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.”
Members of Congress from both parties expressed frustration and dismay over the abrupt and still-unexplained firing last month of Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh from his dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.