The Air Force is dedicated to finding a “long-term vision” with its African partners, while working on a short-term solution to the string of instability and violence that spread throughout the African continent in recent months, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, Tuesday. “We understand that you are concerned with the ongoing dangerous cycle of poverty, instability, conflict, environmental degradation, disease, and other challenges that can serve to erode confidence in national institutions, governance, and socio-economic opportunity,” Schwartz said in his keynote address at the African Chiefs Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Regional cooperation and mutual responsibility and respect will be keys to countering such threats, he said. “Because all of these challenges threaten development in Africa, cause hardship to her peoples, and can, in turn, disrupt global stability and a range of US interests, we share these concerns with you,” he stated. (Schwartz speech) (See also Associated Press report via the Houston Chronicle)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
