Congressional defense overseers want the Director of National Intelligence to assess the advisability of extending federal retirement benefits to members of Air America—the CIA-run covert air force that gained notoriety for its role during the Vietnam War—who served prior to 1977. In the conference version of the Fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill that was finalized on Oct. 7, the lawmakers called on the DNI (in Sec. 1057) to submit a report to Congress with his findings no later than 180 days after the authorization bill becomes law. They tasked him to compare what those employees were promised with what they have actually received, and whether they would be better off if they were deemed to have been employed by the US government. The House approved the defense policy bill on Oct. 8; the Senate has not voted in it yet.
New B-52 Radar Makes First Flight
Dec. 12, 2025
The Air Force’s radar modernization effort for the B-52 Stratofortress entered flight testing recently, a “milestone” for the once over-budget system that senior leaders call the start of a new era for the Cold War bomber.
