Gates announces recommendations on senior Air Force leadership positions Published June 18, 2008 By American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has recommended that President Bush nominate Michael B. Donley, the Defense Department's director of administration and management, to be the next secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, U.S. Transportation Command commander, to become Air Force chief of staff. Secretary Gates described Mr. Donley's current position as being "essentially charged with running the Pentagon and its many complex operations," and noted that Mr. Donley served as assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management in the first Bush administration and, for a period, as acting secretary of the Air Force. Secretary Gates also recommended that the president designate Mr. Donley as acting Air Force secretary, effective June 21. As commander of USTRANSCOM, General Schwartz is in charge of the Defense Department's extensive transportation network and worldwide operations. He has served in senior joint military positions as director of the Joint Staff, director for operations for the Joint Staff and deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, Secretary Gates noted in his statement. The defense secretary also has recommended that Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, Air Force vice chief of staff, succeed General Schwartz at USTRANSCOM. General McNabb has spent most of his three-plus decades in the Air Force in the areas of lift, refueling and logistics, "making him an ideal candidate to assume the helm of this command," Secretary Gates said in his statement. The secretary also is recommending that the president nominate Lt. Gen. William M. Fraser III, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to follow General McNabb as the next Air Force vice chief. In his current position, General Fraser is the chairman's chief liaison and advisor on international relations and political-military matters. "In addition to his numerous flying and command assignment(s) in the bomber community, General Fraser has extensive wartime, contingency and humanitarian relief operational experience," Secretary Gates said in the statement announcing his recommended nominations. "I am confident that Mike Donley, General Schwartz and the new Air Force leadership team have the qualifications, skill and commitment to excellence necessary to guide the Air Force through this transition and beyond," the statement concluded.