The US Air Force Academy plans to construct a new $29 million facility, beginning in March 2011, to house its Center for Character Development, which it will redesignate Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD). The new facility is slated to open in later summer 2012. In the interim, the school plans to create and fill a new position, the Permanent Professor of Character and Leadership Development, later this year. That individual will head the CCLD. Col. John Norton, director of the current center, said these actions “mark a significant first step in our journey to take officer development at USAFA to the next level.” Over the past few years, USAFA has rebounded from a wave of sexual assault allegations that led to leadership and policy changes (read Upheaval at the Academy from Air Force Magazine January 2004). (USAFA release)
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.