No Range, No Air Bases: If Asian news media accounts are true, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told South Korean defense officials during a meeting last fall that unless Seoul could provide suitable air training ranges, the US would remove its air bases from the peninsula. US Air Force pilots stationed in South Korea have expressed dissatisfaction with the situation, and the commander of US Forces Korea told Congress earlier this year that US air elements do not have adequate ranges to ensure day-to-day competence in air-to-ground operations.
The Air Force is conducting a detailed investigation of environmental hazards at ICBM bases as part of its broad study of cancer risks at the facilities. There is an improved understanding of the environment and factors that can affect the issue, as well as better technology and “access both to…