Nuclear Command General Booted - Update

Maj. Gen. Michael J. Carey
(Washington, D.C.) Concurrent with last week's booting of Adm. Giardina, we hear of the piggyback booting of another high-profile senior military leader, Maj. Gen. Michael Carey.

The Air Force said Friday it fired the two-star general in charge of its nuclear missiles in response to an investigation into alleged personal misbehavior. It was the second sacking this week of a senior commander of nuclear forces.

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was removed from command of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for three wings of intercontinental ballistic missiles — a total of 450 missiles at three bases across the country, according to an Air Force spokesman, Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick.

Although no specifics have been reported, the firing of Gen. Carey was apparently prompted by behavior while on temporary duty. Authorities did say that neither sex, drugs nor gambling were involved.

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Strategic Command Admiral Booted in Gambling Scandal
[Previous 10/10/13 post]

Vice Adm. Tim Giardina
(Washington, D.C.) NCIS is investigating.

The deputy commander of U.S. nuclear forces, Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, was notified Wednesday that he has been relieved of duty amid a military investigation of allegations that he used counterfeit chips at an Iowa casino, the Navy said.

The move is exceedingly rare and perhaps unprecedented in the history of U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for all American nuclear warfighting forces, including nuclear-armed submarines, bombers and land-based missiles.

In addition to being relieved of duty, Giardina was also demoted from three-star to two-star admiral. The order came from President Obama.

Presently, it's not clear whether Adm. Giardina knew that the chips were bogus. To me, that suggests Giardina could have been set up.