Combining air staff directorates that oversee ISR operations and warfighting integration may “refocus the attention” of an office that has traditionally provided broad support Air Force wide, said Lt. Gen. Michael Basla, USAF’s chief information officer and head of its warfighting integration office, at AFA’s 2013 Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Sept. 17. Based on the Strategic Choices Management Review briefed to the public earlier this summer, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh directed Air Force headquarters and major commands to review their organizational structures. Consolidation of offices remains on the table, Basla said. Basla has overall responsibility for networks and network-centric policies, communications, and information resources management. He noted that such a consolidation could transfer attention “from supporting all mission areas to specific areas,” and added, “I have concerns about that.” However, in a separate session, Basla emphasized, “There is significant value” in having the warfighting integration office and the CIO connected because his role as the CIO gives him the “authority” to deliver warfighting capabilities.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…