Arlington, VA – The General Billy Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies today announced the upcoming release of “Combat Air Forces in Crisis” at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2009.

The Mitchell Institute, in conjunction with the Air Force Association (AFA), will host a panel discussion of the report and its conclusions from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m., March 18, in the National Press Club’s combined Murrow, White and Lisagor rooms. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Rebecca Grant, author of the study, and includes General Gregory S. Martin, USAF (Ret.); Barry D. Watts; and Dr. Loren B. Thompson.

Please RSVP at http://mispecialpresentation.eventbrite.com/

For additional information and reservations contact: Kathy Cortes at 703-247-5800 ex 4877 kcortes@afa.org.

Media: Contact Joel Hannahs at (703) 247-5847 or JHannahs@AFA.org.

Panelists:

• Gen. Gregory S. Martin was Commander, Air Force Materiel Command. He also served as Vice Director of the Joint Staff's Force Structure and Resources Directorate, Director of Operational Requirements for the U.S. Air Force, and Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. He also served as Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Allied Air Forces Northern Europe. A command pilot, he flew 4,600 hours in the F-15, F-4, C-20 and C-21. Among his academic degrees, he is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds a Masters in Business Management from the University of Central Michigan.
  
  
• Barry Watts is senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He formerly headed the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation at the Department of Defense, and directed Northrop Grumman’s Analysis Center. Watts was an Air Force combat pilot in Southeast Asia with the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, and he served in Japan and Okinawa as an F-4 Wild Weasel aircraft commander. He also taught philosophy and mathematical logic at the Air Force Academy. Published works include The Military Use of Space: A Diagnostic Assessment (CSBA, 2001), Meeting the Anti-Access and Anti-Access Challenge with Andrew Krepinevich and Robert Work (CSBA, 2003) and Long Range Strike: Imperatives, Urgency and Operations (CSBA, April 2005). Watts holds a BS in mathematics from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an MA in philosophy from the University of Pittsburg.
  
  
• Dr. Loren B. Thompson is Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and CEO of Source Associates, a consultancy. Formerly, he was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs. He has also taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He holds doctoral and masters degrees in government from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northeastern University.
  
  
• Dr. Rebecca Grant is Director of AFA’s Mitchell Institute and senior fellow at the non-profit Lexington Institute. She is an author and one of the nation’s foremost air, space, and cyber power analysts, with nearly 20 years of experience in Washington, D.C. In the early 1990s, she worked for both the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the London School of Economics.