Talking “Non-starter”

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne doesn’t agree with the Pentagon desire to create a unified medical command, he told reporters in Washington Tuesday. Wynne thinks the Defense Business Board—the agency responsible for providing best business practices to the Defense Secretary—overstepped its boundaries by recommending the new command. He believes the board shouldn’t be promoting the creation of new organizations. The Secretary went to the DBB and suggested that instead of unifying all the service’s medical systems, DOD should create a medical logistics agency that would streamline operations by buying bulk medical supplies. “Telling me I have to forgo unity of command on an individual air base … so that the wing commander no longer has cognizance over his pilot’s health is a non-starter for the Air Force,” Wynne asserted. He said that the Air Force agreed with “large measures” of what the DBB came up with, but it would not give up base responsibility. According to Wynne, the DBB chair agreed with the Air Force, saying its objections were “based on sound logic and rationale.” The Secretary is now waiting to see what the implementing group decides to do.