capabilities to the joint force is an “absolute prerequisite” for any deterrence or combat victory, Brown said. If the Air Force fails to do so, “it will be on me,” for not having provided the equipment and training necessary, he added.

The fight is a never-ending one, Brown said, noting that EMS superiority isn’t really possible anymore. He compared it to air superiority in the Pacific theater—Brown previously commanded Pacific Air Forces—which can only be achieved in a “localized” fashion given the size of the theater.

“We must provide EMS capabilities at the right time, and the right place,” he said. “There is no end state. It is an endless game” with “many waypoints,” but “no finish line.” Rather, the goal will be to maintain “our advantage” and not seek vainly for EMS superiority.

“We can no longer solely depend on defensive capabilities” like stealth and jamming, merely to ensure that forces get home, “and expect to be successful,” Brown asserted. “We’re using the same systems that … we’ve been using over the course of the past 25 years.” That’s “not going to work in the future,” he said.

The Air Force will begin to take an “offensive” posture “to maneuver and fire in the EMS.”

Brown said he’s “not a real believer” in the mantra of connecting every sensor with every shooter. “I think you have to connect the right sensor to the right shooter to the right decision-maker to be able to execute.”

The biggest investment shift will be away from hardware and platforms to software, Brown said, acknowledging that software and things like “open mission systems” architecture are hard sells with Congress because there’s no physical thing to look at, and no perceived effect “until it impacts you.”

But “an electron is much cheaper than a very expensive missile,” and USAF will exploit the EMS to achieve non-kinetic effects as one way to reduce “the cost of destruction.”

Software will be the denominator of success, Brown said, asserting that “whoever can write code fastest is going to win.” He added that, “We are outnumbered, particularly looking at the Chinese,” who have so many people and efforts to attack the EMS on so many fronts. He’s looking for EMS capabilities that are “platform agnostic.”

The Air Force will also include allies and partners in its EMS strategies because it will be necessary to have them involved from the beginning, to avoid creating incompatible systems. Allies are “what we have that [adversaries] don’t, … that’s why we have to work together,” Brown said.

“We’re looking at future force designs [that will] integrate all these capabilities.” He also said he expects that Air Force and Joint Force Air Component Commanders will have the duty to “be the integrator for all the kinetic and non-kinetic” approaches to EMS operations.

The Air Force will be embarking on a series of experimental wargames and prototyping to flesh out its EMS concepts and how they will integrate with kinetic forces, Brown said.

Congress included language in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to make EMS warfare a priority, Brown said.

“We’re not where we need to be. Every so often Congress needs to light a fire under us to get us to move a little bit faster,” he acknowledged. This was one of the reasons he’s pursuing “accelerated change across the Air Force.” The service should “be embarrassed sometimes that Congress has to tell us to do some of these things and move faster,” but the NDAA is a good “forcing function” to achieve that.

He’s asked the Air Staff to provide hypothetical situations to help inform the strategy, saying, “Tell me what are we going to do … because we have to get to 2030 sooner than later. I’d like to get there much faster than 2030.”

In this pitched battle with China, he said, “Someone’s got to go first. It can either be us, or it can be the Chinese, our choice. I’d rather it be us first.”

USAF Space Acquisition Office Prepares for Handoff to New Leaders

Jan. 27, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

President Joe Biden hasn’t named his Air Force Secretary pick yet, or someone to serve as assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration. But when they arrive, they’ll need to hit the ground running.

Once a new Secretary is nominated, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Shawn J. Barnes and other assistant secretaries will begin bringing them up to speed on the broad ideas needed to get through the confirmation process. Then once the new Secretary is approved and sworn in, they’ll receive more detail on the issues facing the Air Force and Space Force.

“There are no shortage of briefings and binders that are being prepared for incoming staff at all levels,” Barnes, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary while the Air Force awaits a Senate-confirmed nominee, told reporters Jan. 27. “We’ve got some standing continuity documents that we would start from.”

He said his first priority at the moment is successfully bringing on those political appointees as more open positions are filled. That includes the Air Force Secretary, the assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, and certain other USAF assistant secretary jobs, as well as some posts in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

“We’ll need to keep them apprised of what’s going on and the work that this office has been doing,” Barnes said of the Air Staff.

Barnes won’t speculate on what priorities his Senate-confirmed successor might hold, but believes transferring space procurement responsibilities to a new acquisition executive will be their “no-fail mission.”

“I can’t have that transfer … and drop the ball,” he said.

Barnes hopes to pave the way for a smooth transition to a space acquisition executive in October 2022. Right now, development and purchases of space assets still fall under the Air Force procurement boss instead of a space-specific position. Congress created the new post despite pushback from some in the Air Force to keep all acquisition programs under one decision-maker.

