The service’s changes to the nuclear force have greatly improved morale, Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, the deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, said Thursday. “Things are so much better now than they were in the past,” Weinstein said at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. Air Force Global Strike Command launched the Force Improvement Program in February 2014 to prompt a command-wide look at morale after widespread cheating on nuclear proficiency exams and and drug use at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., were uncovered. The investigation revealed low morale across the force. As part of FIP, new career opportunities were created. Since then, the command has investigated drug use at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., but the “vast majority” of the 31,000 airmen who constitute the force are meeting or exceeding Air Force standards, Global Strike Commander Gen. Robin Rand said in March. Weinstein attributed the improvements to giving the airmen more responsibility for their mission. “If you’re going to tell somebody that they have a job of national importance, and you’re going to tell someone that what they do impacts this nation every single day, you need to give them the responsibility,” he said. “To me, when I say what the morale is, it’s really high. And it’s high because we put responsibility where it belongs.”
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
