| Secretary of the Air Force SECAF |
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|---|---|
Flag of the Secretary of the Air Force |
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| Style | The Honorable |
| Inaugural holder | Stuart Symington |
| Formation | 18 September 1947 |
| Deputy | Under Secretary of the Air Force |
| Salary | Executive Schedule Level II |
| Website | Official Website |
The Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF, or SAF/OS) is the Head of the Department of the Air Force, a component organization within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Secretary of the Air Force is appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.[1] The Secretary reports to the Secretary of Defense and/or the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and is by statute responsible for and has the authority to conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Air Force.[2]
The Secretary works closely with his/her civilian deputy, the Under Secretary of the Air Force; and his/her military deputy, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who is the senior ranked uniformed officer in the United States Air Force.
The first Secretary of the Air Force, Stuart Symington, was sworn-in on September 18, 1947 upon the re-organization of the Army Air Forces into a military department and a military service of its own, independent of the War Department/Army, with the enactment of the National Security Act.
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The Secretary is the head of the Department of the Air Force, analogous to that of a chief executive officer of a corporation. The Department of the Air Force is defined as a Military Department.[3] It is not limited to the Washington headquarter staffs, rather it is an entity which includes all the components of the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard:
| “ | The term “department”, when used with respect to a military department, means the executive part of the department and all field headquarters, forces, reserve components, installations, activities, and functions under the control or supervision of the Secretary of the department.[4] | ” |
The exclusive responsibilities of the Secretary of the Air Force are enumerated in Title 10 Section 8013 (b) of the United States Code. They include, but are not limited to:
| “ | (1) Recruiting. (2) Organizing. |
” |
By direction of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force assigns military units of the Department of the Air Force, other than those who carry out the functions listed in 10 USC 8013 (b), to the Unified and Specified Combatant Commands to perform missions assigned to those commands. Air Force units while assigned to Combatant Commands may only be re-assigned by authority of the Secretary of Defense.[6]
However, the chain of command for Air Force units for other purposes than the operational direction goes from the President to the Secretary of Defense to the Secretary of the Air Force to the Commanders of Air Force Commands.[7] Air Force Officers have to report on any matter to the Secretary, or the Secretary's designate, when requested. The Secretary has the authority to detail, prescribe the duties, and to assign air force service members and civilian employees, and may also change the title of any activity not statutorily designated.[8] The Secretary has several responsibilities under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) with respect to Air Force service members, including to authority to convene General Courts Martial and to commute sentences.
The Secretary of the Air Force may also be assigned additional responsibilities by the President or the Secretary of Defense,[9] e.g. the Secretary is designated as the "DoD Executive Agent for Space", and as such:
| “ | ...shall develop, coordinate, and integrate plans and programs for space systems and the acquisition of DoD Space Major Defense Acquisition Programs to provide operational space force capabilities to ensure the United States has the space power to achieve its national security objectives.[10][11] | ” |
| Office of the Secretary of the Air Force | |
|---|---|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1947 |
| Headquarters | Pentagon |
| Parent agency | Department of the Air Force |
The Secretary of the Air Force's principal staff element, the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, has responsibility for acquisition and auditing, comptroller issues (including financial management), inspector general matters, legislative affairs, and public affairs within the Department of the Air Force. The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force is one of the Department of the Air Force's two headquarter staffs at the seat of government, the other one is the Air Staff.
