Illinois and Missouri took new legal moves last Thursday to stop the BRAC actions that would divest each state of its Air National Guard fighter aircraft. Missouri filed a preliminary injunction to protect the 131st Fighter Wing’s F-15s at Lambert Field in St. Louis. Illinois officials requested a restraining order to prohibit the BRAC commission from delivering its final recommendations to President Bush. (They are due Sept. 8.) The commission voted to remove the 183rd Fighter Wing’s F-16s, stationed in Springfield, Ill. A hearing in the Missouri case was slated for Tuesday.
Members of Congress from both parties expressed frustration and dismay over the abrupt and still-unexplained firing last month of Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh from his dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.