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Wright-Patterson may benefit from Turner's new appointment

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Staff Report Updated 6:12 PM Wednesday, December 7, 2011

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, said his appointment Wednesday to a conference committee that will shape the final version of a defense authorization bill gives him an opportunity to preserve amendments he said would benefit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, appointed Turner to the conference committee that is to reconcile differences between House- and Senate-passed versions of the defense authorization legislation.

Turner said his amendments to the House version would:

• Allow the Air Force secretary to fill the top spot at the Air Force Institute of Technology with either an active-duty colonel or a retired brigadier general, or higher. That would help AFIT, a post-graduate educational institution, to retain the attention of high-level leadership, Turner said.

• Give the Air Force Research Laboratory expedited hiring authority to fill scientific and engineering jobs that require an advanced degree.

• Urge the Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration to give high priority to designating special-use airspace for military research and development of unmanned aircraft and related technologies.

• Halt funding for the Air Force’s proposed consolidation of the Enterprise Logistics System program, which could involve transferring some jobs from Wright-Patterson to Gunter Annex, Ala., until the Air Force provides a cost-benefits analysis that would be subject to approval by the House Armed Services Committee, on which Turner sits.

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