An office of inspector general (OIG) report that’s being withheld from the public alleged that a commander of a force that transports the nation’s nuclear arsenal engaged in misconduct over the span of a decade, and that the individual’s superiors failed to stop it.
The Department of Energy OIG found seven examples of “problematic behavior” by the National Nuclear Security Administration official. The most recent example took place last year.
According to the report, a squad commander for the Office of Secure Transportation (OST) engaged in “uncontrolled anger, hostility, and aggression toward fellow workers and authority figures.”
Other complaints against the officer included falsifying federal records, threatening to pull agents’ credentials, and “manipulating the promotion selection process” to favor friends over other applicants.
“We received an allegation that…even though management was aware of the problems, no disciplinary action was taken,” the OIG states.
Senior officials within the OST claimed “none of the incidents were reported to them.”
The OST is a military force comprised of roughly 350 federal agents. It is tasked with transporting the nation’s nukes , which is sometimes done with big rig trucks that drive on country’s busiest highways.
The DOE claims that all agents must pass a “security and safety reliability program” to ensure that only individuals with the “the highest standards of reliability, physical and mental suitability can gain access to nuclear weapons. “
But the office has been plagued by charges of misconduct in recent years.
In addition to the latest findings against the squad commander, the OST found agents on the job involved in alcohol-related incidents, carrying unauthorized weapons, and, on occasion, having wrecked trucks loaded with nuclear weapons.
In September the Energy Department OIG discovered a “troubling failure of OST officials to report and properly assess a deliberate example of unauthorized access to nuclear weapons.”
And in the details of the report released Monday, the IG concluded that “even though OST had a number of internal controls in place designed to prevent” the commander’s “problematic behavior”, those controls were ineffective.
Specific recommendations made to the OST were classified–determined by the IG to be for ”Official Use Only.”
In November, the Pentagon announced its own major failings handling nuclear weapons. The agency put forward a plan to counteract low morale, poor leadership, and outdated equipment within the military’s nuclear force.
Since President Obama took office, the Department of Energy’s spending on weapons research and development has steadily increased from roughly $8 billion in 2009 to over $10 billion 2014.
The Administration has also proposed a $355 million nuclear refurbishment program.
