Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s “acumen led the Air Force to become lean, lethal, and agile, expanding [the service’s] mission areas for a stronger joint team.” Wynne’s comment follows Wednesday’s announcement that Rumsfeld would resign the top DOD post. Wynne went on to say that Rumsfeld “has strengthened the entire Department of Defense and our nation,” and added that he looks forward to working with the new SECDEF designee, Robert Gates, who “will undoubtedly bring ideas fused with years of experience from various national security roles.”
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.