sophomores who were under 21 and were blackmailed after accepting alcohol from upperclass cadets. Several assaults allegedly occurred while women were under the influence of alcohol. This situation is thought to have been generally known among the leadership of the United States Air Force, but little has been done until recently to correct the situation or to discipline officers in leadership positions at the academy; those that have been disciplined have often been scapegoats, including a colonel who was forced into retirement despite having been assigned to the Air Force Academy for only two months, well after the rapes occurred. Lieutenant General John R. Dallager, the superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy, was demoted to major general due to the scandal. In more recent years, however (beginning specifically in the spring semester of 2003), new leadership was instated at the academy, and began sweeping changes to the academy culture and environment in order to correct the problems. Specifically new sexual assault reporting procedures have been produced, alongside new mandatory reporting procedures, as part of an "Agenda for Change" program. A confidential survey of 4,200 cadets and midshipmen, including all of the women and about 1,000 men, at US military academies conducted by the Defense Department in the spring of 2004 revealed 302 claims of sexual assault by women of which only one third had been officially reported. Taking this data into consideration, on 18 March 2005 a new policy was announced for all US military academies which would permit a victim of sexual assault to seek counseling and medical care confidentially without triggering the disciplinary process. This policy, it is hoped, will increase the percentage of sexual assaults which are reported and increase the willingness of victims to seek assistance. Military commanders would receive notice of the request for help but not the identity of the victim thus providing them with more accurate information. Hopes were expressed that the new policy, by giving more control over the situation to victims, would also result in more official reporting through disciplinary channels. On 26 March 2005 it was reported in the combined weekend edition of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post that acting Secretary of the Air Force, Peter B. Teets had recommended in a memo to Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary that former commanders and other Air Force officers, now mostly retired, who were implicated in the sexual