Senator Nelson Statement On Air Force Headquarters Decision

May 19, 2009 – Last week, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson issued this statement in response to the U.S. Air Force selecting Lackland Air Force Base in Texas as the new headquarters for the 24th Air Force cyber unit, over Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha and four other finalists.

“We knew the decision was made that it wasn’t coming to Offutt and I assumed they would make sure this time that the criteria matched the decision. After the Global Strike Command fiasco, the processes used for these decisions have little credibility.

“We are very disappointed in the Air Force decision of the new Cyber Headquarters location. The truth of the matter is that Air Force officials view Offutt Air Force Base as primarily the home of United States Strategic Command, a unified command. While they maintain the 55th Wing at Offutt, their priorities are enriching Air Force bases that primarily support Air Force operations. Unified commands, meanwhile, are viewed as something that can ‘fend for themselves.’

“What should we Nebraskans do? We have to work together—as a community and state, both public and private sector leaders—to establish stronger ties between Offutt and the Air Force. We have a strong relationship with the Air Force personnel that are located here at Offutt, but we need to expand those relationships to the Air Force leadership nationally.

“In the meantime, we must continue to support the critical national security missions of the 55th Wing and STRATCOM. We have completed a number of improvements to Offutt since I’ve been in the Senate, including: construction of a new Air Force Weather facility, runway, Airfield Control Tower, Fire Station, and renovations of the Youth Center, to name a few.

“And we are currently working to construct a new STRATCOM headquarters, which when completed will be a truly 21st Century facility for its missions providing strategic deterrence and U.S. freedom of action in space and cyberspace.”

Source: Senator Ben Nelson