MORE DRUG TESTS

AFA Will Increase Testing After Probe

A top officer at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Wednesday said the academy
will step up its drug testing in the wake of an investigation involving 35
cadets.

Col. Brian Binn, vice superintendent, confirmed the school has found
evidence allegedly implicating 23 cadets in illegal activities or of
knowing about drug use and not reporting it. He said 12 others were
investigated and cleared.

Binn expressed hope that the probe is at its end. He said the 35 cadets
investigated represent less than one-half of 1 percent of the 4,100 cadets
on campus. Still, he said even that percentage is troubling to academy
leaders, so they will increase the number and frequency of drug tests and
start doing them on weekends and after holidays.

He said the probe revealed the popularity of drugs such as the dance drug
Ecstasy, which remains detectable in the body for just hours, unlike drugs
such as marijuana, which can be detected long after their use.

The decision to expand testing came a day after Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo.,
suggested the academy should consider conducting more tests and academy
spokesman Neil Talbott said no changes would be made in the program.

On Monday, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he wants a report and
congressional hearing on the Air Force Academy drug probe. Allard serves on
a Senate Armed Services subcommittee that oversees the nation's military
academies. Like Allard, Hefley said he expects a full report on the drug
investigation but will wait until seeing that to determine if congressional
action should be taken.

Talbott said Wednesday's hastily called news conference with Binn was an
attempt to reassure the public the drug scandal is limited in its scope -
and to point out that 12 cadets have been cleared. Until Wednesday, academy
leaders had only acknowledged they were investigating 11 cadets.

Binn said nine of the 23 cadets implicated in the probe already have been
punished for knowing of illegal activity but failing to report it.
Punishment in such cases ranges from demerits to marching to confinement.

The remaining 14 cadets are suspected of drug use, and a final decision on
their cases is to be made soon by the academy's superintendent.

Binn said five of the 14 cadets are suspected of using Ecstasy; four
marijuana; three LSD; one undetermined but likely Ecstasy; and one Blue
Nitro, an illegal dietary supplement.

Among those 14 cadets, one already has quit the academy and one, senior
Stephen D. Pouncey, the only cadet named so far in the probe, is facing a
court-martial for allegedly using LSD, Ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine
and dealing LSD and Ecstasy. Pouncey has waived his Article 32, similar to
a preliminary hearing, and academy commanders are considering whether to
court-martial him. Pouncey faces 55 years in military prison if
court-martialed.

"We think these 14 will hopefully end this investigation," said Binn, who
noted no other cases of suspected drug use have been turned up.

The Air Force Academy conducted about 2,500 random drug tests in the last
10-month school year, with two cadets testing positive, one of them
Pouncey. West Point conducted 7,406 tests in the same period and Annapolis
more than 14,000 tests.