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STATEMENT
OF
MAJOR GENERAL RANDALL M. SCHMIDT
ASSISTANT DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF,
AIR & SPACE OPERATIONS
BEFORE
THE
SPECIAL OVERSIGHT PANEL ON TERRORISM
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 11, 2002
INTRODUCTION
Mr.
Chairman, members of the committee, thank you
for this opportunity to relate to you the most
recent efforts undertaken by the United States
Air Force in response to the war on terrorism.
We appreciate this panel's continued
vigilance and are well aware that this panel has
been focused on the terrorism threat since well
before the tragic events of 11 September.
Likewise,
the United States Air Force has continually
resolved, both before and after the tragic
events of 9/11, to provide this nation with the
capabilities to help prevent terrorists from
striking the United States, protect America if
under attack, and rapidly respond to acts of
terror and their consequences.
THE
THREAT
We
face a lethal and complex strategic environment:
one in which our enemy will seek to
challenge us where we are most vulnerable; in
new and innovative ways that generate surprise
and chaos; and at a time and place of his own
choosing. Our
enemy's goals included the disruption of the
moderate, pro-U.S. regimes, such as Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and their replacement
with Islamic governments.
They clearly wanted to force the U.S.
from the Middle East, and they wanted to
pressure Israel out as well.
Perhaps, their principal goal, however,
was the disruption or destruction of the
American way of life.
As a consequence, this strategic
environment is distinguished by two fundamental
characteristics. First, that Americans, at home in their daily walk of life,
are threatened with catastrophic attack.
And second, that American military power
alone will not be sufficient to thwart the
threat that is confronting us.
The new strategic environment demands
that all elements of our national power,
military, economic, information and diplomatic
must be used
to ensure the security of our homeland.
THE
PROMISE OF AIR AND SPACE POWER
I
am privileged to testify before this
distinguished panel today about the ever-evolving
capabilities the United States Air Force brings
to the fight against terror and about the ways
in which we are cooperating with others in this
fight. I
emphasize "ever-evolving" to point out that
airmen, by the very nature of their heritage,
cultivate a
culture of continuing and relentless
transformation.
Just as one doesn't stop an aircraft in
mid-flight or halt a spacecraft on orbit, airmen
never rest in their pursuit to continually
reinvent themselves. Given the nature of our adversary: continually adapting his methods, probing for new and
unanticipated weakness, and striking with
unanticipated audacity, we believe that Air and
Space Power's ability to act with speed,
flexibility, and precision provides this nation
with an immensely valuable capability.
Organizational
Changes
Over
the past several months the Air Force has
undertaken a number of significant and far-reaching
organizational changes that promise to speed
transformation and facilitate our ability to
provide enhanced capabilities in the war on
terrorism.
Capabilities-Based
Task Force CONOPS
Air
Force Chief of Staff, General John Jumper, has
organized seven Task Forces grouping Air Force
capabilities based on seven defined Concept of
Operations (CONOPS).
The intent of these Task Forces
is to "operationalize" the way in
which we organize, train and equip the Air Force
for future Joint Air and Space operations.
The
Air Force's seven Task Forces are:
·
Global Strike Task Force will
serve as the initial, leading edge "kick down
the door" force designed to conduct operations
in an intense anti-access environment.
