In a lengthy letter to airmen, Chief of Staff Michael Moseley writes that after taking a 40-percent post-Cold War personnel reduction, the Air Force “has been driven to sacrifice its future to keep manpower constant,” leading to a “decades-old decline of investment accounts.” To wit, by not cutting more people, the service has not been able to buy new aircraft and new space systems. To remedy this situation, Moseley and Secretary Michael Wynne embarked on the current plan to cut 40,000 full-time equivalent positions over the next five years. People—presumably unnecessary people—must go. Moseley explains: “To stay within our allocated budgets and to increase our investment accounts, the reality is we have to draw the force down.” Moseley writes also that the service’s remaining personnel should “work smarter, not harder.”
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.