Joint Basing Provision Raises McCain Ire

Joint Basing Provision Raises McCain Ire: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), frequent Air Force critic and now presumed Republican candidate for President has instigated an investigation over whether senior Air Force officials had inappropriately assisted Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in crafting a provision in the 2008 war supplemental that would outflank BRAC 2005 on the creation of joint bases, reports The Hill. The newspaper quotes a letter McCain sent Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England last month: "I believe it is inappropriate for senior Air Force officials to lobby legislators to delay or overturn BRAC decisions." To which England replied that DOD does not condone such actions and furthermore the Pentagon "strongly opposes" the provision. A spokesman for Inouye told The Hill that the two Senators want the Pentagon to "slow down and rethink the joint basing approach" because it may "create more problems than provide for military efficiency." The Air Force has the lead for six and is involved in 10 of the 12 joint bases identified in BRAC 2005. And, according to testimony last month before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee by Kathleen Ferguson, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for installations, the service has "expressed concern" over the proposed "execution strategy" that it feels might "impact mission." (Indeed, Air Force officials complained to Congress last year that the service needed more time to assess the impact.) However, she asserted that USAF "is not advocating any position that would inhibit carrying out any BRAC recommendations." Meanwhile, the Air Force is investigating the matter.

6/27/2008

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No Dog, Just Concern
"You know it concerns me that we keep hearing, 'Well this is something that the military doesn't want. They didn't ask for,' and all that. Then I go over there [Southwest Asia theater], and that's not their attitude at all. They have needs over there. Our lift capacity is in dire straights. … Now on the F-22—just yesterday we read about the T-50 … a fifth generation [fighter] that the Russians have. … I'm concerned about this. And I guess, you know, if we're down to 187 F-22s, and I think out of that only—what 120 are actually combat ready and used for combat. … I look at our committee—the Senate Armed Services Committee—and on these two vehicles I mentioned—the F-22 and the C-17—in Oklahoma. I don't have a dog in that fight. We don't have any parochial interest there. But it's the capability that we're going to need."
—Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), speaking during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Fiscal 2011 defense budget, Feb. 2, 2010.

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Taming Expectations
"Every QDR disappoints those who look for radical reallocation of resources. The current fiscal environment is compounding that trend."
—Jim Thomas, vice president for studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, briefing reporters in Washington, D.C., Jan. 26, 2010.