While I agree Fuchs there is a larger context here, and the two nuclear mishaps were the excuse to lower the boom on the USAF leadership for many more sins, I do not think they are merely pretexts but are also of a pattern with the other abuses that has set Gates and others in DOD against the USAF. The senior leadership of a service sets the tone for its organizational culture. So does it come as a surprise that in a service where the senior leadership habitually subverts and even defies the express will of its superiors in government to further their own agendas, that farther down the ranks you find officers becoming lax and unserious about their own duties and jobs?