2 Air Force nuclear missile officers charged with illegal drug use and distribution
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Alonso and Balthazar were among three Minuteman 3 launch officers at Malmstrom who were under investigation for illegal drug use. The other, 2nd Lt. Nicole Dalmazzi, was charged in December and court-martialed in January.
Dalmazzi, a member of the same squadron, pleaded guilty to illegal use of ecstasy and was dismissed from the Air Force and sentenced to a month of confinement in a Montana jail. The Air Force had also charged her with obstructing the Air Force Office of Special Investigations probe by allegedly dyeing her hair to alter the results of hair-follicle drug tests, but that charge was later dropped.
The cases at Malmstrom stem from a drug investigation that began in August 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. When investigators examined the cellphones of two airmen at Edwards they found text messages to or from 11 other Air Force officers at several other air bases, including Malmstrom. The messages allegedly detailed specific illegal drug use and led to the discovery that some had also improperly exchanged answers to ICBM launch officer proficiency tests.
The ICBM force, which also operates from bases in Wyoming and North Dakota, has been under the public spotlight in recent years for a series of embarrassing missteps related to low morale, disciplinary problems, a lack of resources, training lapses and leadership failures. Last November, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced plans for top-to-bottom changes in management of nuclear forces and said the Pentagon would spend $8 billion to fix it
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