On Monday, Acting Air F
orce Secretary Michael B. Donley spelled out the top priorities for the Air Force in the months before a new Administration takes office. Speaking at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, Donley said the top priority will be an overhaul of the service’s nuclear posture; possibly to include a new organization that would focus solely on the nuclear mission. Second will be to continue to prosecute the war on terror; third, to take care of airmen and their families; and last, to “modernize our aging air and space fleet.” Donley also said numerous reviews and studies are underway to build portfolios of options for the next Administration on a host of issues, all of which need quick attention. Without reciting the litany of top-level firings, acquisition missteps and leadership reshuffling USAF has experienced in the last few months, Donley dryly opened his remarks by noting: “It was an interesting summer.”
Hundreds, or possibly thousands, of transgender service members have returned to work after two judges ordered preliminary injunctions blocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ban of transgender service members and recruits. But their long-term future remains uncertain.