Snitching on classmates at the Air Force Academy
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the Air Force Office of Special investigations (OSI comparable to the Army’s CID and Navy’s NCIS) has been running confidential informants among the student body at the Air Force Academy;
Eric Thomas, 24, was a confidential informant for the Office of Special Investigations, or OSI — a law enforcement branch of the Air Force. OSI ordered Thomas to infiltrate academy cliques, wearing recorders, setting up drug buys, tailing suspected rapists and feeding information back to OSI. In pursuit of cases, he was regularly directed by agents to break academy rules.
“It was exciting. And it was effective,” said Thomas, a soccer and football player who received no compensation for his informant work. “We got 15 convictions of drugs, two convictions of sexual assault. We were making a difference. It was motivating, especially with the sexual assaults. You could see the victims have a sense of peace.”
Through it all, he thought OSI would have his back. But when an operation went wrong, he said, his handlers cut communication and disavowed knowledge of his actions, and watched as he was kicked out of the academy.
“It was like a spy movie,” said Thomas, who was expelled in April, a month before graduation. “I worked on dozens of cases, did a lot of good, and when it all hit the fan, they didn’t know me anymore.”
Air Force leadership denies knowing anything about the operations, but, well…you know. They probably want to gauge public reaction before they clamor for credit. I’m not sure that I know what my thoughts are on this. On the one hand, I’m glad that criminals have been removed from the officer corps, but, on the other hand, how are these petty criminals getting past the screening process? And I can’t help but think that pitting officer candidates against each other can’t be good for morale and readiness in the long run. I certainly had more respect and confidence in the officer than I do these days.
Category: Air Force
As an officer, I’m not too sure I like this idea of informants. If there’s a problem, get CID up in there with their creepy ass rankless uniforms and do an investigation. Additionally, if I found out one of the officers I’m working for, with or alongside wore a wire and did ‘undercover’ operations, I’d be mighty, mighty leery about trusting that guy. Who’s interest does he have at heart? That matters to me, rather a lot really.
So the Honor Code is officially dead at our Service Academies?
If memory serves, don’t cadets take an oath upon entering all the Academies which goes something like “I will not lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate those who do?”
I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for corruption in the ranks of the Academies. I really don’t. Holding people accountable for actions within the Corps is a good thing. Unfortunately, we live in a world where too many people think that accountability is a bad thing. It is almost a if we teach kids these days that “the ends – no matter how devoid of morals and ethics – justify the means.” We seem to teach that and look down on those who say “that act is wrong.” Even the title of this post as the negative connotation of “snitching” on others.
If we can’t count on the young men and women in this country – the supposed “best of the best” – that attend the military academies when in school, how can anyone trust them when bullets are flying and lives are on the line?
Just my opinion, mind you.
Nobody likes a rat.
Oh wait- isn’t that what they call those Keydets from VMI?
😉
It is a moral dilemma…on the one hand- criminals and dirtbags should be unceremoniously culled from the ranks before they can advance any further. No issue with the end product being the removal of bad apples before they can raise their right hands and become leaders in uniform.
On the other, putting CIs in the barracks creates a climate ripe for abuse. Giving so much potential power to those who may not have the maturity and character to handle it is just asking for problems of a different sort.
What’s worse- if the expelled cadet’s story is true, then there are legitimate concerns with the way this “operation” was/is being carried out.
No easy answers to this…and a meatball over the plate for ethics courses and discussions everywhere.
This story has some holes in it.
The Air Force Acadamy’s mascot is the Falcons and the school’s colors are BLUE and white. No joke, see for yourself: http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/
Rule of thumb: never, NEVER get involved with any alphabet agency and an investigation, even as their pet spy. If you’re not a card carrying agent and on their 401K, run away fast from any involvement in any kind of sting operation.
I suspect they cut him a deal–he was scum who got caught and–no jail time if he helped them catch some of his compadres. And once they had cleaned house, yes he got tossed, as part of his deal with OSI. So yeah, he didn’t go to jail–but no way was he going to ever be an officer. And he still doesn’t get it, which is why he’s complaining that he got kicked out.
I had a captain who worked for me in Iraq who got a GO Article 15. And then got mad when I relieved him for cause, because the general had put the Article 15 on his restricted file. Oh, and when he got back to Fortress Bragg, they “show caused” him and tossed him out on his @$$. So I think these type of guys don’t comprehend that what they’ve done can have multiple consequences.
I don’t think they would just have a cadet going in and spying in general, or just looking for troublemakers–he was rotten, got caught, and sang like a canary . . .
But then again, that’s me just speculating.
#9 Don, agree.
