Defense Secretary Robert Gates, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, would prefer to complete the Pentagon review first, but is OK with the Congressional plan to vote now on new legislation that would overturn the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) law. Peter Orszag, Office of Management and Budget director, wrote Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), chief architect of the new legislation, that the Administration would prefer that Congress wait until the Pentagon completes its review before taking legislative action, but barring that, the proposed amendment “meets the concerns raised by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” Lieberman, writing the White House, said the measure “puts a process in place to repeal” DADT once the President, SECDEF, and JCS Chairman “certify the repeal won’t deter “standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.” (Lieberman amendment) (OMB May 24 letter) (Lieberman letter to White House with Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.)) (AFPS release by Donna Miles)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…