Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, head of Air Force Space Command, described his new command as the “invisible force” and labeled 20th Air Force’s ICBM force as the President’s “biggest hammer,” on a recent visit to F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., home to the 90th Space Wing and 20th AF. He says the command’s challenge is two-fold: to be experts in the application of the in-the-background, but increasingly essential, space capabilities and to fathom ways to provide “ever greater support.” Chilton called the big hammer ICBM force “just as much or more relevant today … as we see other nations seek to develop nuclear weapons.”
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.
