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Gates pitches names to lead Air Force |
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By Roxana Tiron
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Posted: 06/09/08 03:08 PM [ET] |
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Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday recommended that Gen. Norton Schwartz, currently the head of U.S. Transportation Command, should become the next Air Force chief. Gates also nominated Michael Donley as the Air Force’s No. 1 civilian leader. Donley is currently the Pentagon’s director of administration and management. Gates on Monday announced the position shuffle at the Pentagon — several days after he forced the resignation of Air Force chief Gen. Michael Moseley and Michael Wynne, the air service's secretary, over several mishaps with nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Gen. Duncan McNabb, the current vice chief of staff of the Air Force, will take over for Schwartz at U.S. Transportation Command under Gates’s recommendation. Gates also recommended that Lt. Gen. William Fraser, currently the assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, be the new vice chief of the Air Force. “I am confident that Mike Donley, Gen. Schwartz and the new Air Force leadership team have the qualifications, skill and commitment to excellence necessary to guide the Air Force through this transition and beyond,” Gates said in a statement. |