“We’re working very closely with SAF/AQ to determine what sorts of capability and capacity that this office will need, in terms of people, in terms of facilities and networks and clearances and all those kinds of things, so that we can do that service acquisition executive job once that responsibility moves over,” he said.

They are likewise considering what authorities and relationships the assistant secretary will need to work best with commercial companies driving to a boom in new space innovation, as well as ally and partner countries.

“Fundamentally, that integration has a similar theme, which is we’re trying to expand on our overall set of capabilities that we can call on, whether that’s a service that we purchase, or it’s a service that we rely on by an ally,” Barnes said. The specifics of how you would do that with a commercial company is very different than the specifics of how you would do that with a close ally.”

The Air Force’s space integration team will also inherit the work of finishing ongoing and future acquisition and personnel reports to Congress, including one detailing the space aspects of broader procurement reforms underway in DOD.

“I have started to work with the folks in the [Pentagon acquisition and sustainment office] on this,” Barnes said. “We’re working with [the Air Force acquisition branch] and we’ll work with the Space Force to pull that together. I do not see it as a significant hurdle to be able to accomplish that report in the timeframe that’s required—I believe it was mid-May.”

Barnes told reporters in December he would continue doing the top job “into the May timeframe” as well, though Biden could nominate someone to take over before then.

“If the administration nominates and [the] Senate confirms someone earlier, there will be no one happier than me, and I can move into the deputy position by being the deputy, and not being both the deputy and performing the duties of [assistant secretary],” he said.

Defense Committees Begin Taking Shape

Jan. 27, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Membership on congressional committees that oversee defense spending and policy is beginning to take shape almost a month into the new session.

Democrats named to the House Armed Services Committee as of Jan. 27 are Reps. Marilyn Strickland (Wash.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Jimmy Panetta and Sara Jacobs (Calif.), Kai Kahele (Hawaii), Joseph Morelle (N.Y.), and Marc Veasey (Texas), according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Republicans joining the committee include Reps. Mike Johnson (La.), Mark Green (Tenn.), Stephanie Bice (Okla.), Scott Franklin (Fla.), Lisa McClain (Mich.), Jerry Carl (Ala.), Blake Moore (Utah), and Pat Fallon and Ronny Jackson (Texas). Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, now the top Republican on the panel, announced the picks Jan. 27.

Seven Republicans and two Democrats on HASC, including former Ranking Member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), opted not to return for the 117th Congress, which began Jan. 3.

On the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) is taking over as chair following the retirement of Indiana Democrat Rep. Pete Visclosky. California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert will serve as ranking member.

The rest of the subcommittee will be comprised of Democratic Reps. Tim Ryan and Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Derek Kilmer (Wash.), Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Cheri Bustos (Ill.), Charlie Crist (Fla.), and Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.). Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) will serve as an ex-officio member.

Republicans have not announced who will represent the GOP on the defense subcommittee this term. House committee recommendations need to be approved by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, the House Democratic Caucus, and the Republican Conference.

Committee assignments are still murky on the Senate side. Though Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is preparing to take over as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, senators are waiting on chamber leadership to agree on how Democrats and Republicans will share power—and allocate committee seats—in the legislative body now split 50-50 between parties.

Three members are off the committee after losing the election: former Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), and Doug Jones (D-Ala.). The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee similarly lost Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) to retirement. Others may leave as well to pursue interests on other committees.

Some speculate that newly sworn-in Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), the former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, could take McSally’s place representing Arizona on SASC. Jake Best, a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said it’s possible the senator could join that panel.

“That’s an area he’s definitely worked on in the past,” Best said. “There could be some interest.”

Ossoff—who became the Senate’s youngest member at age 33 after beating Perdue in a runoff election this month—was the legislative assistant for foreign affairs and defense policy to Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson from 2007 to 2012.

Chip Unruh, a spokesperson for Reed, recently reminded reporters that “everyone who was on SASC last Congress and is still a senator in the 117th Congress remains frozen in place right now.”

Senators are working through the multistep process of switching the party in power on committees, after Democrats took control of the chamber thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking 51st vote.

First, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) must come to a power-sharing agreement. Then the parties will finalize committee assignments for their members, after which the Senate will formally adopt its organizational rules and install new committee chairs, Unruh said.

“Once a power sharing deal is reached and once committees formally organize, then Jack Reed will become chairman of SASC,” he said. “When will the official change happen? I wish I knew.”

Organizational limbo isn’t stopping the committees from moving ahead, though. SASC has already held hearings on the nomination of Lloyd J. Austin III to be Defense Secretary, and scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing to consider Kathleen H. Hicks for deputy defense secretary. HASC will also hold a public planning meeting to prepare for the year on Feb. 3.