Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that there are new procedures in place to ensure all relevant information about crimes committed by service members are sent to the federal government, after the Air Force failed to report a domestic violence conviction of Devin Kelley, the gunman who opened fire in a Texas church last month.
The Air Force was criticized for failing to report that information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which would have blocked Kelley from legally buying a gun.
Wilson told lawmakers that this failure was “not limited to this case,” but said the Air Force was taking steps to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
“We’ve also added a requirement that the person working the case… they not only file the fingerprints, they have to check the database to ensure the fingerprints have been properly recorded and received by the federal database,” she explained.
The Air Force revealed last week that dozens of other Air Force service members charged with or convicted of crimes were never reported to the background-check database as required, and that there is currently an ongoing investigation into the system to make sure such lapses do not happen again.
Wilson said the review will not be complete for another four to five months. Only then will decisions be made about accountability and/or disciplinary actions, she added.
On Tuesday, a Department of Defense Inspector General report found the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps all failed to submit reports of its members convicted of an offense to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services.
