The Cadet Wing at the Air Force Academy in Colorado resumed its daily schedule on Feb. 13, following a lock down initiated Feb. 7 by Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni after discovering a cheating incident involving 28 freshmen, according to an academy news release. The return to norm means the cadets’ off-duty privileges have been reinstated, but Regni declared that there is “much yet to accomplish,” so the academy is not in an “ops normal” condition, yet. Regni restored some normalcy after putting the entire wing through a “Character Commitment Weekend.” Nineteen of the cadets involved confessed to their breach of integrity and await a judgment recommendation by their peers. A Feb. 8 academy release said the school was investigating involvement by other cadets in the incident in which answers to a test were sent via instant-message to several cadets through a social Web site.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.