Priorities

Three times a year, Air Force major commanders meet to coordinate priorities. Defense Secretary Gates, however, set the priority at yesterday’s Corona gathering by firing both the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff. Gates stated his actions were “based entirely” on a report critical of the Air Force’s handling of nuclear weapons.

Juxtapose the above story with this one and I can understand Secretary Gates anger:

E-mails reproduced in the report showed that Hornburg’s successor at ACC, now-retired Gen. Ronald E. Keys, told Moseley that ACC could not spare $50 million for a video show at a time when, due to budget contraints, it could only fund 75 percent of its base operating support needs. Keys wrote, "I cannot support burning that kind of money to fix something that isn’t broken when I am not buying fixes to things that are broken." Keys noted that the $50 million could fund many important projects.

ACC – or Air Combat Command – is the command responsible for nuclear bombers.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 6 Jun, 2008