More on the Latest ANG Brouhaha

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley proposed to the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that the Air National Guard should more closely resemble the Air Force Reserve “alignment” with the Air Force, that “our Governors” should have two adjutant generals—one Air and one Army—and that both the Air Guard and Air Reserve should be led by four-star generals. As we reported yesterday, Moseley’s letter to the commission outlining these proposals prompted National Guard Caucus leaders Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) to fire off a response to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Moseley. The Senators criticized the Air Force “under the pen of General Moseley” for relaying a “laundry list of ideas … that we find ill-advised and that reflect a gross misunderstanding of the significance and purpose of the National Guard.” In his letter (we obtained a copy from Leahy’s office), Moseley couched his proposals as a means of making the Air Force’s undoubtedly successful template for Total Force integration “better positioned to address contemporary requirements.” Instead, Leahy and Bond argue that Moseley’s ideas “do not provide a reasonable or practicable model for transformation.”