Wing Man

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has tapped Tom Ehrhard -- an unmanned aircraft expert, strategic analyst and retired Air Force colonel -- to be a special assistant, according to a July 16 internal Air Force announcement. Ehrhard returns to the Pentagon after a stint as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. His last post in the Pentagon was as military assistant to Andrew Marshall, director of Net Assessment.

Ehrhard likely will deal with many familiar faces on his return to the Pentagon, particularly former colleagues from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments who now hold a variety of influential posts, including: Robert Work, the under secretary of the Navy; Michael Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities; Andrew Krepinevich, the CSBA president who was named last month to the Defense Policy Board by Defense Secretary Robert Gates; and Steven Kosiak, who oversees the Pentagon's budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget.