By Just another reason I like Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he holds senior leaders responsible:
In an extraordinary shake-up, the Air Force’s top uniformed and civilian officials are leaving their jobs, U.S. officials said Thursday after an internal report on a mistaken shipment to Taiwan of warhead fuses for nuclear missiles pointed substantial blame at the Air Force.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down, said defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Air Force officials had no immediate comment. [Robert Burns - AP]
Read the rest of the article because the resignation request was driven by plenty of other incidents involving the Air Force then just the Taiwan mishap. It has definitely been tough days in the Air Force in recent months.
7:53 am on June 11th, 2008 1
I don’t believe this had anything to do with the nuke issue other than to serve as an excuse to can two “dissenters” who disagreed with the strategic direction of the Air Force. Gates is certainly a better SecDef than Rumsfeld, but his focus on the current fight at the expense of future conflict will destroy the Air Force’s core capability of air superiority 10-20 years from now. Its a lesson that was learned the hard way in the air war over Korea, when the vastly superior Mig-15 showed up over the peninsula. In that case we were lucky to have had the F-86 already developed and quickly shipped it to theatre. What happens in 15 years over the Taiwan Straits if we have to fly 50 year old aircraft against Chinese air defense systems or their new fighters which are as capable as our current F15s? Shutting down the F22 line, not mobilizing our industrial base during war, and focusing on tactical issues at the DoD level like “how many UAVs” we can rush to OIF as the flavor of the day is not visionary or forward thinking. Gates has not immpressed me in the slightest.
11:10 am on June 11th, 2008 2
I agree with Harry, but will take a wait and see position. Gates will be out by January, and his current decisions should not have a lasting effect. It will be up to the incoming administration to set the direction and tone for the next four years.
12:18 pm on June 11th, 2008 3
worldwidewarpigs.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-usaf-bosses-fired.html
1:55 pm on June 11th, 2008 4
AF leadership needed a shake up. Commissioned officers in the AF have gotten by with mismanangement and poor leadership for many years. Facts are facts. Acountability should become the new buzz word – replacing political correctness.
5:06 pm on June 11th, 2008 5
Gate’s new pick for Chief of Staff is exactly what the Air Force needs.
The fighter pilot mafia did permanent damage to the service’s close air support and light/medium airlift capabilities by taking the mission, funding, and resources away from the Army, and then working to eliminate the capabilities… leaving the soldiers on the ground hanging.
Hopefully the new leadership (CoS with a special ops background) will make a difference.
7:57 am on June 12th, 2008 6
Close air support and medium airlift are rather pointless without air superiority. Ask the Israeli’s about that….their entire air doctrine was redesigned after some harsh lessons learned. Air superiority first, CAS/interdiction second. Its been 60 years and the Army still doesn’t realize the strategic application of airpower to the battlespace. That the “soldiers on the ground” have freedom of movement from enemy air attack is too often taken for granted because its been so long since the American military has faced a conventional force with a legitimate air threat. Does that mean we ignore the development and application of that capability? That the AF actively tried to eliminate the CAS mission might have held some water 40 years ago, but with the forced integration of the services following the Desert One disaster, came an entire doctrine (AirLand Battle) based on integrating CAS assets into the fight, to include the design of a specific platform (the A10) which was something the AF fought bucked against for a long-time. That this “the Army doesn’t get enought support” argument continues to rear its head from is utterly ridiculous.