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Provisional nuclear command stands up

The Air Force quietly stood up its provisional Global Strike Command at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C., on Monday — nine months prior to the scheduled standup of the official command in September.

Brig. Gen. James Kowalski took the reins of the provisional command; he will lead a 55-person team at Bolling tasked with assisting in deciding where GSC’s headquarters will be located and transitioning the nuclear missions from Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command to the new command.

Air Force leaders unveiled Global Strike Command as part of a road map to cure the service’s nuclear ills — highlighted over the past two years by the unauthorized transfer of six nuclear warheads and the discovery of a mistaken shipment of ballistic missile nose cones to Taiwan.

The Air Force’s three nuclear missile wings and three nuclear bomb wings will be organized under Global Strike Command in September in the service’s largest organizational shake up since Strategic Air Command was disbanded following the end of the Cold War.

“There is an incredibly rich tradition of operational competency in this mission and our Air Force has done a lot of work to restore our focus on deterrence,” Kowalski said in a news release. “We look forward to laying the foundation needed to stand up Global Strike Command.”

It’s still unclear who will take over for Kowalski in September, as a commander for the official command — a three-star billet — has not been named.

Kowalski was the deputy director for global operations for the Joint Staff in the Pentagon before taking over the provisional command. The B-52 and B-1 pilot’s nuclear experience includes commanding the 2nd Bomb Wing’s Operations Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.