President Bush informed the nation this afternoon in a televised press conference that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Bush intends to nominate former CIA director Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld. Gates currently is serving as president of Texas A&M University. Despite saying just a week ago that Rumsfeld would remain in his post, Bush today said the decision “after a series of thoughtful conversations” and was not the result of Democratic success in the mid-term elections. The President said he and Rumsfeld agreed the “time is right.”
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA