U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is set to announce a major overhaul of the country's nuclear program on Friday after a test-cheating incident in Montana.

The Defense Department assured Americans that the country's nuclear arsenal is safe, secure and effective despite recent discovery of the test-cheating incident involving personnel assigned at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

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Hagel will make the announcement at the Pentagon on Friday morning, to be followed by discussion of the overhaul plans with nuclear staff at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota where the nuclear bombs are stored in underground silos built during the Cold War and had few upgrades since then, according to the Washington Post.

The revamp would result in upgrades costing billions of dollars as well as assigning a four-star general to oversee the Global Strike Command, reports Reuters.

The overhaul is the result of two reviews ordered by Hagel after a sailor who went through a nuclear training program in Charleston, South Carolina blew the whistle that enlisted sailors were allegedly cheating their exams which tested their ability to operate nuclear reactors that are the power sources of ships and submarines.

The information led to an internal probe by the Air Force that resulted in nine commanders in the U.S. missile force being relieved, while one more commander quit. This was following by the recent axing of three more commanders. The head of the Malmstrom Air Force Bay in Montana also resigned in March over the scandal.

The scandal resulted in the decertification of 19 missile crew staff from the 91^st Missile Wing due to their poor performance in March.

In 2013, the military general who had supervision over the arsenal was removed from his post due to personal misbehavior, while the deputy commander of the U.S. Defense Command was also sacked for gambling. The command has supervision over the country's nuclear weapons and space operations.

At least one-third of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles owned by the U.S. are stored at the Montana facility.

TagsChuck Hagel, US Nuclear Weapons, test-cheating scandal