Below are email exchanges between General Ronald Keys, Air Combat Command (ACC) Commander, to General T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. Gen. Keys expressed concern that the Thunderbirds Air Show Production Services (TAPS) contract will cost far more than Keys initially was led to believe. He stated that he finds it tough to swallow spending "big money" on public relations--i.e. the TAPS contract--at the expense of expenditures on current aircraft needs (an especially bad problem given that many aircraft are wearing out because of the conflicts abroad and aging). Gen. Moseley waved him off and is more concerned about messaging and branding the Air Force for PR purposes through the use of the TAPS contract. This looks bad, real bad for Gen. Moseley.
These emails are from pages 211-212 of the Department of Defense Inspector General's (DoD IG) investigation report (pdf) of the "improper influence" of Major General Stephen M. Goldfein on the $50 million contract with Strategic Message Solutions for Thunderbirds Air Show Production Services:
1027. November 9, 2005,
General Ronald Keys, ACC Commander, e-mailed General Moseley, Chief of Staff. Keys wrote, “Boss, we asked for bids on this capability and they have come back. I know you said ‘press’ and ‘found’ some fy ’05 right-colored money to be able to acquire this capability. However, this is turning out to be an $8M per year project… something over $40M for the FYDP, and I cannot support burning that kind of money to fix something that isn’t broken, when I am not buying fixes to things that are broken… and may not be able to even fly mail to Chicago. I plan to pass on pursuing this and it will probably cost some small termination/bid prep costs, … but I can’t see spending big money here when we are talking about stopping aircraft mods and going to 75% BOS funding. I know this was somehow wrapped up in the Strategic Comm package so wanted to know your thoughts before I proceed. RK”1028. November 10, 2005,
General Moseley responded to General Keys,
“Thanks for the SA Ron. Let me think about this one for a bit. It does fit into my strategic communication plan in a big way. I’d ask you not to terminate anything until I can get wrapped around this one a bit more. Thanks again”1029. November 10, 2005,
General Keys responded to Moseley,
“Right, Boss…. That’s why I gave you the head’s up. I asked my folks to hold off until after the 21st, since that bloodletting would provide rationale and also to wait until I had talked to you. No one can give me a metric on people recruited (which we may or may not need), or opinion makers touched and changed at events like these. It would enhance getting out a message, but to whom? …. And the contract as written is really more focused at putting cockpit video etc to the ground during lulls in the performance. I would rather put it against the bills coming in to stand up the Adversary Threat Group and UAV COE. Additionally, I would like to re-open the bidding on block 52s to the T’Birds… block 40s would make more sense to me as I would then have the block 50 data-link and targeting pod surrogate IRST in my aggressor fleet to replicate the threat… I don’t see thrust as a driving addition to what the T’birds do and believe we should flipflop the transfer. Having said all of that, will await your direction on the Jumbotron… know you are consumed in the QDR and believe there is not a big rush on this for a couple of weeks. I’m out at Nellis for the Aviation Nation Celebration and then on to Whiteman but am up on e-mail.
Cheers, V/R Ron”1030. November 14, 2005,
Moseley responded to Keys, “Ron…as we discussed at CORONA…I’m working my way through a bigger set of strategic comm options. And, this has been one I’ve liked – not just for TBird reasons – but for the “messaging opportunities” if we get the right people working this for me. Hold off in killing or deciding anything until I can get some non-QDR time to reflect on this a bit more. I’m prone to support it and pay the money and drive the message we want across the spectrum of options – from Mar through Nov every year at a variety of locations (and use the TBird shows as a vehicle to get at the public).
I’m prone to support it because it offers that spring board to other venues and other outreach opportunities. This will work even better as we get more sophisticated with our “market research” and “branding/marketing.” So, my notion has been this is more than a project to support a demo team & big screens. But, give me some time and I’ll come to closure soonest. Thanks again”
-- Nick Schwellenbach
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