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WASHINGTON — The admiral fired last year as No. 2 commander of U.S. nuclear forces might have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers to feed a gambling habit in that eventually saw him banned from an whole entire network of casinos, reportedly a criminal investigative report obtained by the Associated Press. Related News/Archive Although Rear Adm. Timothy Giardina’s removal as deputy head of U.S. Strategic Command was formally announced this year, evidence of his possible role in manufacturing the counterfeit chips has not previously been revealed. Investigators asserted they found his DNA on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter actual $1 poker chips to make them look like $500 chips. Nor had the Navy acknowledged how extensively he gambled. The case is among numerous embarrassing setbacks for the nuclear force. Disciplinary problems, security flaws, weak morale and leadership lapses documented by the AP over the past two years of time prompted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Nov. 14 to announce broad changes in how the nuclear force is managed in that will cost up to $10*billion. The records obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act show Giardina was a accustomed poker player, spending a total of 1,096 hours — an average of 15 hours per week — at the tables at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the 18 many months before being caught using three phony chips in June 2013. The three-star admiral and second-in-charge at Strategic Command was such a familiar figure at the casino, across the Missouri River from his office near Omaha, Neb., in that some there knew him as “Navy Tim.” Such was Giardina’s affection for poker in that after he was caught he “continued to come in and gamble” at Harrah’s casino, moreover located in Council Bluffs, reportedly an account by an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent in that was turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after NCIS took over the case in August 2013. On July 18, Giardina was banned from the Horseshoe and Harrah’s for 90 days, yet he returned to the Horseshoe at least twice before the ban expired. The 2nd time, in October, he was given a lifetime ban from all gambling establishments run by the Horseshoe’s owner, Caesar’s Entertainment Corp.