Air
Force Secretary Michael Donley has agreed to stay on the job as SECAF under the Obama administration. Gen. Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, made the announcement, with Donley sitting next to him, Feb. 26 during a press briefing at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. In a White House press release Thursday, President Obama said of Donley and other former Bush appointees who will stay on: “I am confident that these distinguished individuals have the commitment and expertise to help guide the Department of Defense at this critical time for our nation. Under the leadership of Secretary Gates, this group will help us maintain a strong and effective military to accomplish the fundamental goals of keeping America safe, advancing our interests abroad, and restoring American leadership in the world.”
The Pentagon’s cost estimate for the Iran War has risen to $37.5 billion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a congressional committee July 21—and without emergency supplemental funding, the military will have to “curtail” training to cover those costs, he added.