| | Continental Air Defense: A Dedicated Force Is No Longer Needed (Letter Report, ... |
 | | Consequently, the Chairman concluded that the dedicated force could be significantly reduced or eliminated and that existing active and reserve general-purpose combat and training forces could be tasked to perform the continental air defense mission.\2 The Chairman expected that his recommendations would result in significant savings in personnel and operating costs. |
 | | Active and reserve general-purpose and training forces could perform these missions because they have comparable or more capable aircraft, are located at or near most existing continental air defense bases and alert sites, and have pilots capable of performing air sovereignty missions or being trained to perform such missions. |
 | | However, our September 1993 report on drug control efforts noted that the continental air defense force might be ineffective in detecting, monitoring, and apprehending drug smugglers because direct drug-smuggling flights into the United States essentially ended years ago and jet fighter aircraft cannot effectively track slow, low-flying, drug-smuggling planes. |
| www.fas.org /man/gao/gao9476.htm (3891 words) |