Sailors at the Nuclear Power School take several tests as part of the Engineering Watch Supervisor exam. The tests help qualify them to operate the nuclear reactors that power aircraft carriers and submarines. The staff instructors use several different versions of the test and assign them randomly to students.

Some of the sailors training aboard the former USS Daniel Webster—a non-deploying instructional submarine—knew which version of test they were going to take, as well as all of the answers. They knew because their instructors had told them.

Sailors on the training ship passed the answers to each other via email and thumb drives. The investigation reveals that sailors knew who had the files. All they had to do was ask. Sometimes, they didn’t have to ask at all. More than one sailor received unsolicited copies of the test via email.

The instructors passed out the tests to anyone who asked. They “had likely already cheated before they assumed their position [as instructors],” the Navy concluded.

The instructors got to their positions because they themselves had cheated on the tests. Then they passed on their knowledge to their students. This went out for seven years. The cheaters institutionalized their deceit.

Here’s a galling detail. The instructors received mandatory integrity training before administering the exams. They signed a piece of paper attesting to their honesty. As part of the exam process, the instructors had to remind sailors of the consequences of cheating before every test.

Mere paper. Empty words.

Yes, these exams are hard. The workload is heavy at the nuclear school. Everyone else was cheating, making it easier and easier for successive generations of trainees to accept that maybe it was okay getting the exam answers from the instructors.

The sailor who blew the whistle on the cheating did so only because they saw a news report about the Air Force’s recent nuclear cheating scandal. That emboldened them. Even then, the whistleblower was scared of possible retaliation.

When the Navy asked other sailors why they did nothing, they said they feared “the repercussions and consequences to them or their shipmates.” On top of all that, the Navy caught 27 people lying to the investigators about cheating.