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Nuclear mission requires clout

Global Strike Command is all of two months old, but it will eventually become responsible for the 8th Air Force, all of the nation’s land-based intercontinental missiles and all bombers that have a nuclear mission.

That’s enough to destroy the world. No wonder the new formation, based at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., is called a “major command,” or “majcom” in Air Force parlance. That ostensibly makes Global Strike equal in stature to, say, Air Combat Command or Air Mobility Command. The boss of the new outfit, Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, is a much-respected missileer with a solid administrative and leadership background.

But there’s something wrong with this picture.

If Global Strike is truly a major command, why doesn’t its commander have the negotiating clout that comes with wearing four stars?

By the same token, if the Global Strike mission is important enough to create a new directorate in the air staff to run all things nuclear, known in Pentagon jargon as A10, then why is the boss at A10 designated as an “assistant chief of staff” rather than a deputy, and why is that slot filled by a two-star general when other directorates are led by three-star officers?

Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston, who is the A10, or assistant chief of staff, strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, is another much-respected missileer who once trained crews on nuclear command and control procedures. He even has experience with the Titan missile, which is a museum piece today. He’s “the right guy at the right time to be in that position,” according to a source with knowledge of Alston — but can he wield any clout if all of his counterparts on the air staff outrank him?

Global Strike Command came into existence as a result of mistakes in the handling of nuclear materials. Air Force leaders failed to recognize the importance of the nuclear mission. They were too distracted by wars of insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. has few real interests, and they’ve become even more distracted by those conflicts recently. We haven’t given a high enough priority to our nuclear confrontation with Russia, where our very survival is at stake.

This is not the time to repeat the mistake of giving a low priority to our nuclear forces.

This is not the time to treat commanders of our nuclear forces as second-class citizens compared with those who lead conventional units.

This is not the time to forget that a strong nuclear deterrent is essential to our national interest.

Global Strike Command is the result of some serious reorganizing. The Air Force needs to complete that reorganization by giving its nuclear forces a four-star leader, a three-star deputy chief of staff and appropriate supporting billets. When the head of Global Strike Command sits down at the table, I want everyone in the room to listen.

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Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.

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