Jonn, have to disagree with your analysis of, “OSI comparable to the Army’s CID and Navy’s NCIS” Based on experience, I would compare OSI with “bring in the clowns,” CID with being the clowns, and NCIS with having a couple of decent chicks on the TV show. When I cross trained into clubs, there was a “former” OSI captain who was also a “trainee” and the guy swore he was done with OSI. Funny thing though, when I approached him about the mandatory correspondence courses we had to take as trainees to obtain the AFSC (MOS), he didn’t have a clue. Come time for an adult beverage with the staff after a hard day, he would fade away. Come time to do manual labor, no captain. Yeah, right, former OSI. Kind of like a “former” Marine. No such thing.
I’m suspending judgement until more details come out. There is just way too little evidence for me to come out in support of either side right now. Currently, all we’ve got is a whole bunch of speculation and unconfirmed reports, with at least some parties like the expelled cadet presumably disgruntled and definitely not disinterested. Let’s wait and see what happens.
#7 SSM: what’s your point?
Anthony Camerino (aka Matthew Alexander) was OSI, so in that regard, I agree with you, Club Manager, but I know some good people in OSI, too.
I read about this on military.com and it was so ridiculous I had to stop.
Also, it was easily the longest story they’ve ever posted. A summary of battles during World War 2 would have been shorter.
It’s like everybody is taking crazy pills………and snitching on each other!
I’m a cadet at the Academy. None of us know the full story, but I can tell you for certain that Thomas, the cadet who claims he was double-crossed by the OSI after helping them, is nothing like the horribly mistreated angel the story makes him out to be. The kid was always getting into trouble, pulling crap like dressing like a basic cadet and running around the campus for no reason in his freshman year.
I doubt he’s making the whole thing up, but the part about his supposed betrayal is definitely either embellished and exaggerated; the reason he had 309 demerits (you’re only allowed 200 before getting kicked out) when the dust settled was because all the stupid shit he did before the big sexual assault incident had him at well over 100.
This wasn’t a kid who turned in folks guilty of honor code violations per his sworn oath that were then properly investigated and adjudicated.
This was a kid who, by his own admission, was encouraged to violate the academy rules while being a “CI” (aka rat b4stard)…when the cops tell you the only way to get the bad guys is to break the rules yourself and wear a wire and record all your conversations, you should pay attention to all the alarm bells that start ringing inside your head.
It’s no surprise that handlers who encourage the breaking of rules to find others who are breaking the rules would not actually have your back.
Now he gets to pursue a different career, perhaps he can find a job in politics where being a rat b4stard is an enhancement to your resume.
Sounds like an asshole that got caught then turned into a Blue Falcon of the first order. entrapping people then ratting them out
By the way, take note that the kid was a soccer player. I’d be willing to wager that 90% of all serious crimes committed by cadets here are committed by intercollegiate athletes.
I feel like this Academy doesn’t quite develop the character it once does. Maybe it’s actually always been this way, but very few of us here are the proud, law-loving symbols of future leadership that we are supposed to be.
Upidy, snobbish USAF cadets ratting each other out for breaking the rules!
So what is the problem?
If the Super did not know of the investigation, there is more to the story. Typically, CO’s are read into such investigations. So the investigation must have had a nexus to a larger leadership probe, perhaps pointing towards failure of leadership to control the behavior.
So other than dickheads being dickheads, I won’t weigh in and announce my displeasure of all things USAF.
The Navy will always fly more planes faster and further … And they have been around much longer than 1947.
@ 11 … High School Soffmore
Rog that!
Yes Sir.
WILCO.
Aye aye matey!
Affirmative.
Will do.
Standing by.
Message received.
LMRIAO!
As a ’76 grad, I suspect that someone is spinning the actual reason they were expelled.
@ #19: Don’t suppose any of that flying faster and further involves any refueling from the USAF. 😉
Meanwhile, there does seem to be a problem with who they let enter and who remains at the academy. Of course, honorable behavior seems to be more difficult to find generally these days.
The officer corps, eating their young….how interesting.
@20: Chief? LMRIAO = Laughing My Rosy Indignant Ass Off?
@ Eric … Pretty damn close and pretty much the same.
Laughing My Royal Irish Ass Off!
MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) I have flown on AF, Army, Navy and CG aircraft and they all seemed the same, well almost always. Seems the pilot of a Navy C-130 kept leaving the seat down after using the head. Given a choice, I’ll take an AF C-130 any time followed closely by a CG bird.
With regards to one of those other academy’s, I recently saw a photo of the AF Academy CG and she would qualify as “hot” for those of us approaching geezer status. Folks who met her said she was a breath of fresh air so let’s see what happens at that charm school next.
I tried to fly on a Marine aircraft once but the cockpit was so crowded with the road guards and someone to call cadence, we didn’t get off of the ground :>))
This “informant” sounds like the Boot Camp rejects who, after they’re thrown out, say they got booted for beating up their DS or DI.
