The U.S. Air Force routinely holds a “Corona” meeting where top generals make course corrections for their military branch. At their latest shindig, they downgraded cyberspace from the “mission essential” status of a major command … to the “mission component” status of a numbered air force.

“We ripped the guts out of your project at the last possible second. Con­grat­u­la­tions! You get a medal…”

Indeed, the brand-new Secretary of the Air Force didn’t even mention cyber in his top five near-term priorities. This guy seems far more concerned about a wayward nuke than a wayward network. Go figure.

Still, AFCYBER managed to pump out an upbeat press release. Commanding general William T. Lord — the man who fathered a stillborn MAJCOM — did his best to explain how “the operation was a success even though the patient died.” But hey, they at least gave him another patient to work on. That should keep him occupied for awhile.

To be honest: Lord’s got a point about the “success” of his efforts. His mothballed Strategic Air Command would have taken on new life as Communications Cyberspace Command … if USAF hadn’t ironically fumbled SAC’s old nuclear football.

So. When it’s all said & done, USAF will pin medals on the midwives who delivered this stillborn. I anticipate the following quotas:

• E3-E5 and O1 will receive an Achievement Medal;
• E6-E7 and O2-O3E will receive a Commendation Medal;
• E8-E9, O4-O5, plus “lesser” O6 will receive a Meritorious Service Medal; and
• Senior staffers will receive more gratuitous medals that rank above the Bronze Star.

And everybody’s performance report will, of course, make it sound like he/she actually did stand up a major command.

In all fairness, I shouldn’t criticize the medals; nor should I criticize the performance reports. Why? Because the decision to gut this project came from USAF’s very highest eschelon. Everyone involved — even Lord — can honestly say “it all occurred way above my pay grade.” When something like this happens, you issue a press release to say the Corona decision “makes sense” and then you move on.

Yes yes yes, so their production got whacked at the eleventh hour. Yes yes yes, so the scope of their objective got cut from a MAJCOM to a NAF. But that’s no reason not to celebrate! Bartender, a round of cyber medals for everyone…