Senator asks Pentagon watchdog to review tanker documents

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., on Friday called on the Pentagon inspector general to determine whether a document the Pentagon is using to establish requirements for the controversial acquisition of Boeing 767 tankers was allegedly manipulated by the Air Force's chief of staff to favor the plan.

McCain asked that this issue be added to the inspector general's broader investigation of the tanker deal.

In a letter to Defense Department Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, McCain questions the integrity of the so-called "operational requirements document" for aerial refueling aircraft, which the Air Force may have allowed Boeing to improperly modify to the detriment of joint and coalition aircraft needs. McCain says the document was used by the Pentagon's joint staff to "validate the original tanker lease proposal," according to the letter.

"I understand that this [operational requirements document] continues to serve as the basis for the current proposal to lease up to 20, and buy up to 80, tankers," McCain said.

The letter notes that on June 25, 2002, then-Vice Chief of Naval Operations William Fallon conditionally signed off on a Joint Requirements Oversight Council Memorandum on the aerial refueling aircraft requirements document, stipulating that the ability to refuel two aircraft simultaneously is a critical threshold for the Navy in order to maintain the current refueling capability evident in much of the Air Force's existing KC-10 and KC-135 fleets.

But Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper approved changing the document's critical requirement for multi-point and simultaneous refueling, deferring it to future tanker aircraft, McCain asserts. As a result, the first 100 KC-767As for the Air Force will not be capable of simultaneously refueling two aircraft, according to the letter.

"I have been informed that the Navy may have cited the inability of tankers in theater to refuel more than one receiver aircraft at the same time, as among its `lessons learned' for Operation Iraqi Freedom," wrote McCain, a former Navy officer. "If this is true, the implications of the tanker ORD's having been altered just to accommodate Boeing's aircraft are profound."

Based on this and other information, McCain suggests the current tanker proposal might be unsupported by the requirements document and may present a compelling reason for the Air Force not to proceed with its tanker lease program, according to the letter. He also called on Schmitz to confirm that his concerns about the requirements document will be included in the IG review.