Accuracy in Reporting Department

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Air Force Major General Tommy Crawford, director of the service's Command and Control, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) Center was a leading candidate to replace Navy Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Now, a well-placed source tells us that General Crawford was, in fact, the Air Force nominee for that post, but he was passed over in favor of a flag officer from another branch of the military. The DIA directorship rotates among each of the services;when the job comes open, each branch submits candidate and the Defense Secretary makes his selection from among those nominees.

Apparently, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld felt the "Air Force was not right" for the DIA job at this time. The rejection of Crawford is seen as more of a swipe at the Air Force than General Crawford. The C2ISR Center Director is highly regarded in military circles, and is a leading candidate for other three-star positions. Conversely, the Air Force hasn't held the DIA Director's post since the mid-1990s, when Lt Gen Ken Minihan briefly led the agency, before becoming the director of the National Security Agency.

Meanwhile, we can dispel reports that another Air Force officer, Brigadier General William Lord, was another victim of Hurricane Katrina. Rumors suggested that Lord had been removed from his job as Commander of the 81st Training Wing at Keesler AFB, MS. Like much of the Gulf Coast, Keesler was devastated by the storm; scuttlebutt suggested that Lord was in trouble with his superiors for failing to evacuate the base. In fact, Lord is still on the job and has become something of a local hero for his efforts to restore services at Keesler, and assist the local civilian community. He has also been selected for promotion to Major General.