Loren Thompson of The Lexington Institute released a scathing brief yesterday titled How the Air Force Fell So Far. He focuses not on the recent nuclear mistakes, but rather on the larger decline of airpower's political influence over recent years. He cites three main factors: (1) the Air Force's failure to "adapt to the changing demands of a transformed global security environment" (2) cultural insularity within the Air Force (3) the Air Force's failure to communicate with outsiders. Thompson seems to welcome reform.
On the other hand, as I predicted yesterday, the Air Force is not particularly happy with the leadership shakeup. During Secretary Gates' speeches at Langley AFB, Peterson AFB, and Scott AFB yesterday, nervous and uncomfortable pilots reportedly had many questions about the future of the F-22 and the direction of the Air Force.
As Loren Thompson writes in the brief cited above, "resistance to change is common in large, regimented institutions." Time will tell if Gates can succeed in reform.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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