Higher-ranking nuclear chief tapped
4-star general to lead troubled bomber, missile command
WASHINGTON – Working to reinvigorate its nuclear force after years of missteps and scandal, the Air Force is putting a four-star general in charge for the first time in the post-Cold War era. His mission: Restore institutional muscle and assert more influence on the force’s behalf.
“Having a four-star in charge of this command will be crucial,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in an interview, “because rank matters.”
Gen. Robin Rand, a career fighter pilot, will take over today as commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, replacing Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson. Rand has never served in the nuclear force, but he has broad experience in the Air Force, most recently as commander of the organization in charge of all recruiting, technical training and professional military education.
He steps in amid optimism in the Air Force that it has put its nuclear force back on track. A series of Associated Press reports revealed that the force had atrophied and morale had suffered, in part because of a lack of resources as other arms of the service prevailed in competition for dollars and power.
Elevating the Air Force nuclear bomber and missile command to four-star rank was among the recommendations last fall by an independent panel that studied the root cause of slip-ups, particularly within the organization that operates and manages the Air Force’s 450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, at bases in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota. The study was undertaken on orders from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in response to the AP reports starting in May 2013 that documented evidence of low morale, weak discipline and training gaps.
Hagel endorsed the independent study’s conclusion that having a three-star run the nuclear force was a mistake.
“There is no substitute for” four-star influence, the study said, adding that relegating the nuclear command to lower rank sent a “less-than-desirable message to the airmen performing the mission.”
Virtually the entire nuclear Air Force chain of command has been overturned since the AP disclosed in May 2013 an internal Air Force email lamenting “rot” inside the ICBM force. The note’s author was Lt. Col. Jay Folds. He was reacting in part to training and disciplinary breakdowns at the Minuteman 3 wing at Minot Air Force Base that prompted the Air Force to suspend 17 launch officers, an unprecedented action that came to light only through the leaking of Folds’ email.
Rand, a 1979 graduate of the Air Force Academy, has run the Education and Training Command since October 2013. Before that he headed the Air Force component of U.S. Southern Command, and he commanded the Air Force’s main fighter wing in Iraq in 2006-07. He declined to be interviewed for this article.