United States Secretary of the Air Force

Secretary of the Air Force
Seal of the Secretary of the Air Force
Flag of the Secretary of the Air Force
Incumbent John P. Roth Acting since January 20, 2021
Department of the Air Force
Mr. Secretary The Honorable (formal address in writing)
Reports to	Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense
Appointer	The President with the advice and consent of the Senate
Term length	No fixed term
Precursor	Secretary of War
Inaugural holder	Stuart Symington
Formation	September 18, 1947 (1947-09-18)
Succession	4th in SecDef succession
Deputy	The Under Secretary (principal civilian deputy) The Chief of Staff (military deputy) The Chief of Space Operations (military deputy)
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level II
Website	Office of the Secretary

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. 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.

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. The salary of SECAF IS $179,700, Level II.

Responsibilities

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. 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.

”

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. (3) Supplying. (4) Equipping (including research and development). (5) Training. (6) Servicing. (7) Mobilizing. (8) Demobilizing. (9) Administering (including the morale and welfare of personnel). (10) Maintaining. (11) The construction, outfitting, and repair of military equipment. (12) The construction, maintenance, and repair of buildings, structures, and utilities and the acquisition of real property and interests in real property necessary to carry out the responsibilities specified in this section.

”

Stuart Symington is sworn in as Secretary of the Air Force by Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson on September 18, 1947.

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 reassigned by authority of the Secretary of Defense.

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. 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. 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, 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.

”

Office of the Secretary of the Air Force

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.

Composition

The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force is composed of:

• Under Secretary of the Air Force
  • The Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs
  • The Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs
• Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition
• Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller
• Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics
• Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs
• General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force
• Inspector General of the Air Force
• Chief of Legislative Liaison
• Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force
• Auditor General of the Department of the Air Force
• Air Reserve Forces Policy Committee

Chronological list of secretaries of the Air Force

No.	Image	Name	Term of office			Secretary of Defense	Appointed by President
			Began	Ended	Days of service
1		W. Stuart 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
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
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 Bill Clements Acting James Schlesinger
10			July 18, 1973	November 23, 1975	858	James Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld
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
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
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
Acting		James F. McGovern	December 16, 1988	April 29, 1989	134	Frank Carlucci William Howard Taft IV Acting Dick Cheney
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
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	July 29, 2005	November 4, 2005	98
21		Michael Wynne	November 4, 2005	June 20, 2008	959	Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates
Acting		Michael B. Donley	June 21, 2008	October 2, 2008	103 days	Robert Gates Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel	Barack Obama
22			October 2, 2008	June 21, 2013	1723
Acting		Eric Fanning	June 21, 2013	December 20, 2013	182 days	Chuck Hagel Ash Carter
23		Deborah Lee James	December 20, 2013	January 20, 2017	3 years, 31 days
–		Lisa Disbrow Acting	January 20, 2017	May 16, 2017	116 days	Jim Mattis Patrick M. Shanahan Acting	Donald Trump
24		Heather Wilson	May 16, 2017	May 31, 2019	2 years, 15 days
–		Matthew Donovan Acting	June 1, 2019	October 18, 2019	139 days	Patrick M. Shanahan Acting Mark Esper Acting Richard V. Spencer Acting Mark Esper
25		Barbara Barrett	October 18, 2019	January 20, 2021	1 year, 94 days	Mark Esper
–		John P. Roth Acting	January 20, 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 90 days	David Norquist Acting Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden

See also

• Air Force Cross (United States)
• Department of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service

References

• Title 10 United States Code
  • Subtitle A - General Military Law
    • CHAPTER 1 - DEFINITIONS
      • § 101. Definitions
  • Subtitle D - Air Force
    • CHAPTER 6 - COMBATANT COMMANDERS
      • § 162. Combatant command: assigned forces; chain of command
    • CHAPTER 803 - DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
      • § 8011. Organization.
      • § 8013. Secretary of the Air Force.
      • § 8014. Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.
      • § 8015. Under Secretary of the Air Force.
    • CHAPTER 805 - THE AIR STAFF
      • § 8032. The Air Staff: general duties
      • § 8033. Chief of Staff
• Executive Order 12909, Order of Succession of Officers To Act as Secretary of the Air Force
• Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 5100.1, Functions of the Department of Defense and Its Major Components, August 1 2002.
• Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 5101.2, DoD Executive Agent for Space, June 3 2003.

External links

• Leaders Through the Years, 2012 USAF Almanac
• US Air Force Senior Leadership