Gates puts the hammer to the Air Force Leaders

[bat1159man]

It looks like Secretary Gates will not take any B.S. from the Leaders of the Armed Forces when it comes to accountability. First the Secretary of the Army and now the Air Force Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force have been asked to resign.

It would be very hard to disagree with Secretary Gates, that when it comes to the nukes, you cannot have these incidents go on without someone being responsible.

Gates ousts Air Force leaders in historic shake-up - Yahoo! News

[AZXD]

This action pretty mich defeats the thought someone had, that the Nuke transport was a message to Iran.


Ya gotta agree with the actions. We can't afford to have these things wandering across the nation at random.

[NewXDsupporter]

This was such a comedy of errors. I cant help but think that the Ammo Dump crew, the Munitions Load Crew and the Aircrew should have noticed that something was different. But with that said someone needed to be axed and I think that they had already force retired the base commander.

[Raptor1956]

I don't see how they were able to get access to the nukes without somebody signing off for them. In my day at SAC this could not have happened and if Lemay were still around there'd be a few people walking around without their heads...


Brian

[Ed Ely]

First, Secretary Gates is well within his
rights to fire Secretary Wynne and Gen
Moseley. Every senior civilian and military
official knows they serve at the pleasure
of the President and the Secretary of Defense.

During the tenure of Secretary Wynne
and General Moseley, great things were
happening in the Air Force—advances in
cyber, special operations, air dominance,
ISR, space, and medevac missions …
among others.

General Petraeus has been pleased with
Air Force performance in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The public doesn’t know that the majority
of terrorists in both countries are being
killed by Air Force airpower. Almost the
entire fleet of UAVs – some 88% -- are
forward-based and being used in innovative
ways. There is a B-1 airborne over
Afghanistan 24/7. The Air Force has embraced
change like no other Service.

I believe there is more to the firings than
meets the eye.

The Air Force has taken more than 100 steps
to improve nuclear surety since last year. And …
while I have not seen the investigative report,
according to every press release on the subject,
it was the Defense Logistics Agency which
released the ICBM parts to Taiwan – not the
Air Force.

Additionally, General Moseley is not in the
chain of command – his principal role is to
provide military advice to the President, Secretary
of Defense and the National Security Council.

As Secretary Gates tells it, he based his actions,
in large part, on an investigative report prepared
by ADM Kirkland Donald. We need to see a sanitized
version of this report. Sec Gates has an obligation
to show what it was that justifies such drastic action.

There’s a much bigger issue here, and that has
been the advice provided by General Moseley
and the support for him by Secretary Wynne.

Like Billy Mitchell, both Secretary Wynne and
Gen Moseley have been outspoken in pointing
out the Air Force needs to recapitalize and
modernize the fleet – the average age of Air Force
aircraft 30 years ago was 8 years old and now
it is 25 years, a trend that will not be reversed
without action.

Pilots are now flying aircraft their fathers and
grandfathers flew. Airplanes are breaking in
half in-flight. More airplanes have been grounded
with age-related maintenance problems than
ever before.

Secretary Wynne and General Moseley have
called for an additional 20 billion dollars a year
to recapitalize the fleet and warned that the
Air Force is in danger of becoming obsolescent.

Secretary Gates has accused the Air Force
(and all the Services) of planning for the next
war, but that is what you have to do with air
forces because you cannot produce the aircraft
needed when you need them. History is replete
with lessons of air forces that failed because
they did not plan ahead.

Like Billy Mitchell, America should heed the
message of Secretary Wynne and General
Moseley. It is apparent to us that the Department
of Defense did not appreciate the military advice
nor the warnings they were getting.

I also believe the Administration should listen
to the message – not shoot the messengers.
There’s a much bigger issue here, and that is
Air Force ability to meet the needs of the
nation now and in the future.

Ed