The Air Force has had to reduce support to US Southern Command as a result of budget sequestration, said Lt. Gen. Burton Field, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and requirements. “That’s affecting [the command’s] ability to work with some of our allies . . . like Colombia,” he told reporters after his AFA-Air Force Breakfast Program speech in Arlington, Va., on May 23. The cutbacks mean not only less training time with Colombia and other regional friends, but reduced “support we can give them in the counterdrug mission,” said Field. “So, the US is taking some risk here,” he added. Field also said some units that were scheduled to deploy to the Middle East to reinforce US Central Command are staying home. “If something bad happens, we’ll send them,” he said. “But if you keep them at home station, you don’t have to spend the money . . . that’s required to sustain them there.” It’s more affordable, he said, “to operate them at your home station.” (For more coverage of Field’s talk, see And Now, Modernization and Not a Good Situation and What Else We’re Not Doing.)
US Space Command Should Always Be Led by a Guardian
Sept. 12, 2026
General Stephen Whiting took command of U.S. Space Command in January 2024, and if customary three-year tenures hold, his tour would end in January 2027. The question now before the President and Senate is who should follow him? Whoever they choose, it has to be a Guardian—and so should every successor…
