The Nuclear Weapons Task Force

The Nuclear Weapons Task Force: Defense Secretary Robert Gates has named the other members of the newly created Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management, which last week he said would be led by James Schlesinger. The members are: retired Air Force Gen. Michael Carns, retired Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, John Hamre, Franklin Miller, Jacques Gansler, J.D. Crouch, and Christopher Williams, currently on the Defense Policy Board. Gates has given the task force a short deadline to review the classified Donald Report and the various reviews conducted by the Air Force, Navy, and Defense Logistics Agency, making its first initial assessment, focused on the Air Force, within 60 days. The Air Force already has begun implementing some changes following two internal and one external review conducted after the mistaken transfer of nuclear-equipped cruise missiles from North Dakota to Louisiana.

6/16/2008

Verbatim

To Be Clear
“Just like in my business, the issues that go badly get all of the attention. I think, to be clear with you, there are many things that are managed well every day in the Air Force.”
—John Young, Pentagon acquisition executive, speaking to defense reporters on the state of Air Force acquisition, Washington, D.C., Nov. 20, 2008.

Verbatim

F-22 Options
“They have two choices. On January 21st, they can obligate the $90 million and decide there's some chance ... that they will buy the airplanes and they'd rather preserve the option to buy [them] at no additional cost to the taxpayer. Or, they could chose not to obligate the $90 million and accept that they still have a decision to be made between then and March 1st. But that decision may cost the taxpayer more money.”
—DOD acquisition czar John Young on how releasing only $50 million of the $140 million authorized by Congress to keep the F-22 production line active until March 2009 still preserves options for the new Administration, Capitol Hill, Nov. 19, 2008.