US Air Force Nuke Commander Fired after Drunken Moscow Binge
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US Air Force published its investigation into a general who was fired months after a disastrous trip abroad, most of which he was found to have spent drunk and upset while in the arms of two foreign women considered by some to be a security risk.
Major General Michael Carey oversaw 450 nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) before he was dismissed in October for personal misconduct during a four-day trip to Moscow in July. While in Russia, Carey “acted in a manner that exceeded the limits of accepted standards of good conduct,” according to a partly redacted 44 page Air Force inspector general report made public Thursday after a Freedom of Information Act request.
Carey’s trip was meant to be a nuclear security exercise but according to documents quickly went off the rails when he began drinking during a layover in Zurich, Switzerland which seemed to turn the following three days of a professional trip into a bender, RT reported.
One witness stated that “Maj Gen Carey was visibly agitated about the long delay at Zurich, he appeared drunk and, in the public area, talked loudly about the importance of his position as commander of the only operational nuclear force in the world and that he saves the world from war every day.”
Carey and a colleague met two “women,” in Carey’s words, at the rooftop bar of Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. The pair reportedly told Carey they worked in the travel business but did not make it clear whether they were Russian or British.
Carey then arranged a meeting with the women, who likely presented a security situation, for the following night, taking members of his staff to a restaurant with the knowledge that the pair would be there.
Observers have noted that the two women, either as a result of their encounter with Carey or because they were prepared to meet him, were likely aware of Carey’s stature in the Air Force. The general admitted as much during an interview with investigators.