It will pave the way for persistent air,
space, land, and sea forces by rapidly rolling
back adversary anti-access threats;
·
Global Response Task Force, will
provide an integrated joint air, space,
maritime, ground, and IO capability to respond
globally to fleeting targets using precise and
decisive force in an attack window ranging from
minutes to hours;
·
Homeland Security Task Force, will
develop and integrate Air Force capabilities
into joint and interagency efforts to
effectively prevent, protect against, and
respond to a variety of threats against America;
·
Air and Space/Command and Control,
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
Task Force, will harness Air Force capabilities
to achieve horizontal integration of manned,
unmanned, and space systems, eventually through
machine-to-machine interface of ISR and C2 to
provide executable decision quality knowledge to
the commander in near real-time anywhere;
·
Global Mobility Task Force, will
organize the capabilities necessary to provide
worldwide movement of assets including support
to victims of natural and man-made disasters,
and will also be prepared to evacuate
noncombatants;
·
Nuclear Response Task Force, is
the Air Force contribution to deterring the use
of weapons of mass destruction against U.S. or
allied forces and seeks to integrate
conventional and nuclear capabilities, providing
commanders a full spectrum of responses to
counter aggression; and
·
Air and Space Expeditionary Forces
Task Force, examines the best use of the Air
Force's number one resource -- people -- and
its other assets in an expeditionary environment
to provide joint force commanders with ready and
complete aerospace force packages that can be
tailored to meet the spectrum of contingencies.
Capabilities
Review and Risk Assessment
As
a companion piece to the Air Force's
capabilities-based Task Force CONOPS, General
Jumper has directed that each task force be
assigned a champion to advocate the capabilities
that task force represents across the Air Staff.
Most importantly, our old corporate
programming structure, the Quarterly Acquisition
Program Review, which was program focused, has
been replaced by the Capabilities Review and
Risk Assessment (CRRA) process, which focuses on
operational capabilities rather than programs as
the driving force behind the Air Force's
corporate processes.
Our goal is to make warfighting effects,
and the capabilities we need to achieve them,
the impetus for everything we do.
Directorate
of Homeland Security
In
January of this year, the Air Force stood up the
Directorate of Homeland Security under the
Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space
Operations.
This general officer led directorate
combines expertise from across the Air Staff to
focus on Air Force homeland defense and military
support to civil authorities, including policy,
guidance, operational expertise, and oversight
for U.S. Air Force Homeland Security efforts.
Its charter is to fully synchronize Air
Force efforts with those of the Army, Navy, and
Marine Corps, and other governmental
organizations to ensure the security of our
homeland.
Through
the Directorate of Homeland Security the
Air Force has a single point of entry to unify
Air Force policy on Homeland Security and
provide an interface with outside organizations.
The Directorate of Homeland Security
represents the Air Force to the Office of the
Secretary of Defense Homeland Security Office (HLSO)
and participates in the OSD-HLSO panels on
terrorism, vulnerability assessment, and DoD
relations with Governor Ridge's Office of
Homeland Security (OHS).
Additionally,
the Directorate of Homeland Security provides
air and space expertise through OSD to the OHS
in drafting the National Airspace Security
Strategy, the North American Airspace
Surveillance Plan, and the Homeland Air Security
Operational Concept.
The
Directorate of Homeland Security has, and
continues to support the standup of U.S.
NORTHERN Command through the NORTHCOM
Implementation Planning team and will serve as
Executive Agent for the newly established
Northern Command once it stands up in October of
this year.
The
Air Staff along with the Air Force Doctrine
Center has reviewed more than 135 volumes of
doctrine since last September.
We have discovered that while our current
concept of warfare is sufficient, we do need
more homeland defense-related exercises to
validate new command and control relationships
and fully incorporate technical innovations.
The recently concluded Air Force doctrine
symposium focused on both Homeland Defense and
support to civil authorities with an eye towards
ensuring that Homeland Security is embedded in
all aspects of Air Force doctrine.
Additionally
the Homeland Security Directorate is developing
an Air Force Homeland Security Policy Document
to guide Air Force functional managers to
ingrain Homeland Security into their applicable
Air Force instructions, manuals, and handbooks.
The
ultimate goal of the Directorate of Homeland
Security is to institutionalize Homeland
Security into every aspect of Air Force policy,
procedure and doctrine.
Deputy
Chief Of Staff for Warfighting Integration
Another
Air Force initiative was the formation of a new
Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting
Integration who will focus on the modernization
of command, control, communications, computer,
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
systems. Their
mission will be to orchestrate the integration
of our warfighting systems, and ensure we
capitalize on the required technologies, CONOPS,
and organizational changes needed to achieve
true integration.