Hey CM, are you sure the delay wasn’t because they forgot to bring an extra spool of flight line and an extra bucket of prop wash?
This guy reminds me of some of our “friends” in the stolen valor community.
They were pushing this as 4-6 month or so OJT back in the day to squared away enlisted men in various venues.
Qualifications: Be sharp, fit, and handsome and have a sense of values and integrity.
Kicker: Snitch.
Almost all of the boys turned it down minus a few. And we never saw them again (minus one).
Cannot say I disagree w/ what they are doing (cleaning up garbage) but at what cost?
On the fence on this one.
For all those flaming the cadet in question, please note that OSI lied about the young man’s service to them. Files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show OSI “terminated” Thomas on Sept. 10, 2012, because he “no longer had access to targets.” Thomas eventually realized he was on his own. Desperate to prove his case, he requested his case records from OSI through the Freedom of Information Act. OSI said there were no records. He requested them again and got the same response. Nine months later, after a third request from Thomas’ congressional representative, Randy Neugebauer of Texas, OSI released 86 pages detailing the cadet’s deep involvement with OSI. By that time, though, Thomas had been kicked out of the academy. “They lied to him. They lied when they said they would be there and they lied when they said there were no records,” said Skip Morgan, the former OSI lawyer who became Thomas’ attorney. In the letter to the superintendent in April, Morgan said text records clearly show Thomas was working for OSI on the days he was being punished for sneaking off base, adding, “He was instrumental in drug investigations and sexual assault investigations. His reward was for OSI to abandon him.” The academy did not reply. Morgan, a retired colonel, told The Gazette that in his years representing Air Force cadets he has never seen such a case. “This is a young man who really tried to do the right thing. It takes tremendous moral conviction. And they left him in the lurch,” he said. “They lied to him on several occasions. I thought that was shabby. I don’t care who hears that, it was shabby treatment unbecoming of a commissioned officer.” (my emphasis) Now Thomas may not have been entirely honest about what happened, but records to exist (despite OSI’s previous claim) and they at least partially support the former cadet. Also note that the cadet was -in effect- blackmailed into cooperating, as were the other informants quoted. Finally, note that all four come from a minority background. Perhaps OSI found them easier to… Read more »
This is nothing new really. Especially since OSI uses snitches to inform on members at big units. Like for example, in my early years at Scott AFB, HQ Air Mobility Command, they used a set a twins and couple of goody goody girls to inform on their friends who was hanging out with known drug dealers. So they had these girls and a few others go to parties and jot information down on people.
They also had young airman running around trying to coax 21 and up yr old airman into buying them alcohol. Most likely becuase those snitches were wearing wire or going to report it to OSI that day.
Most informants for OSI usually have been caught doing something bad. Like the underage airman asking people for alcohol got busted for underage drinking. Along with those twins possibly.
Even in Mountain Home, Idaho they used snitches to inform on AF members who were dealing Meth in town.
Forgot to add: Not too surprising either that they did this at Officer level when they been doing this at the enlisted level for at least 2 decades now.
The Honor Code at USMA, USNA, USAFA are dead. The student body is appointed by congresscritters, a few by MOH, and the rest by a preparatory school like USMAPS.
A fish rots from the head. Considering how Academy-centric the Army, Air Force and Navy are (Marines escape this problem), it is little wonder our services are incredibly corrupt.
@ OWB. Oh yeah. Fergot bout dat in flight fueling thing that USAF does very well.
@20—MCPO, my point is that there has been no official investigation into this as of yet. It’s still in the “he said, she said” stage. I’m hearing lawyers throwing talking points around, I’m hearing an expelled cadet talking about the how the Academy screwed him over, which may or may not be true, and I’m hearing the Air Force denying everything. The media’s demonstrated propensity to get the details wrong in the first stages of an investigation, headline crime, or major scandal due to their desire to rush things to the print is also worth noting. All I’m saying is, let’s suspend judgement until it’s been investigated and/or more details come out. Drawing any conclusions about the Air Force Academy’s justice system, the expelled cadet, or any of the people he helped put away or get kicked out is premature now.
In the early to mid nineties, I wondered if the Academies were teaching anything other than drug dealing and cheating, now here we go again!
I’m still pissed at USAFA for rejecting me for a tiny problem on my med paperwork (that the Army ended up not caring a bit about) only to have over 20 cadets from the class I would have been in get kicked out for cheating and drug use.
Screw ’em, screw the whole Air Force.
How does a person reach the age of 21 without learning that the police – any kind of police – can and will lie to you? That alone tells me that he doesn’t have the intelligence or judgement to make it worth wasting my tax dollars trying to turn him into an officer. And that’s giving him the benefit of the doubt for his “I was being blackmailed for just being at a party where other people were smoking pot” story.
