American Notes WEST POINT

If Washington politicians strictly followed the U.S. Military Academy's hallowed honor code, the great ethics war in the nation's capital would be over, and all the scoundrels would be gone. "A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do," the West Point creed commands. But while Congress and the Administration struggle to clean up their act, the fortress on the Hudson seems set to lower its ethical guns ever so slightly.

After an eight-month study, an Army commission has proposed that the wording of the code be changed to "nor tolerate such acts by other cadets." The aim is still to condemn the foul deed, but now also to keep a more open mind toward the individual who committed it. This would give the cadet honor boards greater leeway in deciding punishment and thus enable an offender to remain at the Point with a chance to prove himself. Although the academy superintendent has long had less dire options, expulsion has been the usual fate.