The new directorate on the Air Staff that will coordinate the Air Force’s nuclear activities, enterprise-wide, will stand up formally on Nov. 1, Air Force spokeswoman Liz Aptekar tells the Daily Report. The Air Force leadership announced the creation of the office, designated A10, after the service’s senior-level nuclear summit in September. Its purpose will be to provide a “singular focus on nuclear matters in the Air Force headquarters,” the service said. It is one of the numerous cultural, organizational, and policy changes that the Air Force is undertaking to restore it nuclear stewardship and reinvigorate emphasis on the nuclear mission. (In fact, the service is due to release its nuclear roadmap any day now.) The new office will incorporate the functions currently exercised by the directorate of nuclear operations, plans, and requirements under the Air Staff’s A3/A5 hierarchy. That office was itself a relatively new creation, having been established in February. The Air Force has not yet announced who will lead A10, but a likely candidate is Maj. Gen. Donald Alston, current head of the nuclear operations, plans and requirements directorate.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
