Ground Zero, For Now

Ground Zero, For Now: The Air Force form

ally activated Air Force Global Strike Command Provisional yesterday at Bolling AFB, D.C. The provisional command, a temporary unit led by Brig. Gen. James Kowalski, will take the lead in tackling the manpower and resource issues associated with standing up AFGSC, the new nuclear-focused major command that will oversee the service’s nuclear-capable bomber and ICBM operations. AFGSC(P) will also be involved in helping to identify the final location for the new command's headquarters at a place other than Bolling. “There is an incredibly rich tradition of operational competency in this mission and our Air Force has done a lot of work to restore our focus on deterrence,” said Kowalski in a release. He added, “We look forward to laying the foundation needed to stand up Global Strike Command.” AFGSC(P) does not have any manpower authorizations, and USAF will inactivate it upon the standup—expected in September—of the permanent major command. Meanwhile, supporting it are detachments of subject matter experts that also began operations yesterday at the headquarters for Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command at Langley AFB, Va., and Peterson AFB, Colo., respectively. These contingents, along with personnel from Air Force headquarters, will form a temporary HQ element of about 55 airmen for AFGSC(P) to help it develop the functional requirements for Air Force Global Strike Command. The provisional command will also work closely with the Air Staff’s strategic deterrence and nuclear integration office (A10), Air Force Materiel Command, and US Strategic Command to refine the roles and responsibilities of AFGSC.

1/13/2009

Verbatim

Preemptive Action
"Since the [Defense] Department's acceptance of the independent estimates last fall, we've been, in just about every respect, acting as if the program were in a Nunn-McCurdy breach. ... We've been taking all of the mitigating and corrective action that we would take as if there were a Nunn-McCurdy breach."
—Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, discussing with reporters the restructure of the F-35 strike fighter program announced in February 2010 and the probability that the program will soon exceed Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds that would necessitate, per US law, a program review and corrective steps, Washington, D.C., March 2, 2010.

Verbatim

Message for Grandma
"She has working for her as a citizen in the United States an Air Force Reserve that has some very talented, capable, patriotic, and willing individuals doing the business to keep this nation free. Just like her generation—the 'Greatest Generation'—was, I am very proud of the folks that we have got. If not the second greatest, then they are an extension of the greatest generation and they are ready, willing, and able to do the things that she would want them to do to make sure we keep our freedoms."
—Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, responding to a reporter's question on what the reporter should tell his 85-year-old grandmother to convey to her the importance of Air Force Reservists to the nation's security, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 19, 2010.