Defense Secretary Robert Gates, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, would prefer to complete the Pentagon review first, but is OK with the Congressional plan to vote now on new legislation that would overturn the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) law. Peter Orszag, Office of Management and Budget director, wrote Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), chief architect of the new legislation, that the Administration would prefer that Congress wait until the Pentagon completes its review before taking legislative action, but barring that, the proposed amendment “meets the concerns raised by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” Lieberman, writing the White House, said the measure “puts a process in place to repeal” DADT once the President, SECDEF, and JCS Chairman “certify the repeal won’t deter “standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.” (Lieberman amendment) (OMB May 24 letter) (Lieberman letter to White House with Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.)) (AFPS release by Donna Miles)
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.