The head of NORAD and US Northern Command, Adm. Timothy Keating, has decided to bring most of his people who work at Cheyenne Mountain AFS, Colo., to nearby Peterson Air Force Base, which houses the headquarters for both commands and their command center. Keating said in a statement that the change comes after he directed his staffs to “take a hard look” at the operations of both commands with an eye toward “improving our effectiveness and enhancing unity of effort.” The statement went on to say, “at this time,” the two commands do not plan to eliminate any jobs—military or civilian—or to close fabled Cheyenne Mountain. It points out that the two commands comprised only 25 percent of the workforce at the Mountain. Air Force Space Command “owns” the other roughly 75 percent.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
