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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the air force rank-in-file here Monday he replaced the service's top leadership because there was "no room for error" in its nuclear mission. Gates traveled to this headquarters of US combat air forces after announcing his choices to replace the air force secretary and its chief of staff who were ousted Friday in the wake of two major nuclear blunders.Gates told airmen that he regretted having to remove General T. Michael Moseley as chief of staff and Michael Wynne as air force secretary."But there is no room for error in this mission. Nor is there, unfortunately, any room for second chances-especially when serious questions about the safety and security of our nuclear arsenal have been raised in the minds of the American people and international partners," he said.The Pentagon announced earlier that General Norton Schwartz had been tapped to replace Moseley as chief of staff, and Michael Donley, a Pentagon director of administration, as secretary.The choice broke precedent in a service that has been dominated by fighter and bomber pilots. Schwartz is a former C-130 pilot who flew some of the last missions to evacuate Saigon in 1975.He is currently the head of the US Transportation Command, but he previously served as director of the Joint Staff and deputy commander of the US Special Operations Command.At the same time Gates denied his actions were related to broader differences with the air force leadership, and voiced support for its plans to modernize an ageing fighter and bomber fleet.He acknowledged that the air force, like the other services, also is under stress and that he was working on ways to ease the burdens."For example, I intend immediately to stop further reductions in air force personnel," he said.To free up funds for its modernization programs, the air force began cutting its strength in 2006 from 356,000 to about 316,000 in 2010.Halting the cuts would leave the air force with about 330,000, air force officials said.As in the days of Noah...
