[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13153]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE SERVICE OF GENERAL MICHAEL T. MOSELEY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to express my 
appreciation to a fine public servant and military officer, former Air 
Force Chief of Staff, General Michael T. Moseley, who recently resigned 
on orders from the Secretary of Defense.
  The timing of this unprecedented decision to dismiss both top Air 
Force leaders only days before the decision on the tanker program, and 
during a time of wartime stress on Air Force personnel, is unfortunate. 
Nevertheless, every military and civilian officer knows that he serves 
at the pleasure of the President and can be dismissed for any reason. 
As professional leaders, General Moseley and former Secretary Wynne 
accepted that fact.
  Unfortunately, the entire record of their decades of public service 
may be at risk of being pushed aside.
  In particular regard to General Michael Moseley, it would be hard to 
find a more competent and experienced Air Force chief since the 
service's inception over 60 years ago. Entering the Air Force in 1971, 
he quickly rose through the ranks, and his competency as the top F-15 
pilot led to command responsibilities around the world. Like no other 
Air Force Chief in a generation, General Moseley demonstrated he knew 
how to command air power during combat operations because he led 
coalition Air Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq that employed greater 
precision and air-ground coordination than ever before.
  He served as Chief of the Air Force during a very tumultuous time. He 
confronted the challenging budget and personnel cuts posed by the 
Quadrennial Defense Review, as well as additional cuts administered or 
mandated by the administration.
  He helped to steer the Air Force through some tough times, and in so 
doing, and to his credit, he always put the airmen and their families 
first. He recognized that our Nation unwisely took a ``holiday from 
history'' in the 1990s by delaying aircraft modernization and, as a 
result, our pilots are flying aircraft that average nearly 40 years of 
age. We have F-15s literally falling apart in the air. We have F-16s 
that are nearing the end of their service-life. We have 40-year-old 
tankers and 50-year-old bombers.
  And we have Third World nations that are fielding fighters that are, 
or soon will be, equal to our fourth-generation fighters. And, at the 
same time, we have not committed to recapitalizing our fighter fleet of 
F-22s and F-35s in the number necessary to meet validated military 
requirements. It takes almost 20 years to develop, test and field a new 
advanced weapons system. If we take more ``holidays from history'' we 
leave our Nation and future generations at risk. This Nation has taken 
for granted our traditional air superiority. And General Moseley was 
right to have pointed out these vulnerabilities.
  We never know in advance our next adversary. We must be prepared and 
strong for both asymmetric threats as well as resurgent adversarial 
nations, and General Moseley understood this very well.
  The Air Force is still called upon around the clock to undertake 
combat missions, targeted air strikes, deliver troops and cargo and 
provide intelligence platforms.
  Our ground forces have come to rely on the Air Force, mainly because, 
well, they're so competent. And that's no accident. General Moseley 
understood this because he was there actually commanding airmen in 
combat operations.
  General Moseley recognized the national security implications posed 
by the growing cybersecurity threat. He did not just wring his hands. 
He took concrete actions to establish the Air Force Cyber Command 
Initiative. He oversaw the historic development of Unmanned Aerial 
Vehicles in combat, and also instituted training to help instill a 
``warrior ethos'' in the Air Force. He should be commended for that 
vision.
  I am proud of General Moseley. His sense of responsibility to the Air 
Force's overall mission led him to voice legitimate with Congress on 
matters like serious deficiencies in aircraft modernization, even at 
the risk of his career. To me, this is real integrity. When we have 
hearings on the Armed Services Committee, what we're after is the real 
truth, unvarnished and unblinking. We're not looking for a sanitized 
version. General Moseley was an advocate for modernization, and this 
advocacy is something which, though he was absolutely correct in both 
fact and merit, earned him criticisms where he should have found 
support.
  The Secretary of Defense cited a failure of leadership within the Air 
Force in regards to its nuclear mission. Those are indeed serious 
charges, but the Department of Defense shares the responsibility 
through the impact of both budget cuts and BRAC mandates. These cuts 
clearly de-funded and de-emphasized nuclear matters. Cuts that were not 
the Air Force's preferred choice have taken a toll, and those budgets 
cuts must be acknowledged and corrected by this and future secretaries 
if we are truly going to address shortfalls in nuclear surety matters. 
I know that first-hand, as even I have had to request funding additions 
to cover documented shortfalls in the Minuteman III modernization 
program.
  So in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank General Michael 
Moseley, as well as Secretary Michael Wynne, for their dedicated public 
service to our Nation and our fighting men and women. From where I sit 
as a member of the Armed Services Committee, I believe that both these 
Air Force leaders can hold their heads high. I believe they are both 
men of great personal integrity, and I wish them well in their future 
endeavors.

                          ____________________