The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force is composed of:
| No. | Image | Name | Term of Office | Secretaries of Defense serving under: | President appointed by: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Began | Ended | Days of Service | |||||
| 1 | William S. Symington | September 18, 1947 | April 24, 1950 | 949 | James Forrestal Louis Johnson |
Harry S. Truman | |
| 2 | Thomas K. Finletter | April 24, 1950 | January 20, 1953 | 1002 | Louis Johnson George Marshall Robert Lovett |
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| 3 | Harold E. Talbott | February 4, 1953 | August 13, 1955 | 920 | Charles Wilson | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| 4 | Donald A. Quarles | August 15, 1955 | April 30, 1957 | 624 | |||
| 5 | James H. Douglas, Jr. | May 1, 1957 | December 10, 1959 | 953 | Charles Wilson Neil McElroy Thomas Gates |
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| 6 | Dudley C. Sharp | December 11, 1959 | January 20, 1961 | 406 | Thomas Gates | ||
| 7 | Eugene M. Zuckert | January 24, 1961 | September 30, 1965 | 1710 | Robert McNamara | John F. Kennedy | |
| 8 | Harold Brown | October 1, 1965 | February 15, 1969 | 1233 | Robert McNamara Clark Clifford Mel Laird |
Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| 9 | Robert C. Seamans, Jr. | February 15, 1969 | May 15, 1973 | 1550 | Mel Laird Elliot Richardson |
Richard M. Nixon | |
| (acting) | John L. McLucas | May 15, 1973 | July 18, 1973 | 64 | Elliot Richardson James Schlesinger |
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| 10 | July 18, 1973 | November 23, 1975 | 858 | James Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld |
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| (acting) | James W. Plummer | November 24, 1975 | January 1, 1976 | 38 | Donald Rumsfeld | Gerald Ford | |
| 11 | Thomas C. Reed | January 2, 1976 | April 6, 1977 | 460 | Donald Rumsfeld Harold Brown |
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| 12 | John C. Stetson | April 6, 1977 | May 18, 1979 | 772 | Harold Brown | Jimmy Carter | |
| (acting) | Hans Mark | May 18, 1979 | July 26, 1979 | 69 | |||
| 13 | July 26, 1979 | February 9, 1981 | 564 | Harold Brown Caspar Weinberger |
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| 14 | Verne Orr | February 9, 1981 | November 30, 1985 | 1755 | Caspar Weinberger | Ronald Reagan | |
| 15 | Russell A. Rourke | December 9, 1985 | April 6, 1986 | 118 | |||
| (acting) | Edward C. Aldridge Jr. | April 6, 1986 | June 8, 1986 | 63 | |||
| 16 | June 9, 1986 | December 16, 1988 | 921 | Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci |
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| (acting) | James F. McGovern | December 16, 1988 | April 29, 1989 | 134 | Frank Carlucci Dick Cheney |
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| (acting) | John J. Welch, Jr. | April 29, 1989 | May 21, 1989 | 22 | Dick Cheney | George H. W. Bush | |
| 17 | Donald B. Rice | May 1, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | 1360 | |||
| (acting) | Michael B. Donley | January 20, 1993 | July 13, 1993 | 174 | Les Aspin | Bill Clinton | |
| (acting) | Merrill A. McPeak | July 14, 1993 | August 5, 1993 | 22 | |||
| 18 | Sheila E. Widnall | August 6, 1993 | October 31, 1997 | 1547 | Les Aspin William Perry William Cohen |
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| (acting) | F. Whitten Peters | November 1, 1997 | July 30, 1999 | 636 | William Cohen | ||
| 19 | July 30, 1999 | January 20, 2001 | 540 | ||||
| (acting) | Lawrence J. Delaney | January 21, 2001 | May 31, 2001 | 130 | Donald Rumsfeld | George W. Bush | |
| 20 | James G. Roche | June 1, 2001 | January 20, 2005 | 1329 | |||
| (acting) | Peter B. Teets | January 20, 2005 | March 25, 2005 | 64 | |||
| (acting) | Michael Montelongo | March 25, 2005 | March 28, 2005 | 3 | |||
| (acting) | Michael L. Dominguez | March 28, 2005 | July 29, 2005 | 123 | |||
| (acting) | Pete Geren [12] | July 29, 2005 | November 4, 2005 | 98 | |||
| 21 | Michael Wynne | November 4, 2005 | June 20, 2008[13] | 959 | Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates |
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| (acting) | Michael B. Donley | June 21, 2008[14] | October 2, 2008 | 103 | Robert Gates Leon Panetta |
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| 22 | October 2, 2008 | Incumbent | 1234 | ||||
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