Daily Report

Jan. 8, 2009

Not Mentors, Just Inspectors

Nuclear inspectors are solely tasked with assessing objectively whether a wing is prepared to perform its nuclear mission and should not be looked at as having an educational or mentoring responsibility during the inspection process, the Defense Science Board permanent task force on nuclear weapons surety said last month. In its new report on nuclear weapons inspections (full document), the task force identified this as one area for the Air Force leadership to address to improve the inspection regimen, which is being beefed up as the service reinvigorates its nuclear stewardship. The task force, headed by retired Gen. Larry Welch, former Air Force Chief of Staff, also called on the leadership to provide clear direction on the collective and individual objectives of the various nuclear inspections. Further, it should restore the nuclear-related “regulations” that ceased in the early 1990s in favor of more subjective “instructions” so that there is clear direction on nuclear operations and inspections, the task force said. The resulting ambiguity of that change has lead to extensive, counterproductive discussions and disagreements between inspectors and the supervisors of inspected activities, the task force noted. The Air Force Secretary should also require a fully integrated nuclear operational readiness inspection and nuclear surety inspection of each nuclear-capable strategic wing at least every 18 months. Currently NORIs occur every 36 months, while NSIs are held every 18 months. This step would eliminate the need for expanded NSIs, which the task force said have served “neither the NSI nor NORI purposes.” And, the Secretary should establish a common set of demanding standards that nuclear inspectors must attain and sustain, the task force said. It recommended that the Air Force Inspection Agency produce a formal training course for inspectors.

Schlesinger Panel Issues Phase 2 Nuclear Report

The task force on nuclear weapons management headed by former DOD and Department of Energy czar James Schlesinger will issue its Phase 2 report today. The gray-beard task force, which plans to hold a press briefing in the Pentagon, will...

High Marks

With the pending release (now set for Wednesday, see above) of the Schlesinger nuclear task force’s Phase 2 report on Department of Defense nuclear weapons management, we asked the task force for its feedback on the Air Force’s actions in...

US Plans Relief Flights to Dafur

Two Air Force C-17s will transport heavy equipment from Rwanda to Sudan sometime in the next several weeks to support the African Union and UN peacekeepers in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region. President Bush announced the relief mission on Jan. 5....

Backwards Logic

Cutting back on defense because of a weakness in the economy makes no sense. In fact, “that logic is exactly backwards,” Harvard professor and economist Martin Feldstein told the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday. Actually, Feldstein told the...

And Boost Recruiting

Martin Feldstein also would urge the Obama Administration to expand military recruiting in the first year of the new Administration’s economic stimulus package. Feldstein, in his appearance before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday (see above), said it...

Texans Lobby for Cyber Training

Three members of the Texas Congressional delegation—Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R), Sen. John Cornyn (R), and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R)—sent a letter Tuesday to Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, urging him to assign the service’s cyber training activities to Sheppard Air Force Base. “The imminent departure of Air Force medical training courses currently located at Sheppard presents a golden opportunity,” the three members write in their Jan. 6 missive. They added that the training facility now begin vacated is “well-suited to house the new cyber training programs.” Sheppard is in the running, along with Keesler AFB, Miss., for the Air Force Education and Training Command mission, which could bring nearly 1,400 new personnel to the selected installation, according to Cornyn’s office. “This letter should serve as an important vote of confidence from the Texas Congressional delegation for Sheppard’s first-rate capabilities to carry out this and future missions,” Cornyn told the Daily Report yesterday in a written statement. He continued, “I am hopeful the Air Force will select Sheppard Air Force Base to reinforce the base’s footing for the long run.” (For more, read yesterday’s report from the Times Record News of Wichita Falls.)

Lakenheath Shuffle

Elements of the 493rd Fighter Squadron returned home to RAF Lakenheath, Britain, earlier this week from Siauliai, Lithuania, where they had spent the past three months carrying out NATO’s Baltic air policing mission. Four of the unit’s F-15Cs and roughly...

Learning the Nuts and Bolts

Airmen with the 821st Expeditionary Training Squadron, a component of the Coalition Air Force Training Team, have begun training members of the fledgling Iraqi Air Force in rudimentary aircraft maintenance at the Iraqi Air Force Training School on the grounds...

Air Sorties From SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJan. 4-5, 2009 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 53 33 86 202 CAS/Armed Recon 87 122 209 463 Airlift 240 240 630 Air refueling 87 87 223 Total 622 1,518...