USAF Secretary Donley To Resign

announced today in Washington DC:
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WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley announced his plan today to step down June 21 as the Air Force's top civilian after serving for nearly five years.

"It's been an honor and a privilege to serve with our Air Force's great Airmen," Donley said. "Their accomplishments have been nothing short of impressive and I'm humbled to be a part of this team. The Air Force has been a way of life for so much of my career, I know it will be bittersweet to say farewell."

Donley was confirmed as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force Oct. 2, 2008, during a very difficult time for the Air Force. He served as the acting secretary since June of that year, as well as for seven months in 1993, making him the longest serving secretary in the history of the Air Force. He also served as the service's top financial officer from 1989 to 1993.

Though Donley has not yet announced any future plans, he remains dedicated during his remaining time to supporting the Secretary of Defense in the many challenges that lie ahead for the service.

"In the meantime, there remains much to do," Donley said. "This is an extraordinary and exciting time for our Air Force, filled with both challenges and opportunities. I remain confident that the strength and professionalism of our Airmen, and the commitment and determination of General Welsh and our military and civilian leadership team, will continue to see us through."

Donley's 35 years of experience in the national security community also includes service in the Senate, White House and the Pentagon. Prior to assuming his current position, he served as the Director of Administration and Management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

USAF General Deceives US Senate & AF Veterans about Agent Orange Exposure!

In August 2012 the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee sought information from the Secretary of the Air Force about C-123 transport Agent Orange contamination and how the AF had responded to challenges about important details of an official, formal investigation of the issue which resulted in the May 2012 C-123 Post Vietnam Consultative Letter. The USAF responded to the Senate (Senator Burr, Ranking Member) in November 2012 with misleading and deceptive answers in their defense of the Consultative Letter. They implied aircraft were safe in "their present configuration" while in fact, the airplanes were safe only because they'd already been destroyed as toxic waste in 2010 by the AF and their "present configuration" was as aluminum ingots!

USAF was also asked about how its conclusion about C-123 veterans being unexposed differed from other federal agencies which concluded the opposite...that the veterans had been heavily exposed. In their response to Burr, the USAF called the AF views 'consistent" with CDC, an obvious falsehood. "Were exposed" (ATSDR) is not consistent with "exposure unlikely" (USAF). It doesn't take an English major to see the differences!

Finally, AF tests in 1994 labeled the C-123 fleet "heavily contaminated" and "a danger to public health" but the AF C-123 Consultative Letter, released in May 2012, erroneously dismissed that toxic description and in response to the Senate's inquiry, the AF wrote that the cautions and the requirement for HAZMAT protection was meant only for USAF Museum restoration workers - in fact, the toxicologist who completed the C-123 survey in 1994 himself confirmed in 2011 that the HAZMAT protection was for everyone as the interior of the C-123 was, as he first wrote, heavily contaminated. The veterans' point - they flew for a decade without HAZMAT protection and became exposed! If HAZMAT protection was essential for personnel inside them for brief periods in 1994 it was even more essential for crews flying these airplanes for a full decade!

For the third major issue raised by the Committee, the USAF again mislead the Senate with false or misleading answers. Clever wordsmithing is no substitute for honest, clear correspondence between general officers acting on behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force and legislative authorities. 

Other misleading answers to the United States Senate from the Air Force were equally obvious, and unworthy of the two-star officer who signed this report on behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force.

Also harmful was the fact that Veterans Affairs now cites the Air Force Consultative Letter, which the USAF response to Senator Burr defended, in denying veterans benefits for Agent Orange exposure.

An update on our Freedom of Information Act Requests: our FOIA to the VA for information on their position against C-123 veterans' exposure has

been denied effective 11 March 2013. After two years, VA now pretends no information exists in their files regarding C-123 Agent Orange exposure issues. 

Our request to the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine for information on the 2012 C-123 Agent Orange Consultative Letter hasn't done any better. While approved, and approved without fees, the Air Force has sat on this request at Wright-Patterson AFB for over eight months. Last word was the response was routed to their JAG officers to see how much the AF could keep secret.

The public sends its treasure and its children to the Armed Forces in defense of the Nation. The public demands honest accounting for how that treasure is spent, and how the blood of their children is shed - and cannot abide the military deception in these areas.

Our Group Letter to the Secretary of the Air Force

Honorable Michael B. Donley
Secretary of the Air Force
670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670

June 7, 2011

Dear Secretary Donley,

Along with Major Wes Carter and Lt. Colonel Paul Bailey, I represent a small group of veterans who flew the C-123K/UC-123K “Provider” during the period 1972-1982, after the aircraft had been used for spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam. We assumed the aircraft, with its tanks and spray gear removed, was clean and safe for flight. We loved the plane, particularly the famous “Patches”, and as all aircrews are supposed to, flew our airplane as much as possible in our normal airlift and aeromedical evacuation missions. 

The Air Force Reserve had three squadrons of C-123’s, our squadron at Hanscom AFB, and later Westover AFB, a squadron at Rickenbacker AFB and a squadron at Pittsburgh ARB. Each squadron had 16 aircraft assigned. Of the C-123 aircraft assigned to the 731^st Tactical Airlift Squadron at Westover, eleven of our assigned aircraft sprayed Agent Orange during Operation “Ranch Hand” in Vietnam. These aircraft all tested positive for Dioxin long after we flew them. We have never been notified of any health hazard we were exposed to during our eleven years of flying Air Force missions all around the world in these aircraft.

We have recently noticed a large group of us becoming sick with illnesses we knew to be ones in the Agent Orange-presumptive group. Checking on Google, we find many Air Force reports of the C-123K/UC-123K remaining “heavily contaminated” in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2008, many years after their last Vietnam spray missions and a decade or more after we flew the planes into retirement at Davis-Monthan. Surplus sales were halted due to concerns about toxicity and liability. We also note that the remaining planes were decontaminated of their dioxin contamination by shredding the metal and melting everything into scrap ingots.

We feel it logical that if Air Force tests show the airplane so contaminated Davis-Monthan and AF museum workers can’t enter it without protective coveralls, respirators and decontamination afterwards, we have been exposed during the hundreds of hours we flew the Provider, and the thousands of hours in addition we worked on the ground. We asked Oregon Health Sciences University to look over the Air Force test data and on the science of it they concurred…we’ve been exposed.

The President of the Vietnam Veterans of America and some others hoping to help us are approaching Secretary Shinseki to request his ruling that aircrews and maintainers of the C-123K have been exposed to Agent Orange, on the basis of the Air Force tests establishing the toxicity of the airplanes. May we ask for the support of the Department of the Air Force in this? We were dedicated career Air Force flyers, on duty flying Air Force aircraft worldwide, on a weapon system which Air Force tests have shown toxic even a decade, two decades after our last use. We ask our Service and its leadership for whatever support is possible in addressing the Department of Veterans Affairs.

I will be happy to provide copies of documents showing the test results that confirm the heavy contamination of these aircraft and the failure of the Air Force to take any action to notify us of our exposure to dioxin should you require copies. We have numerous documents you may want to see.

Respectfully,

John O. Harris

Lt. Colonel, USAFR retired

107 James Circle

Mashpee, Ma 02649

(John's phone # here)