By Emelie Rutherford
While the departure of the Air Force’s two top leaders begins today, the schedule for the confirmation of the pair’s recommended replacements remained unclear yesterday, just as lawmakers turned to the service for answers on its aerial refueling tanker contract plans.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne is slated to work his last day today, before Pentagon Director of Administration and Management Michael Donley becomes acting secretary tomorrow.
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), as of yesterday afternoon, had not yet scheduled any confirmation hearings for the new Air Force leadership team. That’s because the White House had not yet officially nominated Donley as service secretary and Gen. Norman Schwartz, now head of U.S. Transportation Command, as chief of staff.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended Donley and Schwartz June 9, four days after the forced resignations of Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, purportedly over nuclear stewardship shortcomings.
Moseley will remain as Air Force chief of staff until his retirement is approved, the general’s spokeswoman said. Moseley requested terminal leave before an Aug. 1 retirement. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Duncan McNabb performs the chief of staff duties if that job is vacant.
While some defense officials had eyed June 24 as the date of Donley and Schwartz’s SASC confirmation hearing, sources yesterday said that date was in doubt. If the hearing isn’t next week, it cannot come before the week of July 6, at the earliest, because Congress will recess the week of June 29.
While no sources described the speed of the Air Force nominations as anything more than standard procedure, lawmakers tracking the aerial refueling tanker contract dispute said they want the new service leaders in place as soon as possible.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained on Wednesday Boeing‘s [BA] protest of the tanker contract award to a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) team and recommended the service reopen the bid process (Defense Daily, June 19).
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said, “It’s a big problem,” that the Air Force leadership team isn’t in place as he and other Boeing supporters wait to see how the Air Force reacts to the GAO’s recommendation.
“They have all kinds of acting people, who knows what decisions they can make,” Dicks told Defense Daily.
“The problem is finding out who to talk to,” said fellow Boeing backer Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). “It goes from acquisition Air Force to chief of staff to secretary, and there’s no chief of staff and secretary. …Then it goes to AT&L [the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, logistics, and technology], and then the undersecretary and then Secretary Gates.”
“It s a big problem, the bigger problem is that they need a new tanker, and they don’t have one, and they’re going to have to find a way to get a tanker as quickly as possible,” Larsen added.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) predicted the tanker matter “will probably be in the lap of Secretary Gates.”
Lawmakers are keeping a close eye on the calendar. Following the GAO’s June 18 decision, the Air Force has 10 days to ask for reconsideration, though congressional sources predicted the service will not make such a request.
Then, following the June 18 decision, the service has 60 days to “inform the GAO of the Air Force’s actions in response to GAO’s recommendations,” according to a GAO statement.
While Boeing backers on Capitol Hill want the Air Force to rebid the contract or award it outright to Boeing, the Air Force is keeping quiet, for now, about its plans as it reviews the GAO’s decision.
“The Air Force will do everything we can to rapidly move forward so America receives this urgently needed capability,” Sue Payton, assistant secretary for acquisition, said in a statement Wednesday night, adding: “As soon as possible, we will provide the Air Force’s way ahead.”
As it waits for the nomination paperwork from the White House, the SASC this week had questioned the legality of Donley serving as acting secretary before being officially nominated. The committee, though, resolved there was no legal problem.