The Insider

Steve Kosiak, an expert on the defense budget and national security spending, has been tapped by the new administration to be associate director for defense and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget. He is the vice president for budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Kosiak is also a professor for the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, where he teaches graduate-level courses on U.S. defense budgeting and strategic planning.

And he is no stranger to readers of InsideDefense.com:

• Kosiak: Obama Faces Decision on Supplemental Spending Parameters (Dec. 18)
• CSBA Analysis Calculates Current, Future Costs of Iraq, Afghanistan Conflicts (Dec. 15)

Sure, the Joint Strike Fighter could be set up as a manned-unmanned fighter jet, but is it worth it?

This rhetorical question was raised by Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Davis this week at a briefing on the F-35 Lightning II.

When asked if the JSF would be the last manned fighter jet, the F-35 program executive officer began his answer thusly:

When you're ready to hop on a United airplane going from Dulles to London without anybody in the cockpit, I'll tell you we've built our last manned fighter.

There will always be a role for a man in the loop for combat missions, he said, even if the requirement for 9-G maneuvering capabilities no longer exists; the Air Force will forever need someone to be able to push information in a real-time setting and “be able to get in and out of the places it needs to go without being destroyed."

“I don't ever see the requirement for some manned capability totally going away,” he said.

The Lightning II could easily be configured to fly unmanned missions through a ground control station similar to those used for target drones like QF-4s and QF-16s, but the JSF office is not working on those kinds of plans, Davis said.

What's to be gained by taking a man out of the cockpit? If you look at what we're spending money on primarily for what it costs to support that platform ((for manned flight)), it's the ejection seat and the separation system on the canopy. Beyond that, everything that would be in the cockpit today would be required for an unmanned system.

One difference: The plane's color displays would be irrelevant.

But, Davis said having a fighter drone for the sake of having one is trumped by the reality of what a manned jet carries with it: The creativity and adaptability of the human brain right in the thick of the action.

I consider us ((pilots)) a pretty cost-effective tool. In the flexibility that brings in a real-time situation -- the real-time thinking -- is probably worth the amount of money that it costs to build that ejection seat. Short of some of the long-endurance missions . . . there's always going to be a requirement for some guy to do something.

We'll have a story soon on the budget and program news made during the confirmation hearing this morning for William Lynn, Michele Fournoy, Robert Hale and Jeh Johnson. Meantime, the session wrapped up without any issues surfacing that would appear to threaten any of the nominations. Sen. Levin, the committee chairman, wrapped up the meeting with a pledge to move to a vote as soon as possible.

The El Paso Times has discovered the Joint Operating Environment -- that's JOE& for short. In a story that's getting some attention, the paper cites JOE in asserting that Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse."

"In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

We of course had news on the JOE last year -- and the document itself.

JFCOM Study Examines Potential Military Challenges Over Next 25 Years
InsideDefense.com, Dec. 3, 2008 -- Over the next 25 years, the world is likely to see a global military buildup, increased tensions surrounding the demand for natural resources and a further need for the United States to create partnerships with other countries, according to a U.S. Joint Forces Command study.

DOCUMENT: JFCOM's 'Joint Operating Environment'
The Nov. 25, 2008, report from U.S. Joint Forces Command, subtitled "Challenges and Implications for the Future Joint Force" and nicknamed the "JOE," examines likely scenarios the U.S. military might confront over the next 25 years.

The Air Force awarded C-17 Globemaster III-builder Boeing a $1.1 billion aircraft support contract yesterday, according to a service announcement. The award comes amid uncertainty about the future of C-17 production line.

Whether to by more C-17s -- not to mention Lockheed Martin-built F-22A fighters and new tankers -- is one of the major procurement decisions President-elect Barack Obama will face upon taking office next week.

Tens of thousands of jobs are associated with C-17 production, which in these economic times likely will factor in the decision.

In the meantime, the future on international C-17 production got a bit brighter yesterday when British Defence Secretary John Hutton told Parliament that delays to the Airbus A400M cargo hauler program have prompted London to consider purchasing more Globemaster IIIs.

“We cannot accept a three- or four-year delay in the delivery of those aircraft,” Hutton said. “That would impose an unnecessary, unacceptable strain on our air assets. We, along with all our partner nations, will have to consider very carefully what the right response to the problem is.”

Reuters has this report about Hutton's comments.

The White House held a "facilitated exercise" today for incoming Obama administration officials and senior staffers.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel late last week described the exercise as follows:

. . . And then next week, our work with the president-elect's transition team continues on Tuesday, January 13th, when we host a series of orientations and briefings, culminating with a facilitated exercise for senior, current and incoming officials. We are mindful that this is the first transition since September 11th and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Council, Office of Director of National Intelligence, and the National Counterterrorism Center, and U.S. Northern Command.

So in keeping with the president's commitment to ensure a complete and smooth transition to the next administration, we have invited incoming senior members of President-elect Obama's team to attend 90-minute orientations and briefings, followed by a three hour exercise intended to familiarize the incoming administration with domestic and international instant management procedures used by the current administration. And the format of these sessions is intended to provide an opportunity for senior members of the incoming administration to discuss instant management practices and challenges with their outgoing peers.

The White House today released a statement listing the participants:

Cabinet Level

General Jim Jones (Ret), National Security Adviser-designate
Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence-designate
Governor Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security-designate
Tim Geithner, Secretary of Treasurer-designate
Lisa Jackson, Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency-designate
Senator Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior-designate
General Eric Shinseki (Ret), Secretary of Veterans Affairs-designate
Governor Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture-designate

Senior Staff

Rahm Emanuel, incoming White House Chief of Staff
John Brennan, Homeland Security Adviser- and Deputy National Security Adviser for Counterterrorism-designate
Rand Beers, Counselor to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
David Axelrod, incoming White House Senior Advisor
Jim Messina, incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Robert Gibbs, incoming White House Press Secretary

Officials from Vice President-elect Joe Biden's office and senior executive branch staffers from the Office of Management and Budget as well as the Health and Human Services, Justice, and State departments also participated, according to the statement.

The Air Force today officially stood up the command that will oversee all of the service’s nuclear bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile activities.

The provisional Global Strike Command (AFGSC) will be led by Brig. Gen. James Kowalski -- a combat bomber pilot extensive time in the B-52 and B-1B -- and will call Bolling Air Force Base in Washington its temporary home. Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command will house supporting detachments.

The command is slated to reach initial operational capability in September. The provisional shop will “lead preparation activities for the establishment of a major command (MAJCOM) that will consolidate nuclear operations under a single organization,” according to a service statement.

This includes assisting in identifying a final location, and identifying manpower and resource requirements that will transfer to the newly established AFGSC.

The provisional command will also work closely with Headquarters Air Force Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Office (A10), Air Combat Command, Air Force Space Command, Air Force Materiel Command and U.S. Strategic Command as it refines the roles and responsibilities of this MAJCOM.

The Air Force will inactivate the provisional command upon the stand-up of the MAJCOM.

Headquarters Air Force and MAJCOMs provided temporary personnel to fill a core HQ element of 55 personnel who are subject matter experts capable of developing the functional requirements for AFGSC.

The service announced it would stand up a major command to oversee its nuclear enterprise last fall in response to several high-profile gaffes involving the services’s handling of nuclear weapons and components.