Reversing a split that caused a fair amount of grumbling over the summer, the Pentagon announced late Thursday that National Reconnaissance Office Director Donald Kerr has been appointed to a new Air Force post as the assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for intelligence space technology. The appointment took effect Oct. 3. Kerr is the first person to be named NRO director who is not also the undersecretary of the Air Force. (DR, 09/22/05) Undersecretary Ronald Sega is also the DOD executive agent for space. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last month that all interested parties, including the Air Force, believe that splitting away the NRO job made better management sense, but that the Air Force and NRO should remain “closely connected.”
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3