#39 –
How does a person reach the age of 21 without learning that the police – any kind of police – can and will lie to you?
Very, very easily. Just grow up in a neighborhood, and a family, where no one ever gets arrested for anything serious. I can’t tell you how many young Soldiers I’ve seen who only learned that one the hard way. Not always all that young either!
I believe you all should try and get the whole story as this is only a very small part of it. is it wrong yes. is he perfect no. but who is and let he/she who has done everything right cast the first stone, if not keep your mouth shut till you know the whole truth. OSI used and abused him, there was no paper signed stating he would not have them if things hit the fan. dont post ignorant comments opinions are one thing accusations are another.
That’s the point, actually. I don’t think OSI is innocent, but this kid was in a military academy. They drill into your head that NOTHING happens without paperwork to back it up. This kid either wasn’t paying attention or didn’t care about the paperwork.
I think the whole things should be investigated. However, he was still a cadet. He shouldn’t have been breaking any rules, in the first place. Sure, he helped them get criminals out of the academy (which brings up a whole new issue), but that does not excuse his breaking of the rules.
OSI has been using AF members as informants since 1948. While it appears the source handlers here made some stupid mistakes, the cadet’s story stinks to high heaven. I think there is more to the story on both sides. Also, while OSI is “comparable” to CID and NCIS, OSI does a lot more than either of those agencies, particularly in the counterintelligence realm.
@41–that’s exactly the point–he’s not about to put the whole story out there probably because if he did, it would tend to paint him in a less-than-favorable light.
YMMV.
@ HS Guy:
Chill + Pill + Ingest = A calming effect that one develops over time!
If you can’t find humor and humilty in good ole’ satire … sit back, learn and enjoy!
@ #36: Uhm, actually, those of us who have a bunch of life experience behind us know enough about the system to make very educated guesses about exactly what is being said, and not said, and can fill in the gaps quite accurately. And laugh about it.
This clown admits to knowingly violating the rules of the Academy. Doesn’t matter why or who documented what, he should be busted out for rules infractions. Period.
In the letter to the superintendent in April, Morgan said text records clearly show Thomas was working for OSI on the days he was being punished for sneaking off base, adding, “He was instrumental in drug investigations and sexual assault investigations. His reward was for OSI to abandon him.”
Are you suggesting that breaking the rules is acceptable for cadets working as informants, that somehow their informant status supercedes their cadet status?
If the OSI needed an inside person they could easily have worked with academy officials to plant an undercover officer into the class instead of compromising a cadet in the process. Unfortunately for this kid he wasn’t working as an official officer of the OSI he was a cadet informing on classmates and still subject to the rules and regulations for cadets….I feel no sympathy for this kid, he’s not some wide eyed innocent in this, and if he is he’s too f@cking stupid to serve as an officer in any branch of the military.
I served 3 years as a Senior Enlisted Advisor at the Naval Academy. Although most of the midshipmen were there for the right reasons and I found them to be honorable young men and women, the scumbags were especially scummy when they reared their ugly heads.
The big problem was, the senior leadership spends so much time telling these youngsters how great they are, when it comes time to boot some of the miscreants out, they have a hard time doing it. How do you get rid of the cream of the crop?? It made me sick to see some of the compromises that were made to keep unsat midshipmen. And athletes seemed to get special treatment.
Those youngsters are college students wearing uniforms. Sure they have been given oaths and are told they will be held to a standard, but that standard is unevenly enforced.
Due to Facebook, I have reconnected with a couple dozen midshipmen from the Company I advised when I was there. Most of them are out of the military and served honorably and were good kids. A few are still on active duty and are doing well. I think the reason for their success is not because of the Naval Academy. It is because they came from good families who had expectations for them and they were raised right. And not all of them came to the academy with a silver spoon in their mouths. They were smart kids who regardless of socio economic background had strong families. I am proud of them and the grown ups they have become.
My point in this post is that the Academies are only going to be as good as the youngsters they recruit. If we decide we want diversity over solid citizens, then we should not be too shocked if the academies turn out turds and criminals. I think we are going down the road towards accepting turds and criminals.
I know of a Naval Academy grad (2011) was investigated for knowingly giving money to a classmate so he could buy drugs for pain. Lied about his involvement and “lending” the money. The chain of command ALL recommended dismissal. This Midshipman called in ALL kinds of favors from every and all walks of life.
He is now a surface warfare officer on active duty with the ring. No snitch was used in the investigation.
Thanks John for the objectivity. I have rather enjoyed this blog over the years, and suffered a bout of heartburn over some of the rankled feathers resulting from useful LE tactics. I just wanted to second your thoughts… We’re not all bad. For the writers of this refreshingly pointed blog, please do soldier on, and to almost all of the commenters, please continue the levity, satire, sarcasm, and shenanigans…! Mytwocents