Development Nears Malmstrom: Concerned citizens in the area around Malmstrom AFB, Mont., are worried that new retail proposals may jeopardize any chance the base would have to sustain a flying operation, reports the Great Falls Tribune. Malmstrom lost its KC-135 tanker mission in 1996 (a victim of BRAC 1995). Now, its sole primary mission is ICBMs, but some want to ensure the door is left open to resume flying operations. After all, the Minuteman III ICBM mission may well be history by 2020.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
