Air Force F-35 crashes on Utah runway
Emergency crews responded to an F-35 that crashed on the north end of the runway in Utah on Wednesday. Authorities reported that no one was injured and the pilot was ejected from the plane safely.
A high-level Space Force officer has been allowed to keep his job after an Inspector General’s investigation found he fostered an inappropriate work environment with rude behavior, such as having sex toys at work.
“Mr. Cox remains the director of the Center for Space Warfare Analysis,” an Air Force spokesman told the Air Force Times of Andrew Cox, a senior Space Force civilian official who was the subject of the investigation. “The matter was addressed through established civilian personnel processes.”
The trouble for Cox began in 2013, when he became director of the Pentagon’s Space Security and Defense Program, according to an Air Force Times report on Friday. The main leader had received a pair of framed skintight silver pants as a gag gift, which he hung in his office with a note instructing people to “break in here in case of an emergency.”
Cox would sometimes refer to the pants to other people in the office, joking that they can help seduce leaders in Washington into providing more funding to his department.
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A view of the SpaceX complex and the US Space Force at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
But the pants weren’t the only time the investigation found Cox had kept sex toys in the office. Just a few years later, Cox received a new gift containing a silver box filled with sex toys and other paraphernalia, while in 2018 she wore a “mankini” over her office clothes at a festive workplace gathering in front of the employees and their families. .
“It was chartreuse green, and it led to the main area,” one person told investigators. “The [told us he] he put it in front of his wife and leaned in and said, ‘Honey, do you like this?'”
In a 2019 incident during a meeting with subordinates, Cox retrieved the silver case containing sex toys from her office and opened it on the table in front of other employees.
“When I turned around at one point, I saw that the director had removed a pair of handcuffs and was dangling them on his hands,” an interviewee told investigators.
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Cox was known to make sexual comments around the office, talking about male genital piercings and oral sex. He was also known for using the “That’s what she said” joke around the office, which is intended to sexualize otherwise innocuous comments.
The senior leader’s behavior prompted an Air Force inspector general investigation in 2020, which was able to substantiate many of the claims made about Cox over the years.
Employees interviewed during the investigation described Cox as a brilliant leader who asks “some of the best questions…of any leader in the Space Force,” but often ran his department more like a fraternity.
The Pentagon seen from Air Force One.
((AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File))
“He has a leadership style where he likes to get everyone involved, break down the problem … and have a lot of people in the room,” an employee told investigators. “When you’re not talking about business, [he] It’s…acting like a 13-year-old.”
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“Cox has done good things for this country, things that most people will never know,” said another interviewee. “I… I want it there, just without it.” [character] issues.”
The investigation found that a female contractor working for SSDP resigned as a result of Cox’s antics, claiming that the top leader told her he would “try to [her] different” and without his usual “nonsense” when he complained about his behavior.
Cox reportedly tried to clean up his behavior after multiple employee complaints and removed sexual items from his office in November 2020, but the damage was done.
“Whistleblowers and [redacted] they clearly lost confidence in their leadership, even though they appreciate their leadership outside of this behavior,” the investigation concluded.[His] the conduct was improper and inappropriate [and] compromised his position as a senior executive service civilian.”
The official flag of the United States Space Force in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Samuel Corum-Pool/Getty Images)
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Even though the investigation found the complaints about Cox to be true, he remained a senior leader earning a six-figure salary and was eventually given a supervisory position for a new unit focused on space combat planning, the Air Force Times.
Cox appealed the investigation’s findings, resulting in the Air Force dropping three of the six misconduct charges against him, according to an Air Force letter sent to Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Col., which was obtained by the Air Force Times.
The letter said a 30-day suspension was initially proposed for Cox, later reduced to a letter of reprimand. He too received a performance review hit from him, forfeited a $27,000 bonus payout due to him, and had his award nomination rescinded with a $40,000 cash prize.
“The Air Force fully recognized the substantiated allegations of Mr. Cox’s unprofessional conduct and its impact on the workforce and the mission,” the letter said. “The Air Force also recognized that Mr. Cox had an impeccable performance and conduct record… The Air Force believes it took the appropriate action in formally reprimanding Mr. Cox.”
The Air Force did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
