Congressman Bishop Honors Service of General Moseley

Congressional Record: June 19, 2008
Page E1294-E1295

TRIBUTE TO AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF GENERAL MICHAEL T. MOSELEY

Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to express my appreciation to a fine public servant and military officer, former Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael T. Moseley who recently resigned on orders from the Secretary of Defense.

There are a few lingering questions regarding the scope and unfortunate timing of this unprecedented decision to dismiss both top Air Force leaders at the same time only days before the Government ccountability Office (GAO) was scheduled to issue its decision in the hotly contested $40 billion tanker program. The dismissals also come during a time of war and great stresses on Air Force personnel. No one will argue that it is not within Secretary Gates' authority to take that drastic and unprecedented action even if some of us question whether or not it was really the right thing to do given the totality of circumstances. Every military and civilian officer knows that they serve at the pleasure of the President and that they stand to be dismissed for any reason whatsoever. As professional leaders, General Moseley and former Secretary Wynne accepted that fact.

Unfortunately, the entire record of their decades of public service, notable achievements, and personal sacrifices for our country, are at risk of being lost or pushed aside due to media focus of these recent headline-grabbing events. And I regret that a handful of individuals, including Members of Congress, may be tempted to seize upon Secretary Gates' action to somehow legitimize unrelated claims in areas of disagreement with these two Air Force leaders. That would be patently unfair and unjust, and I feel an obligation to remind us all of a few points.

With particular regard to General Michael T. Moseley, it would he hard to find a more competent and experienced Air Force Chief since the service's inception over 60 years ago. Having entered the Air Force in 1971, he rose quickly through the ranks and his competency as a top F-15 pilot led him to command responsibilities at the U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School. In addition to other command responsibilities in different parts of the world, General Moseley served as the combat Director of Operations for Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia. Like no other Air Force Chief in a generation, General Moseley demonstrated that he knew how to command air power during combat operations. Between 2001 and 2004, he served in combat, having commanded coalition air forces in Afghanistan and Iraq that employed greater precision and air-ground coordination than ever before. With advanced post graduate degrees as well, he is regarded by many as a military scholar and historian, which has given him a level of rounded perspective that has benefited the Air Force.

He served as both Vice-Chief and Chief of the Air Force during very tumultuous times in the Air Force. He became Vice Chief in 2004, and confronted with extremely challenging budget and personnel cuts posed by the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), and still additional cuts mandated by the Administration, General Moseley helped to steer the Air Force through some very tough times. In so doing, and to his great credit, he always put the airmen and their families first. He recognized that our Nation unwisely took a ``holiday from history'' in the 1990s by delaying and deferring aircraft modernization, and as a result, our pilots are having to fly aircraft that are on average nearly 40 years old. We have F-15's literally flying apart in the air due to age and corrosion. We have F-16s that are nearing the end of their service-life. We have 40-year-old tankers, and 50-year-old bombers.

We have third-world nations that are fielding fighters that are, or soon will be--peers to our fourth-generation fighters. At the same time, our Administration has not been as committed to recapitalizing our fighter fleet with the F-22 and F-35 in the numbers necessary to meet validated military requirements as it should be. The Nation has taken for granted our traditional air superiority. General Moseley was right to have pointed out these vulnerabilities.

We never know in advance where our next adversary will spring from and what the origins of conflict will be. We must be prepared and strong across the full spectrum of air based threats, from both asymmetric threats and resurgent adversarial nations. General Moseley understood this very well.

Even as military operations continue in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force is called upon around-the-clock to undertake combat operations, and targeted air strikes, or to fly troops and cargo in and out of theatre, or provide intelligence platforms, and the list goes on and on.

Our ground forces have come to rely on our United States Air Force mainly because--they're so capable! That's no accident. General Moseley understood this, because he was there, actually commanding airmen in fighting operations!

It's because of visionary leaders like General Moseley that the Air Force is reliable. It takes almost 20 years to develop, test and field a new advanced weapons system like the F-22 and F-35. If we take more ``holidays from history,'' then we leave our Nation and future generations at great risk of falling behind the technology curve. In 1938, U.S. defense planners considered the venerable P-51 (Mustang) fighter aircraft too insignificant for full funding and production to replace the more vulnerable P-38 Lightning aircraft. Once World War II was underway, it took the U.S. a few years to ramp-up production of the P-51 in sufficient numbers so that it could be useful in Europe to establish air superiority against the Germans. Back then, we were able to recover the shortfall over a few years' time. In these modern times with technology development increasing at exponential rates throughout many third-world and hostile nations, we no longer have that luxury.

Just like we're learning with the sky-rocketing costs of oil and gasoline--even if we were to immediately increase U.S. domestic production of oil resources, you can't just turn the spigot on tomorrow and have the oil flow. It takes years to do that, just as it does in the weapons procurement world. General Moseley understood this and was it forceful and persuasive advocate for modernization. This advocacy is something which, though he was absolutely correct on the facts and merits--earned him criticism when he should have found support.

General Moseley was also forward-thinking in recognizing the seriousness of the military and national security implications posed by the growing cyber security threat. His leadership resulted in the launching of the Air Force's Cyber command initiative. More than any other military department or agency of the federal government, Moseley did more than just wring his hands about the threat. He took concrete actions to demonstrate that he recognized its seriousness. He should be commended for that vision. He oversaw the dramatically-successful and historic deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in combat, and also instituted training to help instill a ``warrior ethos'' through training in hand-to-hand combat, survival and evasion skills required by the types of conflicts demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I am proud of General Moseley--that his sense of responsibility to the Air Force's overall mission led him to voice legitimate concerns on matters like the serious deficiencies in Aircraft Modernization with Congress, even at risk of his career. To me, that is real integrity. When we have hearings on the Armed Services Committee, what we're after is the real truth--unvarnished and unblinking. We're not looking for the sanitized version of the truth.

The Secretary of Defense cited a failure of leadership within the Air Force with regard to its nuclear mission. Those are, indeed, serious charges and certainly corrections within the Air Force as to procedures must continue to be made. But I want to point out that many of the systemic problems in the nuclear area mentioned in the Admiral's report are not General Moseley or Secretary Wynne's fault. The Department of Defense and the Administration share in the responsibility for the impacts of both Budget cuts and BRAC mandated targets of the past. Those cuts clearly de-funded and de-emphasized nuclear matters. Cuts in the ICBM modernization budgets and programs that were not necessarily the Air Force's preferred choice have also taken a toll in these recent incidents, and those budget cut impacts must also he acknowledged and corrected by this and future Secretaries if we are truly going to address shortfalls in nuclear surety matters. I know first-hand because during my six years in Congress, I have had to request that funding be added to the budget to cover documented shortfalls in Minuteman III modernization programs.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I want to conclude by thanking General Michael Moseley and Secretary Mike Wynne for their dedicated public service to our nation and our fighting men and women. From where I sit as a Member of the Armed Services Committee, I believe that both of these Air Force leaders can hold their heads high. I believe they are men of great personal integrity. I wish them both well in their future endeavors.

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