Gov. Bob Riley (R-Ala.) has asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who campaigned for Alabama’s top elected official last week, to push for a “totally open” process in awarding contracts for the Air Force’s tanker competition, reports Associated Press news service. McCain, who has taken issue with USAF’s inclusion of the subsidy issue before the World Trade Organization in the contract award process, already has joined forces with Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions and Sen. Richard Shelby, who, along with Riley want to ensure the Northrop Grumman-EADS team has a seat at the tanker table. At stake is a multibillion-dollar aircraft plant to be built in Mobile, Ala., where a Northrop Grumman-EADS tanker would go for assembly.
NASA Boss: Race to Moon Has National Security Stakes
Sept. 15, 2026
NASA is pushing hard to get astronauts back to the moon by 2028—and the urgency is driven in no small part by the national security implications of doing so before China does, Administrator Jared Isaacman said Sept. 15.
