Gen. Robin Rand said Monday his status as a four-star general allows him more access to Air Force leadership and combatant commanders than prior Air Force Global Strike commanders might have had. “I do think that has happened in the last 14 months” since the command was elevated to a four-star billet, Rand said Monday at ASC16. “It’s not about power, but it’s about access, and frankly people have to listen to a four star a little differently than they listen to someone else.” Rand said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein hasn’t asked him for his opinion on whether the command should remain a four-star billet in the future, but when asked, he “will have an opinion, and I guess I’ll go back to, you know, ‘Why did we make it a four-star command in the first place?’ And then I’ll let the decision makers decide.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.