[Kzyxtalk] "The New Command at the USAF"

[sako4 at comcast.net]

To the Editor: 

There are disturbing aspects to the new command at the United States Air Force. I'll explain. 

***** 

NEW USSTRATCOM COMMANDER -- GENERAL JOHN E. HYTEN -- A COMPUTER GEEK 
General John E. Hyten just got confirmed by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee as the next USSTRATCOM Commander. 
The USSTRATCOM Commander controls the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal -- the "trident" of land-based nukes, submarine-based nukes, and nukes carried by strategic bombers. 
That's 1,481 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 741 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers, and another 2,570 non-deployed strategic warheads, and roughly 500 deployed and non-deployed tactical warheads. 
Hyten is unusual insofar as he was never actually a launch officer. Instead, Hyten is a Harvard-trained engineer who came up through the ranks as a space forces, software development, automated systems, configuration management guy. 
Meaning what? 
Meaning General Hyten thinks of a nuclear holocaust in the abstract. 
I'm interested in knowing what General Hyten's qualifications are in the areas of nuclear disarmament negotiations, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. 

***** 
NEW AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF -- GENERAL DAVID L. GOLDFEIN -- A DRONE PILOT 

Meanwhile, on July 21, former Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein, was sworn in to succeed General Mark Welsh as Chief of Staff, the Air Force's most senior uniformed leader. General Goldfein the first CSAF to have flown a drone. 
Meaning what? 
Meaning that the USAF's top two head honchos think of war in the abstract. 
The recent buildup of NATO forces, along with President Obama's $1 trillion to upgrade and "modernize" the U.S. nuclear arsenal and production facilities, and Obama's refusal to agree to a No-First Use (NFU) policy, can only be viewed as provocations, and they are counterproductive in the struggle to de escalate tensions. 
For both Hyten and Goldfein, the prospect of a nuclear holocaust may be nothing more than a war games exercise, just another exercise in remote killing. What would be an acceptable use of nuclear force? Would they recommend a tactical nuclear strike to take out North Korea's or Iran's nuclear production facilities, for instance? 

***** 
Thank you. 

John at www.kmecradio.org 
https://www.c-span.org/video/?415550-1/senate-armed-services-committee-considers-us-strategic-command-nomination 



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