ABC News Report Shows U.S. Air Force in No Condition To Be Saddled with A Service Secretary Unworthy of the Job

(Washington, D.C.): The appalling hollowing out of the U.S. military — about which the
Center
for Security Policy has been warning for some time⁽¹⁾— was
brought home to the American people
last night by ABC News’ flagship World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. In
a powerful
segment reported by John McWethy, the U.S. Air Force was revealed to be in
a tailspin from
which it will recover, if at all, only with considerable difficulty and enormous additional resources
over a protracted period of time. What should now be clear to the American people is that the
last thing the Air Force needs at this juncture is a highly controversial, if not
incapacitated,
Secretary of the Air Force, which would clearly be the case if Daryl Jones were
to be confirmed
for that position of trust and leadership.

Grounded

ABC’s report reveals a stark picture of a military service feeling the effects of nearly fifteen
years
of shrinking budgets: “Within the U.S. military, and especially the Air Force, there is a
growing sense of crisis. Weapons are aging. Aircraft sit idle for lack of spare parts. Long
tours of duty in the Persian Gulf are killing morale and wearing out equipment.”
Problems
include: a 10-12% decline in readiness; the loss of mid-level maintenance people to the civilian
sector where they can earn up to four times their Air Force wages; repair delays compounded by a
shortage of spare parts and mechanics with inadequate training; and record numbers of pilots
leaving the force for civilian jobs which pay better and allow more time with their families.

Among the most alarming points made in the McWethy report were the following:

Declining Readiness

Gen. RICHARD HAWLEY, Commander, Air Combat Command: “We’ve suffered
about a
10 percent or 12 percent decline in the average readiness of our fleet from day-to-day.”

JOHN MCWETHY: But the numbers do not begin to describe the depth of the
problem or the frustration it is creating on the flight line. James Mullins, a radar
mechanic, is leaving the Air Force for a better-paying civilian job — and he’s angry.

Senior Airman JAMES MULLINS, Radar Mechanic: “If I have to wait a month
to get a part to fix the jet and then the part I get doesn’t even work, how is
readiness so good? The jet’s not flying, sitting on the ground. The pilot’s not
getting his training. It’s my opinion readiness stinks.”

The Hemorrhage of Qualified Personnel

Flight-line Support Personnel: JOHN MCWETHY: “Part of the problem
is the
accelerating loss of experienced people who are fed up with long deployments for
peacekeeping and are drawn to civilian jobs in a booming economy.”

Tech. Sgt. ALLEN HUIE, Jet Engine Mechanic: “We’ve lost all the mid-level
maintenance people basically.”

Sr. Airman JAMES MULLINS: “We’re faced with having to throw young
airmen out on the flight line to repair radars without adequate training.”

JOHN MCWETHY: “That can mean repairs take two or three times longer, a
delay that is then compounded by a shortage of spare parts.”
Pilots: JOHN MCWETHY: “Pilots are also getting out in record
numbers, going to airlines
for better money and a life that does not include long separations from their families. And
the
situation with the pilots is only getting worse. They are now leaving the Air Force at a
rate that is faster than new ones can be trained.”
Skilled Support Personnel: JOHN MCWETHY: “And more bad news
for the Air Force,
which prides itself on high technology, can be found buried deep in the computer rooms that
are the nerve centers of the force. Chief Master Sergeant Steve Lovin says he can no longer
hang on to any computer specialist.

Chief Master Sgt. STEVE LOVIN, U.S. Air Force Network Control Center: “A
typical first-term airman who’s making $20,000 a year can get anywhere from $60,000
to $80,000 a year starting working for industry at this point.”

Sr. Airman REGINA NEINABER, Computer Technician: “A lot of us are
getting out.”

JOHN MCWETHY: “Computer specialist Regina Nienaber is typical. She is
getting out after her first three-year term. Have you seen a lot of people at your
experience level staying?”

REGINA NEINABER: “One out of 12 in the last 24 months.”

Cannibalizing the Inventory

Gen. RICHARD HAWLEY: “[The maintenance personnel have] got to go out and
cannibalize
parts from other airplanes in order to get one flying. That doubles their workload.”

JOHN MCWETHY: “One team of technicians, led by Lieutenant Charles Collier, is
responsible for 21 jets.” “Of those 21, ideally, you’d like to keep about 18 of them
mission capable at all times?”

1^st Lt. CHARLES COLLIER, Maintenance Officer: “Yes, sir. But that
doesn’t
happen.”

JOHN MCWETHY: “How close are you to that on a given day?”

1^st Lt. CHARLES COLLIER: “On a given day? On a given day, we
probably
have ten.”

JOHN MCWETHY: “That means less than half of this squadron can fly.”

Jones Hearing Highlights

Clearly, the Air Force is at a crossroads today. What it needs as much as anything is a man of
indisputable courage, integrity and leadership ability; a man who has and will set an example
others will follow — even at enormous personal sacrifice; a man who will speak truth to power,
for that matter will speak the truth to everyone.

For reasons that were borne out in the nine-hours of hearings conducted yesterday by the
Senate
Armed Services Committee, Daryl Jones is not (as President Clinton said of the Chinese
despot Jiang Zemin) “the right leadership at the right time” for the U.S. Air Force.
Among
the problems that have come to light with this nomination — some of which were explored at
length by Senators with the nominee, his former colleagues and commanding officers in the course
of yesterday’s hearings — were: allegations that he misrepresented his flying record and status
(according to some accounts, resulting in his receipt of unearned extra pay for several years); his
reported violation of Pentagon regulations by running for elective office using a billboard and
other promotional material displaying him in uniform; and Jones’ abuse of his position as an
officer by inducing enlisted subordinates to purchase Amway products he was distributing. Jones’
business activities are also the subject of an SEC investigation over allegations of possible criminal
misconduct. His conflicting statements about these and other matters have contributed to an
eight-month delay (so far) in his confirmation and not one, but two, FBI background checks.

Even after the exhaustive scrutiny to which Daryl Jones’ nomination has been subjected
over
the eight months since it was announced by President Clinton, questions about his past conduct
and future fitness for high public office continue — as do the Armed Services Committee’s
deliberations.

The Bottom Line

Unfortunately, as Peter Jennings noted at the end of the McWethy report, the aforementioned
symptoms of inadequate funding, demoralizing deployments and hemorrhaging of
difficult-to-replace personnel are not being felt in the Air Force alone:

Army

Navy

the Pentagon estimates it would cost $30 billion to make them
equivalent.

The Senate Armed Services Committee — and the rest of the Congress — need
to come
to grips immediately with the hollowing out of the military and its implications for the
national security, both budgetary and strategic. A good place to start would
be with
sparing the Air Force a Service Secretary who will compound this problem, not
alleviate it.

– 30 –

1. See the following Center Decision Briefs:
Give National Security Some of the Surplus ( href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=98-D_92″>No.
98-D 92, 27 May 1998) and Clinton Legacy Watch # 22: More Evidence of a
Hollow Military
(No. 98-D 62, 7 April 1998).