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Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, left, with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley.
Air Force Shakeup Underlines Row With Gates
by
Josh Katz
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked for the resignations of two top Air Force officials yesterday after a series of Department of Defense blunders and major disagreements.
30-Second Summary
Thursday’s forced resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael W. Wynne make Gates the “first defense secretary to fire both the military and civilian heads of a service at the same time,” according to The Washington Post.
Gates said that his decision to force out the two officials was “based entirely” on the Donald report, which analyzed the Air Force’s recent nuclear weapons gaffes, the Air Force Times reports. Gates also suggested that this is not the end of the Air Force shakeup.
The Air Force has experienced a string of recent oversight failures. Last August, the leadership came under fire for accidentally flying nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the United States, which were then left unmonitored. In March, news surfaced that the Air Force had mistakenly shipped classified, nuclear materials to Taiwan.
But analysts suggest that the firings may have as much to do with ideological differences between Gates and the Air Force leadership as with the service’s errors.
Gates has stressed his desire to prepare the armed forces more for “small, ‘asymmetric’ wars—wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces,” the Wired Danger Room blog writes. The Danger Room claims that the Defense Secretary wants the Air Force to focus more attention on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than any future conflicts with China or Russia.
Gates said that his decision to force out the two officials was “based entirely” on the Donald report, which analyzed the Air Force’s recent nuclear weapons gaffes, the Air Force Times reports. Gates also suggested that this is not the end of the Air Force shakeup.
The Air Force has experienced a string of recent oversight failures. Last August, the leadership came under fire for accidentally flying nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the United States, which were then left unmonitored. In March, news surfaced that the Air Force had mistakenly shipped classified, nuclear materials to Taiwan.
But analysts suggest that the firings may have as much to do with ideological differences between Gates and the Air Force leadership as with the service’s errors.
Gates has stressed his desire to prepare the armed forces more for “small, ‘asymmetric’ wars—wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces,” the Wired Danger Room blog writes. The Danger Room claims that the Defense Secretary wants the Air Force to focus more attention on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than any future conflicts with China or Russia.
Headline Links: Top Air force officials fired
The Pentagon has forced Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael W. Wynne to resign following the discussion of a “report on the Air Force’s problems handling nuclear weapons,” according to the Air Force Times. The ousters come after of a year of tense relations between Air Force leadership and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Source: Air Force Times
The firing of both top Air Force officials was unprecedented, according to The Washington Post, emphasizing how important the episode is for the Department of Defense and the Air Force.
Source: The Washington Post (free registration may be required)
Background: ‘Mislaid Weaponry Prompts U.S. to Order Nuclear Inventory’
On March 28, 2008 findingDulcinea reported on a U.S. Department of Defense blunder in which it delivered nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan, a mistake that went undetected for 18 months. Furthermore, “In August, the Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads for 36 hours after they were unintentionally flown on a B-52 bomber between bases in North Dakota and Louisiana.”
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: The future of the Air Force
“Despite reports you may be reading elsewhere, this firing was not about nukes or missiles, well-placed sources say. “Far and away the biggest issue was the budget stuff, not the nuclear stuff. The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle fight], the F-22 deal ... Gates really didn’t appreciate it,” one of those sources tells Danger Room. Now, with the botched missile and nuke shipments, Gates “has good cover to do something that suits him bureaucratically.” Furthermore, “Rumors are swirling of more top-level Air Force officers getting the axe.”
Source: Wired-Danger Room
In the Arms Control Wonk blog, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis explains how serious the Taiwan nuclear weapons mix-up was for the United States, and how the Air Force is a “sick organization.” According to Lewis, “These guys don’t get it. This is not an isolated incident. The organization has a problem. This is dangerous.”
Source: Arms Control Wonk
Moira Whelan of the National Security Network calls attention to the public-fashion in which Gates chose to force the resignation of the Air Force Officials. “The most interesting thing to me is that Gates took really decisive action here. On one hand, he seems to be keeping things in line in a pretty rough environment. On the other hand, it makes you wonder what else isn’t getting done if the Air Force chiefs have been able to run their own rogue operation for so long unchecked.”
Source: Democracy Arsenal
Alabama’s newspaper the Anniston Star published an op-ed by Robert S. Dudney, the editor of Air Force magazine, criticizing the Gates’s policies, which favor counteracting irregular warfare. “In case Gates has forgotten, it was not that long ago that the U.S. had to use main conventional forces—principally air forces—to win the 1991 Gulf War. More recently, high-end forces were needed to fight in Bosnia, Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq. None of these operations would have been possible without advanced, front-line weapons.”
Source: The Anniston Star
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