"It's pretty disappointing when a memo that is intended, you know, within the United States military, from a commander to his fellow commanders, gets leaked on media."ĭespite the headlines and how widely circulated Minihan's message was, it doesn't appear that there will be any major repercussions for the general. "It's interesting how memos can take strong legs on own," Bass told. ![]() She viewed it as an internal document, a message that made sense within the context of the rank and file. Bass, the top enlisted leader in the Air Force, told during a reporter roundtable at AFA that, in her opinion, having the memo go as viral as it did was concerning. The memo was widely circulated and chatted about among airmen, before reaching the national press.Ĭhief Master Sgt. The original poster of the information cut the "CUI" tag from a screenshot shared online, Beau Downey, a spokesman at Air Mobility Command, told. The memo was tagged "Controlled Unclassified Information" - a categorization the military uses to protect information that doesn't warrant classification. "I felt like a random email blast to thousands of airmen was an inappropriate way to direct them to essentially prepare for war with a near-peer adversary." "Some of my airmen are going to get scared when they read this memo," the officer said. But their concern appeared to be less with the message Minihan conveyed than how he conveyed it.Īn Air Force officer with Air Mobility Command who received the email and attached memo, who spoke to in January on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said the communication sparked immediate concern. "The sense of urgency is the most important part out of his memo."īoth Kendall and Brown have made it clear that the top challenge for the Department of the Air Force is China. "I think it detracted from the key message of the sense of urgency that is required," Brown told. Charles "C.Q." Brown told during a media roundtable that there were aspects of Minihan's memo he was "disappointed in" and said perhaps the biggest mistake was that parts of it were a distraction from the overall message- one he agrees with. "My own view is that we will be able to successfully deter it's not in anybody's interest to start a war over Taiwan or anything else between the U.S. Minihan was trying to motivate his people to be ready at all times" but underscored that "nobody knows" when a conflict could occur with China. Kendall later told during a media roundtable that he believed "Gen. "In fact, there is no specific timeframe in which conflict can be predicted to occur." "The possibility of aggression in the western Pacific is real, particularly against Taiwan, but war is not inevitable and there is no reason to believe it is imminent," Kendall said in his remarks. Without naming Minihan directly, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told attendees during his keynote speech at the conference, known by its initials of AFA, that there shouldn't be attempts to predict when war with China will occur. Department of the Air Force leadership largely spoke out against some of the messages in his memo during the symposium. Unlike other commanders and top brass, Minihan didn't host a round table with reporters. ![]() He received an enthusiastic round of applause when he was introduced and some scattered cheers throughout, but constrained his remarks to similar themes as his September speech. Minihan was featured only on a 30-minute panel to discuss the importance of logistics as it related to future conflicts. Minihan didn't have a keynote speech like the previous conference, though Air and Space Force Association spokeswoman Amy Hudson said that decision had been made long before the memo was released. Aim for the head." He also advised airmen to update their virtual Record of Emergency Data, essentially their dependents' contact information and wills. He told his command that war with China was right around the corner, and he called on airmen with weapons qualifications to "fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. ![]() The four-star general had just wrapped up a high-octane keynote speech at the Air Force and Space Force Association's 2022 Air, Space and Cyber Conference, where he gave an address titled the "Mobility Manifesto." While shouting into a wireless microphone away from the podium, he underscored two main points: "Lethality matters most" and China's military is "tailor-making an air force to kill you." Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command, was receiving mountains of applause from a packed crowd at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor Convention Center, Maryland. AURORA, Colorado - Last September, Air Force Gen.
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