Air Force Plans Nuke Summit

Air Force Plans Nuke Summit: Th

e Air Force intends to convene a summit later this year to plot the way ahead to reinvigorate its nuclear mission. USAF officials told the Daily Report that the summit will convene sometime after the service’s newly created nuclear task force concludes its work. Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley announced the creation of the task force on June 30. It is charged with coordinating corrective actions already underway and developing a strategic “roadmap for rebuilding” USAF’s tarnished nuclear enterprise. The task force, whose membership has not yet been announced, will provide an interim update in 30 days, a draft roadmap in 60 days, and the final product in 90 days, leading to the summit, the officials said. The roadmap “will thoroughly address the principal themes of process, culture, and structure,” the officials said. The officials said the task force “will identify root causes for the systemic failures” in USAF's nuclear stewardship highlighted in the Donald Report. As it conducts it own work into USAF’s nuclear enterprise, the task force will also support the work of the independent review group that Defense Secretary Robert Gates established in early June to look into organizational, procedural, and policy improvements across DOD’s entire nuclear enterprise.

7/8/2008

Verbatim

Instill Value
“When you get down to our airmen, they are not looking for praise, glory, and accolades. But they are looking for value—value in them as human beings. And to do that, we have to put value in the mission. When the nation, at the leadership level and every American’s level, places value in the mission, they will put value in the people. And that is what I find important to the airmen inside of the world that I live in.”
—Gen. John Corley, commander of Air Combat Command, during a four-star forum at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2008.

Verbatim

What Does the Nation Expect?
"The question for us is, ‘Should a force that is extremely relevant and in very high demand in this very difficult environment of the global war on terrorism have airplanes that are 30 or 40 years old?'"
—Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, commenting on the command’s aged fleet of gunships and special-mission airlifters and tankers, during a four-star panel discussion at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, Sept. 17, 2008.