By Emelie Rutherford
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley’s resignations yesterday are being seized on by congressional critics of Air Force acquisition decisions. It is expected to factor into lawmakers’ demands that the contested tanker contract be changed, regardless of how the Government Accountability Office intervenes later this month.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon late yesterday afternoon his decision to request Wynne and Moseley’s resignations came after he received a report from Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald, director of naval nuclear propulsion, critical of the Air Force’s handling of nuclear weapon mishaps and its nuclear culture.
Asked if his other qualms with the Air Force–including his concerns about the service focusing too much on aircraft best suited for the Cold War and not newer, irregular conflicts–factored into his decision, Gates said: “I have made the decisions that I have made based entirely on Adm. Donald’s report.”
Nonetheless, Air Force critics on Capitol Hill were quick to point to other acquisition shortcomings they’ve perceived with the service.
The Air Force has been blasted on Capitol Hill especially hard for the disputed February contract award for aerial refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman [NOC] and European firm EADS over Boeing [BA], which is being protested before the GAO, which is due to render a decision by day’s end June 19. Lawmakers also have raised concerns about the scandal over contracts related to Thunderbird air show support that the Defense Department’s (DoD) Inspector General recently criticized.
“Today’s resignations raise new red flags about procurement and oversight within the Air Force,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), an outspoken critic of the tanker contract award, said yesterday.
“For months the Air Force has stonewalled Congress and the American people in answering basic questions about the tanker decision,” she said in a statement. “Now, on the eve of a GAO ruling, the Administration itself has expressed a lack of confidence in the decision-making and leadership of the Air Force’s top officials.”
She said the American people “deserve real answers” about the tanker contract.
“I hope with new leadership and oversight we get those answers,” she said.
Murray took to the Senate floor early yesterday–before her office was even aware of Wynne and Moseley’s expected resignations–to blast the Air Force’s tanker decision and call for Congress to intervene in the contract dispute. Yesterday afternoon she met on the tanker matter with Air Force acquisition head Sue Payton.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a critic of the Thunderbirds contract, said yesterday she “applauds” the move to remove Wynne and Moseley.
“Any rookie auditor would smell something fishy around the Air Force contract for the public relations work around the Thunderbirds,” the senator, a former government auditor, said in a statement. “And the smell went all the way to the top. What is so encouraging is that Secretary Gates is walking the walk on accountability.”
Adm. Donald had investigated the accidental misshipment to Taiwan of four MK-12 forward-section reentry vehicle assemblies, devices that arm and fuse nuclear warheads. During the probe “a decline in the Air Force’s nuclear mission focus and performance became apparent,” Gates said. At yesterday’s press conference the secretary also referenced the Air Force’s unauthorized transfer last August of nuclear weapons aboard a B-52 flown from Minot AFB, N.D., to Barksdale AFB, La., and said Donald’s investigation “identified commonalities between the August 2007 Minot incident and this [Taiwan] event.”
Gates noted while Donald’s investigation identified problems that “developed over a period of years,” it also identified “contemporary failures and lack of effective oversight.”
“It is my responsibility to ensure that the Air Force is on the right path to correcting the systemic and institutional nuclear weapons stewardship problems that have been identified,” Gates said.
A “substantial number” of Air Force general officer and colonels could face disciplinary measures, he said, adding actions taken against them “would not adequately address the broader issues involved.”
Gates said he will give direction to a new Air Force secretary and chief of staff that will need to be confirmed, but shared no details on who those individuals will be or the path ahead for their confirmation.
Several top lawmakers welcomed the news of the Air Force officials’ resignations.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) said Gates “took appropriate action” and that the “safety and security of America’s nuclear weapons must receive the highest priority.”
“Secretary Gates’ focus on accountability is essential and had been absent from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for too long,” Levin said in a statement.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) said “the nation is fortunate” to have a secretary like Gates who can make such decisions.
“With nuclear weapons, there is no room for error; there is no room for less than full accountability,” Warner said.
House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) applauded the move as well, according to news reports.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) in a statement said he understands “the importance of properly handling and securing nuclear weapons and components.”
He said the two nuclear-related incidents “should never have happened,” and that he looks “forward to reviewing Admiral Kirkland Donald’s report on what went wrong with the Air Force’s management of nuclear weapons security and safety.”