Its charter will be to focus on new
cutting edge ideas to be innovative in
implementation, and help us to avoid repeating
past mistakes.
Air
and Space Expeditionary Force
Finally,
The Air Force has established a new office to
focus on the future of the Air and Space
Expeditionary Force (AEF).
The Office of Special Assistant for
Aerospace Expeditionary Force Matters began
operating in March, and has a one-year charter
to gather all AEF issues and determine what has
been done to rectify them.
The
office will work along with the AEF Center at
Langley AFB, Virginia and Air Force major
commands to analyze and advocate for the AEF
construct, educate people on how the AEF works,
and work long-term policy recommendations.
Some
of the current issues facing the new office
include the AEF rotation policy, structure,
stressed career fields in AEF, evaluating
the AEF leader concept and presentation of AEF
Forces.
Operational
Changes
Support to Civil Authorities
The
Air Force National Security Emergency
Preparedness (AFNSEP) Office is the Air
Force's link to the DoD Director of Military
Support (DoMS) and to local first responders
through its Emergency Preparedness Liaison
Officers (EPLO).
Since 9-11 AFNSEP has provided active
duty liaison to USJFCOM to coordinate with JFCOM,
the NORTHCOM Implementation Planning Team, JTF-Civil
Support, JTF‑6, Air Combat Command, and
the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center.
Since
9/11, federal, state, and local civil agencies
have increasingly requested AFNSEP support for
Immediate Response and National Security Special
Events (NSSE).
While
the mission of the Air Force is to organize
train and equip combat forces for joint
operations, many of the warfighting capabilities
we possess can be used, upon direction of the
President, to support civil authorities in the
fight against terrorism or to help mitigate the
consequences of terrorist attacks.
For example, within 24 hours of the
terrorist attacks on 11 Sept, U.S. Air Force
Expeditionary Medical System (EMEDS) teams were
in place at McGuire AFB, New Jersey and Andrews
AFB, Maryland, ready to respond to Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements.
EMEDS is a lightweight, fully deployable,
modular system that allows the AF Medical System
to tailor its response to each situation, adding
bed sets as needed.
The
Air Force Medical System is also working with
others to develop and integrate new technology.
A good example is a state-of-the-art
disaster response system called the Lightweight
Epidemiological Advanced Detection and Emergency
Response System (LEADERS), which is designed to
enhance the current medical surveillance process
and provide the earliest possible detection of
covert biological warfare incidents or
significant outbreaks of disease.
Additionally,
the Air Force has established two active
component Medical Rapid Response Force teams to
provide "scalable" medical support for
disasters or attacks against DoD installations
or within 24 hours to provide trauma care and
protection against Chemical, Biological,
Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Explosive (CBRNE)
threats.
Finally,
the Air Force medical community has accelerated
efforts to formalize Brooks AFB Homeland
Security "dual-setting" capabilities.
These capabilities are designed to
mitigate effects of CBRNE/water contamination
through deployable teams, reach-back analytic
laboratory capability, and other emerging
technologies for state and local Homeland
Security support.
In addition, NORTHCOM combatant commander
or other combatant commanders can task these
assets to provide operational support.
Additionally, of the nearly 9,000
Guard troops, nearly 800 Air Guard members were
assigned to 444 airports last December to
provide homeland defense through the holiday
season.
Interface
to the Law Enforcement Community
The
Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI)
is Air Force's single agency for FBI
interface, and maintains linkages with federal,
state, and local law enforcement.
It has made numerous advances to link and
fuse law enforcement as well as
counterintelligence information to enhance
overall force protection.
Following
9/11, AFOSI created the Investigations,
Collection Operations Nexus (ICON) to conduct
tactical terrorist reporting, fusion, analysis
and production for analysis and dissemination to
all AF bases.
