The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Air Force had arranged a job with a nonprofit for Charles Riechers for a two-month period while he awaited confirmation from the White House for a senior Air Force acquisition position. Reportedly Commonwealth Research Institute, a nonprofit intelligence contractor that works with various federal government entities, paid Riechers, but he actually worked for Sue Payton, USAF’s top acquisition official, on projects not related to CRI contracts. The article questions both the arrangement and CRI’s nonprofit status. It quotes Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) who said that CRI’s parent company, Pennsylvania-based Concurrent Technologies, does “quality work and research” and its “competitive price has saved taxpayers money.”
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has two new squadrons of F-35s at its disposal in Alaska just as “quite a bit of action” has taken place in the combatant command’s area of responsibility and the “advanced threats” there are becoming “more lethal,” said the squadrons’ wing commander, Col. David J. Berkland. Berkland’s…