2,008 No. 5

May 2008 

"Painfully Aware"
Within a few years, we will have 75 percent fewer nuclear weapons than at the end of the Cold War. Abolishing nuclear weapons once and for all is a worthy long-term goal. … We must always hedge against a dangerous and unpredictable world. Rising and resurgent powers, rogue nations pursuing nuclear weapons, proliferation, international terrorism—all demand that we preserve this 'hedge.' … [However] the mere existence of weapons with such destructive power … rightfully brings much scrutiny to bear on how they are handled. Nobody is more aware of this fact—painfully aware—than the men and women of this base."
—Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking with airmen at Minot AFB, N.D., the site of one of the nuclear enterprise missteps that spawned leadership changes throughout the Air Force and the birth of a new nuclear-centric major command, Dec. 1, 2008.

The "Connective Tissue"
While our many DOD and interagency panels and committees provide opportunities for interface across interagency lines, I am not convinced that we are tying these discussions together into a sufficiently robust interagency framework for developing a national space vision, strategy, and resourcing plan. … America's airmen are embedded throughout the joint community and sister agencies, and every day, they strive to extend the benefits of the nation's investment in defense space systems to a broad and diverse range of customers. In many ways, it is America's airmen that serve as the connective tissue across the national security space enterprise.
—Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, speaking at AFA's Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles, Nov. 21, 2008.