Officials promise Air Force revamp

Two defense officials nominated to take control of the Air Force promised Tuesday to work to restore trust after the reputation of the service was battered by accusations that it failed to properly oversee the nation’s nuclear weapons and was insufficiently committed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Michael B. Donley, who previously served as a Pentagon administrator, and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, head of Transportation Command, were nominated to replace Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley, who were fired last month for problems with the service’s stewardship of the nuclear arsenal.

At a Senate confirmation hearing, Donley, the acting secretary, outlined steps he hopes will improve oversight of nuclear weapons as well as rebuild the credibility of the Air Force.

“I believe the most urgent tasks for the new leadership are to steady this great institution, restore its inner confidence and your confidence in the leadership team, and rebuild our external credibility,” Donley said.

Wynne has said he was fired for a variety of reasons, including a philosophical clash with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates over the procurement of the F-22, an expensive new fighter plane.

The Pentagon had approved acquiring 183 of the planes. Purchasing more of them is a top priority for the Air Force.

Although Gates has kept the F-22 production line open, he has also expressed skepticism about the aircraft.

Schwartz, the first transport aircraft pilot nominated to lead the Air Force after a succession of fighter pilots, tried to strike a middle ground on the F-22 issue.

“My personal position is that I believe that 183 is not the ceiling on the low end but that 381 is too high on the high end,” Schwartz told the hearing.

More broadly, he signaled his willingness to examine the structure of the Air Force and the balance between manned and unmanned craft.

Gates and other defense officials have criticized a lack of unmanned planes, such as the Predator, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Schwartz told the Senate he would push to increase the number of drones.

“The truth of the matter is that there’s more demand than we’re able to provide supply,” Schwartz said.

In an otherwise smooth proceeding, Schwartz encountered difficult questioning from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who said the Air Force general, in classified Senate testimony in 2003, was “not adequately forthcoming.”

At the time, Schwartz served as the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and gave regular closed-door updates to the Senate on the war effort. Nelson did not specify the testimony in question, and a spokeswoman declined to provide details later Tuesday because the 2003 session was classified.

“Sen. Nelson, I did not answer your questions directly,” Schwartz said. “And, by definition, that is not sufficiently forthcoming.”

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julian.barnes@latimes.com