AIR FORCE ACADEMY HIT BY SCANDAL

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The U.S. Air Force Academy has stepped up drug
testing and is putting more classroom emphasis on ethics amid the biggest
drug scandal in the school's 47-year history.

Thirty-eight cadets out of 4,300 have been implicated in the scandal, which
began in December 2000.

In addition, six cadets have been charged or convicted of crimes such as
larceny and sodomy, including the former president of the Class of 2003,
who is accused of stealing $9,000 from a class activity fund.

Academy officials have no simple explanation for the crime, which has
extended into this month with the arrest of a student on charges of raping
a female cadet.

"We rely on the American people to send us their best. Every now and then
we don't get the right people," said Col. Mark Hyatt, director of the
Academy Center for Character Development, a department at the school that
concentrates on everything from dinner-party manners to battlefield ethics.

The drug scandal - involving mainly the use of Ecstasy and marijuana - is
the biggest problem for the academy since 105 cadets accused of cheating
resigned in 1965. In the past 10 years, there had been only one other drug
case at the academy, spokesman Lt. Col. Perry Nouis said, adding that
officials believe the problem is now under control.

Because of the scandal, the academy has made it clear that an admission of
even one puff on a marijuana cigarette will result in expulsion and
possibly imprisonment, Hyatt said.

"We have to do things right or people die. When I come out of Baghdad and I
am out of the fuel, I am trusting that tanker pilot will be there," Hyatt
said. "Because of what happened, we are not going to look the other way."

Also, academy officials increased random drug tests and is working ethics
lessons into courses across the curriculum - even in chemistry class.

Of the 38 cadets implicated, eight were court-martialed and seven of those
went to prison; one of them got 31/2 years at Leavenworth. Twenty-one
others have left the academy. Some of those are being forced to repay the
government for their tuition, while others must serve in the Air Force in
the enlisted ranks and not as officers.

Nine others received punishments ranging from loss of privileges to fines.

The investigation began after a cadet tested positive for drug use.