Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday that the Air Force “is not just off on a strange mission” to eliminate some 40,000 personnel over the next five years. Rumsfeld was responding to a question about the planned cut and its impact on the war on terror during a Pentagon town hall meeting. He said that both the Navy and Air Force are investing in less manpower intensive weaponry, making it possible to cut personnel where “costs [are] going up and up and up.” And, said Rumsfeld, the Air Force vetted its plan with senior Pentagon leadership, which agreed that it “seemed to make sense.” Hmmmm.
The Senate Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces heard testimony from the Defense Department’s top missile defense leaders and demanded to know why the Missile Defense Agency's proposed $9.6 billion fiscal 2023 budget will not yield more reliable defense against hypersonic weapons already being fielded by adversaries, including Russia on…