Nuclear commander linked to fake poker chips

WASHINGTON -- The admiral fired last year as No. 2 commander of U.S. nuclear forces may have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers to feed a gambling habit that eventually saw him banned from an entire network of casinos, according to a criminal investigative report.

Although Rear Adm. Timothy M. Giardina's removal as deputy head of U.S. Strategic Command was announced last year, evidence of his possible role in manufacturing counterfeit chips previously had not been revealed.

Investigators said they found his DNA on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter genuine $1 poker chips to make them look like $500 chips.

Nor had the Navy disclosed how extensively he gambled.

The case is among numerous setbacks for the nuclear force. Disciplinary problems, security flaws, weak morale and leadership lapses documented over the past two years prompted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Nov. 14 to announce top-to-bottom changes in how the nuclear force is managed that will cost up to $10 billion.

The records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Giardina was a habitual poker player, spending a total of 1,096 hours -- or an average of 15 hours a week -- at the tables at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the 18 months before being caught using three phony chips in June 2013.

He was such a familiar figure at the casino, across the Missouri River from his office near Omaha, Nebraska, that some there knew him as "Navy Tim." But they may not have known he was a three-star admiral and second-in-charge at Strategic Command, the military's nuclear war-fighting headquarters.

Strategic Command plays key roles in U.S. missile defense, cyberdefense, space operations and other functions.

A career submarine officer, Giardina is a 1979 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

On July 18, Giardina was banned from both the Horseshoe and Harrah's for 90 days, but he returned at least twice to play poker at the Horseshoe before the ban expired.

The second time, in October, he was given a lifetime ban from all gambling establishments run by the Horseshoe's owner, Caesar's Entertainment Corp.

The report included Giardina's remarks to a casino security agent about the polygraphs given at Strategic Command to officers holding security clearances.

"(What) they're really trying to do is find out if you got, you know, if you're having sex with animals or something really crazy or you've got this wild life that you could be blackmailed into giving military secrets out," he was quoted as saying.

At Strategic Command, Giardina was privy to highly sensitive national security secrets. Legal gambling by Strategic Command officers with security clearances is not prohibited or limited by policy, although if they incur excessive debt they are required to report it, according to the command's chief spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze.

Six days after he received the lifetime Caesar's ban, Giardina was kicked out of the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, according to the NCIS records that gave no reason for that expulsion. That casino is not a Caesar's property.

The state investigator's report also said a review of surveillance footage revealed "odd behaviors" by Giardina at the Horseshoe.

"Giardina was observed taking cigarette butts out of public ash trays and smoking them," it said.

Giardina, who remains on the Navy payroll as a staff officer in Washington, was never charged with counterfeiting. Instead he was found guilty in May 2014 of two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer -- lying to an investigator and passing fake gambling chips. He was given a written reprimand and ordered to forfeit $4,000 in pay.

The Navy chose not to pursue a court martial because they were uncertain they could get a conviction with the evidence they had, officials said.

In early September 2013 Giardina was quietly suspended from his post at Strategic Command, which he had assumed in December 2011. One month later he was fired and reduced in rank from three-star to two-star admiral.

Giardina did not respond to an AP email request Friday for comment on the investigation report. In May, after the Navy announced his punishment, Giardina told the AP he had no comment.

NCIS denied AP's original request for the investigation records but released them this month after granting an AP appeal.

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