Two Top-Ranking U.S. Military Officials Dismissed in the Same Week (And They Have Something in Common)

The U.S. Air Force on Friday fired Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, the man tasked with overseeing its nuclear missiles.

Oddly enough, two days before Carey’s firing, the Navy sacked Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the second-in-command at U.S. Strategic Command, which writes the military’s nuclear war plans and would transmit launch orders should the nation ever go to nuclear war.

Giardina was relieved of command amid allegations he used counterfeit poker chips at a casino. He was demoted from three- to two-star rank and reassigned to a Navy staff job until the Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe is completed.

The Air Force would not specify what Carey did to get fired, but two officials with knowledge of the investigation indicated that it was linked to alcohol use.

The 35-year veteran, who took command of the ICBM force, at 20th Air Force headquarters at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., in June 2012, will be reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation into personal misbehavior, the service said.

Carey’s case appears to be unrelated to that of Giardina, but the two men are associated in the chain of responsibility for U.S. nuclear weapons.

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