Isn't our SAC disbanded? When the US stopped flying strategic bombers is it possible that we believed the enemy would also? Do we also believe that in an age of ICBMs and cruise missiles that no one would bother with intercontinental strategic bombing missions?
Or, is this the beginning of developing a bombing strategy to deal with Iran? Does the AF argue that we need more AWACs in the air and command and control ships to direct the campaign and the only way to not signal our intentions is to have a plausible reason to put them up, because if they are up KC 135s will have to be up as well as we couldn't launch a mission without them. I don't think this time we would want to signal our intentions in advance.
Since when did the US stop flying strategic bombers? The US still flys B-52s and B-2s as part of the strategic force. They still practice long range global reach missions to this day.