AFOSI
"TALON" reports collect low-level suspicious
activities to provide clues and indicators of
terrorist activity that can be linked and fused
with other all-source law enforcement and
counterintelligence information.
These reports are made to wing commanders
within one hour.
Additionally the AFOSI Eagle Watch
SIPRNet (classified) Web Page is specifically
devoted to TALON reports and is updated in
real-time.
Finally,
AFOSI launched the "Eagle Eyes" Program to
engage both on and off installation population
to collect information on suspicious activity.
Special
Operations
The
Air Force is pursuing efforts to fully integrate
efforts of the Special Operations Force, Combat
Air Force, and Military Airlift Force
communities to synchronize the synergistic
effects of Air and Space Power in support of war
on terrorism.
Additionally,
the Air Force has improved AC-130 gunship
capabilities by integrating Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle streaming video to minimize aircraft
exposure time while improving situational
awareness, Close Air Support and time critical
targeting.
Critical
Infrastructure and Force Protection
The
Air Force recognizes the inherent importance of
the infrastructures, many of which we do not
own, upon which we rely to execute our mission. These critical infrastructures include both the cyber and the
physical and constitute a potentially attractive
avenue for terrorist attack.
The Air Force is currently reviewing and
refining on-going Air Force inspection and
assessment processes to identify critical
infrastructures and assets, their
vulnerabilities, and remediation actions.
Additionally
the Air Force is supporting the DoD‑led
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP)
Integration Staff (CIPIS), assisting in the
development of DoD Integrated Sector Assurance
Plans (DISAP), the development of DoD and Joint
Staff CIP implementation policy, and the DoD
review of Integrated Vulnerability Assessments.
The
Air Force Technical Applications Center has
developed a concept to deploy integrated
chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear
sensors at Air Force and other installations
giving installation commanders real-time warning
of the presence of hazards.
Finally,
the Air Force is participating in the Defense
Science Board's task force on installation
security.
Operations
ENDURING FREEDOM and NOBLE EAGLE
The
most immediately recognizable Air Force
activities in the war on terrorism were related
to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and
Operation NOBLE EAGLE (ONE).
The changes in operations and equipment
reflected in these operations began long before
9/11, but also reflect recent innovations
initiated by creative airmen.
One
such airman was Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Matt
Lienhard, a combat controller on the ground in
Afghanistan.
Combining the ancient with the state of
the art, SSgt Lienhard called in air strikes to
targets only 800 meters from his own position
from bombers 39,000 feet in the sky, all while
operating his satellite-linked laptop computer
on horseback.
We
linked new systems such as Predators with legacy
systems like the AC-130 gunship to enhance the
effectiveness of Time Critical Targeting. It's
this type of new thinking that has positioned us
to creatively use our technology to win 21st
century wars.
Remarkably,
at its peak, nearly as many Air Force airmen
from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve
and active Air Force, defended American skies in
Operation NOBLE EAGLE as were deployed for
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.
Operation
NOBLE EAGLE was transformational in itself
requiring more than 140 air defense fighters
from 26 locations actively flying Combat Air
Patrol or on alert; more than 70 tankers on
orbit or on alert; and approximately 20 airborne
early warning aircraft (including AWACS, NATO
AWACS, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Customs Service
aircraft) to monitor the skies and coordinate
operations.
In total over 21,000 Operation NOBLE
EAGLE sorties have been flown.
Additionally,
over 40 Air National Guard C-130s were postured
to support U.S. Army rapid reaction homeland
security forces throughout the U.S.
Task
Force Enduring Look
After
barely a month had passed following the attacks
on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, and only
a couple of weeks into Operation ENDURING
FREEDOM, General John Jumper directed the
formation of Task Force Enduring Look (TFEL).
Its mission is to collect, exploit,
document, and report on our air campaign against
terrorism in near real time.
Although,
TFEL's work is ongoing, a telling picture of
Air and Space power contributions to Operation
ENDURING FREEDOM is emerging.
