Tim Giardina Suspended: No. 2 U.S. Nuke Commander Under Investigation
By
ROBERT BURNS 09/28/13
06:10 PM ET EDT 
WASHINGTON — The No. 2 officer at the military command in charge of all
U.S. nuclear war-fighting forces is suspected in a case involving counterfeit
gambling chips at a western Iowa casino and has been suspended from his duties,
officials said.
Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina has not been arrested or charged, Iowa
Division of Criminal Investigation special agent David Dales said Saturday. The
state investigation is ongoing.
Giardina, deputy commander at U.S. Strategic Command, was suspended on
Sept. 3 and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service,
a Strategic Command spokeswoman said.
The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at Strategic
Command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced at that
time. The command is located at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha,
Neb.
Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended
Giardina, according to the command's top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze.
Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing
duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security
clearance, she said.
Kehler has recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Giardina be
reassigned, Kunze said. Giardina has been the deputy commander of Strategic
Command since December 2011. He is a career submarine officer and prior to
starting his assignment there was the deputy commander and chief of staff at
U.S. Pacific Fleet.
DCI agents stationed at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa,
discovered the counterfeit chips, Dales said. He would not say when the
discovery was made or how much in counterfeit chips was found, only that "it was
a significant monetary amount."
Council Bluffs is located across the Missouri River from
Omaha.
"We were able to detect this one pretty quickly and jump on it," Dales
said. He declined to give specifics on how authorities determined that casino
chips had been counterfeited or how Giardina might have been
involved.
Strategic Command oversees the military's nuclear fighter units,
including the Navy's nuclear-armed
submarines and the Air Force's nuclear bombers and nuclear land-based
missiles.
Kunze said Strategic Command did not announce the suspension because
Giardina remains under investigation and action on Kehler's recommendation that
Giardina be reassigned is pending. The suspension was first reported by the
Omaha World-Herald.
Kunze said a law enforcement investigation of Giardina began June 16.
Kehler became aware of this on July 16, and the following day he asked the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service to begin a probe.
The suspension is yet another blow to the military's nuclear
establishment. Last spring the nuclear missile unit at Minot Air Force Base,
N.D., pulled 17 launch control officers off duty after a problematic inspection
and later relieved of duty the officer in charge of training and
proficiency.
In August a nuclear missile unit at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.,
failed a nuclear safety and security inspection; nine days later an officer in
charge of the unit's security forces was relieved of duty.
Comments