ACADEMY DRUG SCANDAL

Random Testing Increased for Air Force Cadets

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 that
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 rash of 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, which 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."

Academy officials have increased random drug tests in which cadets are
summoned to the clinic and told to urinate into a cup, and the academy is
considering DNA testing of hair follicles, which scientists say can detect
some drugs up to 90 days after their use.

In addition, the academy 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. 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. Nine others received lesser
punishments.