Commander's Comments

For the past several months the Air Force has been moving toward a warfighting construct in keeping with the turbulent changes the world has undergone in the past decade. Political and military structures worldwide have shifted rapidly, and we no longer live in an environment requiring well-entrenched forces, expecting large-scale wars. Air Force vision changed from one of Global Reach-Global Power to Global Engagement, emphasizing the need for a quick-reaction Air Force, able to adapt to any contingency scenario.

We are developing a U.S.-based deployable force capable of rapidly executing airpower expertise tailored to meet a Joint Force commander’s requirements. We will organize, train, and equip to respond to military operations other than war, as well as major theater conflicts within 24 to 48 hours - a significant change in strategy from a decade ago.

I’m sure all of you are familiar with the current initiative to organize 10 Air Expeditionary Forces and two dedicated on-call Air Expeditionary Wings built around a structure of fighters, bombers, and support aircraft. The AEFs provide their own operations, command, and support elements and are designed to meet our nation’s steady-state defense needs such as Operations NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH. EFs (two at all times) will be prepared and tailored as required to deploy or be on call for a 90-day period every 15 months to cover contingencies as directed by the National Command Authorities. Air Force planning is well underway to implement this AEF concept by Jan. 1, 2000.

I know many of your questions center around how AIA will participate in an Expeditionary Air Force. To address these questions, we need to first understand the current Information Operations environment. We have many high demand/low density resources that continue to be highly tasked during normal peacetime operations. Contingencies place an even greater demand on these limited resources and hinder our flexibility to respond to on-going missions and new taskings. Additionally, we must meet training requirements while simultaneously conducting real-world operations. Unfortunately, it is impossible for the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance community to package itself in the same manner AEFs are packaged without a significant increase in resources. I’ve raised these concerns in Washington, but since we will continue to work under the same resources constraints for the foreseeable future, we must work smartly and explore additional options for meeting customer requirements, while at the same time avoiding a further increase in Pers/OPs Tempo. Our leadership recognizes these challenges and is looking to us to help come up with viable solutions. We must be - and are - prepared to execute a number of programs and initiatives to enhance and improve our current capabilities when our resources improve.

During VISTA the first week of April 1999, I discussed with senior AIA leaders our role in the EAF. We reviewed proposals from my staff designed to help us develop a flexible capability while relying on geographically organized forces, giving the theater commanders an AIA presence they already work with and have integrated. To achieve this, we will continue embedding IO flights at the Combat Air Forces as mandated by the June 1998 CORONA, with numbers and locations driven by Air Operations Center baselining. We will also continue our reachback operations - already proven to be a critical link between our operational capacity and our ability to serve Air Force warfighters at strategic, operational, and tactical levels worldwide. And, as many of you have experienced firsthand, we will continue to deploy personnel in theater supporting all IO activities as needed.

In concert with these operations and initiatives, we are working with Air Staff to implement plans to develop professional information operators focusing on five primary areas: organization, people, training, systems, and education. Plans range from tailored recruiting for IO, formal training, and leadership/career development to establishing IO experience identifiers. These initiatives are designed to broaden the IO knowledge and skills of each AIA member and provide a means to appropriately assign those who develop an in-depth IO experience base.

As a result of our existing PERSTEMPO, I have asked Air Staff for and have received some relief from their proposed manpower tax that is intended to backfill EAF home bases with non-EAF members. There is no doubt AIA’s information operators will be key participants in every Air Force operation, but the Air Force understands the limitations of our abilities: retention, training, experience, modernization, and technology - factors which must be considered in determining the best options for the Air Force. There are no easy solutions, but it’s certainly in our best interest to help shape our participation in the new force structure.

I applaud each of you for your willingness to tackle the challenges of this and the coming decade head on. The challenges are diverse: shrinking decision timelines driven by rapidly advancing technology, manpower and budget limitations, and politico-military instabilities (to name a few). The need for 100% of your effort, flexibility, creativity, and teamwork is critical if we are to be successful as information operators and airpower professionals in support of Air Force and Department of Defense strategy and national objectives.

Maj. Gen. John R. Baker
AIA commander