Error blamed on outdated scoring key; 2,285 candidates rescored
The Air Force announced Tuesday that it had canceled the promotions of 135 service members after discovering a grading error on the security forces specialty knowledge test (SKT). The error, which the service described in a press release as an “isolated and highly unprecedented anomaly,” resulted from an outdated scoring key that gave 135 airmen and women incorrect scores, leading them to be wrongly informed they had earned promotion.
The service rescored all 2,285 candidates who sat for the exam and determined that a different set of 135 airmen and women were eligible for promotion. The quota of 586 available promotions to technical sergeant for eligible security forces personnel remained unchanged, the Air Force said.
Chief Master Sergeant David Wolfe, the service’s senior enlisted leader, said in a statement that the Air Force owed it to those affected to address the issue immediately. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted,” Wolfe said. He added that the service had taken steps to avoid a recurrence, including hosting a call with wing command chiefs to discuss the failure. The Air Education and Training Command and the Air Force Personnel Center have strengthened their internal processes, according to the press release, though no details were provided.
The mistake was “the result of human error,” the Air Force said, and no artificial intelligence products were used in the promotion cycle process. Those affected have been informed of the change in their status and have access to a hotline to Air Force leadership.
The grading error comes as the Pentagon faces scrutiny over personnel decisions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has intervened in promotion lists across multiple branches. Most recently, Hegseth removed nine candidates, including women and Black officers, from a Navy promotion list. In March, he reportedly intervened to block two women and two Black men from becoming one-star Army generals. Hegseth has criticized diversity and what he has called “woke” policies in the military.
The Pentagon has repeatedly asserted that all promotions are based on merit. “The department will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement last month.