The Air Force’s newly retooled interim religious guidelines appear to be drawing fire, even as the first set did—one side says they go too far, the other not far enough. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) complained to the New York Sun that the new rules prohibit a chaplain from mentioning Jesus when providing prayers at public gatherings. Jones wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to instruct the services to let chaplains offer public prayers according to their faiths. On the other side, according to JTA news service, are Jewish leaders who claim the new policy is a retreat from what was agreed to in August 2005 and that the new guidelines give more leeway to proselytizing since it permits senior officers to express their religious views to subordinates. The fact that senior officers at the Air Force Academy appeared to be evangelizing lower ranking personnel and cadets was a key issue sparking the service’s religious controversy and a lawsuit.
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.
