President
Bush on Aug. 17 announced plans to nominate Michael W. Wynne to become the new Secretary of the Air Force. Wynne, a West Point graduate, has served as the principal undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics. Bush did not say when he would officially forward Wynne’s nomination to Congress. If confirmed, he would succeed James Roche, who left the post earlier this year. Bush earlier had appointed Preston “Pete” Geren, a former Texas Congressman, to serve as Acting SECAF, and he will continue in that post until Wynne is installed in office.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.