Breaking wire service reports, including this Reuters article, are announcing from the Pentagon that Defense Secretary Robert Gates likely will name Michael Donley to take over as Air Force Secretary in place of Michael Wynne, who resigned yesterday (see below). The announcement could come later today, Reuters said. Donley, currently director of administration and management within DOD, has nearly three decades of experience in the national security community, including stints on Senate and White House staffs and in the Pentagon. (Click here for his full bio.) He is no stranger to the Air Force, having served for seven months in 1993 as acting secretary between the tenures of Donald Rice and Sheila Widnall. Prior to that, he was USAF’s assistant secretary for financial management/comptroller from 1989 to 1993.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…