The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that the Defense Department’s activities to combat weapons of mass destruction have been splintered and uncoordinated among about 40 separate offices and commands. The situation is such, states the IG, that officials cannot tell for sure what the billions of dollars in expenditures are accomplishing and whether “US interests are protected” or America “can properly respond to attack.” So writes the Deseret Morning News, citing a sanitized copy of an IG report, dated March 30, 2007, that it just obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The report called for improved management, citing the lack of a lead office to coordinate WMD initiatives. The newspaper says Pentagon officials are now taking steps to improve coordination as a result of the report.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.