Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, knocked both the Pentagon and the BRAC commission—neither of which, he said, “lived up to the high standards that the law set for them.” He criticized DOD for withholding information and in many cases providing data that was “inconsistent, with fumbled numbers and incorrect conclusions.” Skelton singled out the Army and Air Force, in particular, for distorting the process by retiring equipment and recapitalizing infrastructure. The Air Force could have made its changes using existing statutes, he said. Instead, “their inclusion only succeeded in making the BRAC recommendations overly complex and unwieldy.” On a matter of principle, however, Skelton voted to uphold the commission recommendations.
The U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear development facilities saw the first use of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a weapon specifically designed for such a mission more than 20 years ago. The Air Force B-2s were the only platform with the stealth and carrying capacity needed to haul the huge…