Brett,
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point, but getting rid of all of these waivers is exactly what this new policy does. It is believed that simply having to go through "a waiver process" discouraged people from applying... even though there was a good chance they would have received a waiver.
Instead, each pilot candidate will get an anthropometric analysis of a lot more than just height. I don't know how they will determine if or what you'll be allowed to fly, but I did read that pilots in the past have been granted waivers from as short a 4' 11", up to 6' 9". I recall that before Chad Hennings went to the Dallas Cowboys, he was pretty big and that was one of the reasons (or so the story goes) that he went to A-10s.
The U-2 cockpit doesn't accommodate a lot of body sizes well, and we have brought people out to the interview and put them in the cockpit to see if they were going to work out or not. Seating height and butt-to-knee length can be an issue.
The AF has allegedly laser-mapped many/most of of the cockpits in the inventory and will be using that data to determine the new standards.
I'm sure we will see this morph over time as the info develops.
p.s. Although it is good to get rid of inane and bureaucratic "rules" that need to be updated, I have to admit that I'm not overly sympathetic to those "discouraged" when they see a waiver process and give up. I've had to go through my share of waivers in the past to get to where I wanted to be. If the thought of having to pursue the waiver is too much, then maybe the goal isn't as desired as it should be.
And remember... just about everything in the military can be waived. You just need to find the waiver authority.