The White House on June 21 officially designated Michael Donley as the Acting Secretary of the Air Force. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has recommended that Donley and Gen. Norton Schwartz be nominated for Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force, but the White House has not yet formally to put their names in nomination on Capitol Hill. Gen. Michael Moseley, outgoing Chief of Staff, has asked that June 27 be his last day, followed by a formal retirement date of Aug. 1.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.