The Air Force confirmed a news report in which Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, USAF’s top personnel officer, said the planned escalation of US forces in Iraq might entail an increase in the number of airmen who fill in for soldiers and marines on such “outside the wire” jobs as convoy duty and attending to improvised explosive devices. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne late last year said that USAF would continue its “in lieu of” work for the time being, but it’s not an open-ended commitment. Air Combat Command leader, Gen. Ronald Keys has said that ILO work is costing his command money it doesn’t have to spare.
The ongoing government shutdown has not slowed progress on the Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, a congressional official said, correcting a previous statement from lawmakers about the secretive program.