First
and foremost, unprecedented persistence and
speed of execution can deny sanctuary to
terrorists.
Our ability to have AWACS, Rivet Joint,
Joint Stars, U-2, UAVs as well as loitering
tankers, bombers, and fighters maintaining a
persistent presence over the battlespace is key
to a sanctuary denial strategy.
This strategy is highly dependent upon
having air and space superiority of the
battlespace.
Our
investment strategies with Intelligence
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR),
communications, and ground and air based sensors
coupled with organizing, training, and equipping
the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC)
as a "weapon system" resulted in
unprecedented speed of execution.
Our ability to find, fix, track, target,
engage, and assess emerging targets is vastly
improved, enhanced even more through the use of
Special Operations Forces.
We are working to further improve this
combat chain with machine-to-machine horizontal
integration of sensors and shooters, and to
streamline the decision-making processes to
ensure they do not unnecessarily delay key
operational decisions.
A combination of "eyes on the ground"
and all-weather weapons under their control
enabled rapid and precise surveillance,
tracking, and target engagement.
Although "eyes on the ground" is not
always a requirement, Air Force combat
controllers working closely with U.S. Army and
U.S. Navy Special Forces and other personnel
proved to be an important enabler.
Enhanced bombing effectiveness,
demonstrated resolve, positive target
identification, immediate Battle Damage
Assessment (BDA), and effective airspace control
were some of the key benefits ultimately
resulting in a regime change.
Versatile
all-weather GPS-guided 2,000‑pound-class
Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) greatly
reduced the impacts of weather and underground
sanctuaries.
Moreover we had airmen on the ground
empowered to execute and command other airmen in
support of counter-land missions to achieve
specific effects.
A
versatile, flexible and expeditionary force can
rapidly deploy, seize the initiative, defeat a
regime, disrupt key terrorist activity, and deny
sanctuary.
The
many early successes of Operation ENDURING
FREEDOM validated the Air Expeditionary Force
construct, the recruiting and retaining of
quality people, and the acquisition of
innovative new weapons and platforms.
Space
One
of the single biggest contributions to the
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM was the Global
Positioning System (GPS).
The very idea that a B-52 (Stratofortress)
or a B-1 (Lancer) flying around at extremely
high altitudes could provide close air support
to troops on the ground is a remarkable
achievement.
Air
Force space continues its indispensable support
for all Services through the use of various
tools and technologies such as pre- and
post-strike target imagery, secure lines of
communication, weather forecasting and
observation, and use of satellite systems like
the Defense Support Program.
The
527th
Space Aggressor Squadron (SAS), recognizing the
need to prepare for the unknown threat, is now
implementing training exercises against category
II threats, those with specific capabilities and
intent but not attributable to a specific enemy
(i.e., terrorists and other vague organizations
with known capabilities).
For example, the 527th SAS is
using commercially available GPS jamming
equipment against U.S. forces in exercises to
help us develop appropriate countermeasures to
maintain our precision engagement superiority.
SUMMARY
Air
and Space Power had its beginnings during the
Civil War when field commanders sent Signal
Corps spotters aloft in aerial balloons to
locate enemy troop movements and pass target
information to artillery units on the ground.
Ironically, we have evolved to a point
180 degrees out from this in Afghanistan where
special operations forces on the ground were
used to spot targets for our fighters and
bombers in the air.
Just as the very nature of the terrorist
threat is continually changing, Air and Space
Power has the inherit ability to rapidly adapt
to emerging and unforeseen threats.
We
are well aware that neither the Air Force nor
the DoD can go it alone in the war on terrorism.
It will require the combination of all of
the elements of national power to ensure our
homeland's security.
The Air Force stands ready to work in
concert with all federal, state, and local
officials to do just that.
I
appreciate the opportunity to come before this
panel and share some of the many innovations
undertaken by the Air Force to support our
nation's war on terrorism.
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