Summer break delays confirmations

[unhappycamper]

Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, left, has been confirmed as chief of staff, and is expected to take the reins in mid-August. The Senate has not confirmed Acting Secretary Michael B. Donley.


Summer break delays confirmations
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Aug 9, 2008 8:58:14 EDT

More than two months after the Air Force chief of staff and secretary were ousted in an unprecedented decapitation of a military service, the Air Force’s new leadership team is still not fully functional.

Gen. Norton Schwartz has been confirmed by the Senate and is poised to take over officially as chief of staff by mid-August, but the nominations of Michael Donley to become secretary and Lt. Gen. William Fraser III to become vice chief are languishing in the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Congress is taking its summer recess until early September, so it may be late September or after before the committee can approve the Donley and Fraser nominations and the full Senate can confirm them.

That means Schwartz will take the stick by himself — without the help of a confirmed secretary and vice chief — at a time when the Air Force needs to move quickly on priorities as divergent as fixing its nuclear enterprise, resolving acquisition problems and deciding what to do about maintenance reorganization.

“The fact that there are (delays) on a senior Air Force nomination is cause for concern,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, senior policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation. “This is a critical time for the service, and it must have strong, capable leaders who have the confidence of Congress to most effectively carry out their responsibilities.”


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/08/airforce_leadership_081008/

[yourout]

1. If the Heritage Foundation is worried then I am not.

Nothing but a pack of right wing assholes.