Two Air Force nuclear missile launch officers who are facing drug charges related to ecstasy , cocaine and bath salts now face hearings to determine whether they will be court-martialed . 1st Lt Michael Alonso and 1st Lt Lantz Balthazar have been charged in cases stemming from an investigation that led to the disclosure last year of a separate exam-cheating scandal . One of their fellow missile officers who was a target of the same investigation pleaded guilty to illegal drug use in January and was kicked out of the service , the Air Force said on Friday . 1st Lt Michael Alonso and 1st Lt Lantz Balthazar of Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been charged . Alonso and Balthazar are both members of the 12th Missile Squadron at the 341st Missile Wing at the base . Alonso and Balthazar are both members of the 12th Missile Squadron at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana . The Malmstrom missile wing operates 150 of the Air Force 's 450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles , or ICBMs . Launch officers are trained to operate ICBMs that are armed with nuclear warheads and are on constant alert for possible launch . Alonso was charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for illegal possession , use and distribution of ecstasy and for 'conspiracy related to the drug offenses ' , according to Malmstrom spokesman Josh Aycock . Balthazar was charged with illegal possession , use and distribution of ecstasy and cocaine and for conspiracy related to the drug offenses . He also was charged with illegal use of Pentedrone , which Aycock said is commonly called bath salts . Both officers were charged April 17 . Malmstrom 's missile wing operates 150 of the Air Force 's 450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles . Aycock said their cases will be reviewed at Article 32 hearings , which are akin to a civilian grand jury proceeding , to determine whether there is enough criminal evidence to warrant a court-martial . The hearings have not been scheduled , Aycock said . Alonso and Balthazar were among three Minuteman 3 launch officers at Malmstrom who were under investigation for illegal drug use . The other , 2nd Lt Nicole Dalmazzi , was charged in December and court-martialed in January . Dalmazzi , a member of the same squadron , pleaded guilty to illegal use of ecstasy and was dismissed from the Air Force and sentenced to a month of confinement in a Montana jail . The Air Force had also charged her with obstructing the Air Force Office of Special Investigations probe by allegedly dyeing her hair to alter the results of hair-follicle drug tests , but that charge was later dropped . The cases at Malmstrom stem from a drug investigation that began in August 2013 at Edwards Air Force Base in California . When investigators examined the cellphones of two airmen at Edwards they found text messages to or from 11 other Air Force officers at several other air bases , including Malmstrom . The messages allegedly detailed specific illegal drug use and led to the discovery that some had also improperly exchanged answers to ICBM launch officer proficiency tests . The ICBM force , which also operates from bases in Wyoming and North Dakota , has been under the public spotlight in recent years for a series of embarrassing missteps related to low morale , disciplinary problems , a lack of resources , training lapses and leadership failures . Last November , then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced plans for top-to-bottom changes in management of nuclear forces and said the Pentagon would spend $ 8billion to fix it . In testimony to a Senate panel this week , an administration official who headed a detailed review of the nuclear forces for Hagel last year said her group believed that as much as $ 25billion could be needed to fix an array of problems . 'The problems that we found were worse and they were much more systemic ' than expected , Madelyn Creedon said in her testimony Wednesday . Creedon , who was head of the Pentagon 's nuclear policy shop at the time and is now principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration , said her review found morale in the nuclear Air Force was 'not good . ' Nuclear missile crews told her they 'felt trapped ' in their job . 'They would say , 'Well , I have the nuclear stink on me so I do n't have much of a future in the rest of the Air Force , '' she said . The Air Force says it has begun to change that attitude by implementing a range of changes and improvements that are being felt across the force . Launch officers are trained to operate missiles armed with nuclear warheads and are on constant alert .
1st Lt Michael Alonso and 1st Lt Lantz Balthazar have both been charged . Members of Missile Squadron at the 341st Missile Wing in Montana . Malmstrom missile wing operates missiles armed with nuclear warheads . Hearing will see if enough criminal evidence to warrant a court-martial . Third officer was charged in December and court-martialed in January .