The Senate approved President Obama’s nomination of Lt. Gen. David Goldfein to receive a fourth star for his new assignment as the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, announced service officials on Monday. Goldfein, who will assume the position in the coming months, has been assigned to the Pentagon as the Joint Staff’s director since August 2013. Obama tapped Goldfein in April to be vice chief, succeeding Gen. Larry Spencer, who has served in that role since July 2012 and is retiring from the Air Force after more than 35 years in uniform. The vice chief assists the Chief of Staff with organizing, training, and equipping airmen and Air Force civilian employees, and presides over the Air Staff. Spencer later this year is slated to become the Air Force Association’s new President.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
