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Secretary of the Air Force
Seal of the Secretary of the Air Force
Flag of the Secretary of the Air Force
Incumbent Heather Wilson since 16 May 2017
Department of the Air Force
Style	Madam Secretary The Honorable .mw-parser-output span.small-textfont-size:85% (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	18 September 1947; 70 years ago (1947-09-18)
Succession	4th in SecDef succession
Deputy	The Under Secretary (principal civilian deputy) The Chief of Staff (military advisor and 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 United States Department of Defense. 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-most uniformed officer in the United States Air Force.

The first Secretary of the Air Force, Stuart Symington, was sworn in on 18 September 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.

On 16 May 2017, Heather Wilson was sworn in as the next Secretary of the Air Force. Wilson was nominated by President Donald Trump on 23 January 2017, and confirmed by the US Senate on 8 May 2017.

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.^[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.

(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.^[5]

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

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	18 September 1947	24 April 1950	949	James Forrestal Louis Johnson	Harry S. Truman
2		Thomas K. Finletter	24 April 1950	20 January 1953	1002	Louis Johnson George Marshall Robert Lovett
3		Harold E. Talbott	4 February 1953	13 August 1955	920	Charles Wilson	Dwight D. Eisenhower
4		Donald A. Quarles	15 August 1955	30 April 1957	624
5		James H. Douglas, Jr.	1 May 1957	10 December 1959	953	Charles Wilson Neil McElroy Thomas Gates
6		Dudley C. Sharp	11 December 1959	20 January 1961	406	Thomas Gates
7		Eugene M. Zuckert	24 January 1961	30 September 1965	1710	Robert McNamara	John F. Kennedy
8		Harold Brown	1 October 1965	15 February 1969	1233	Robert McNamara Clark Clifford Mel Laird	Lyndon B. Johnson
9		Robert C. Seamans, Jr.	15 February 1969	15 May 1973	1550	Mel Laird Elliot Richardson	Richard M. Nixon
Acting		John L. McLucas	15 May 1973	18 July 1973	64	Elliot Richardson James Schlesinger
10			18 July 1973	23 November 1975	858	James Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld
Acting		James W. Plummer	24 November 1975	1 January 1976	38	Donald Rumsfeld	Gerald Ford
11		Thomas C. Reed	2 January 1976	6 April 1977	460	Donald Rumsfeld Harold Brown
12		John C. Stetson	6 April 1977	18 May 1979	772	Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
Acting		Hans Mark	18 May 1979	26 July 1979	69
13			26 July 1979	9 February 1981	564	Harold Brown Caspar Weinberger
14		Verne Orr	9 February 1981	30 November 1985	1755	Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
15		Russell A. Rourke	9 December 1985	6 April 1986	118
Acting		Edward C. Aldridge Jr.	6 April 1986	8 June 1986	63
16			9 June 1986	16 December 1988	921	Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci
Acting		James F. McGovern	16 December 1988	29 April 1989	134	Frank Carlucci Dick Cheney
Acting		John J. Welch, Jr.	29 April 1989	21 May 1989	22	Dick Cheney	George H. W. Bush
17		Donald B. Rice	1 May 1989	20 January 1993	1360
Acting		Michael B. Donley	20 January 1993	13 July 1993	174	Les Aspin	Bill Clinton
Acting		Merrill A. McPeak	14 July 1993	5 August 1993	22
18		Sheila E. Widnall	6 August 1993	31 October 1997	1547	Les Aspin William Perry William Cohen
Acting		F. Whitten Peters	1 November 1997	30 July 1999	636	William Cohen
19			30 July 1999	20 January 2001	540
Acting		Lawrence J. Delaney	21 January 2001	31 May 2001	130	Donald Rumsfeld	George W. Bush
20		James G. Roche	1 June 2001	20 January 2005	1329
Acting		Peter B. Teets	20 January 2005	25 March 2005	64
Acting		Michael Montelongo	25 March 2005	28 March 2005	3
Acting		Michael L. Dominguez	28 March 2005	29 July 2005	123
Acting		Pete Geren [12]	29 July 2005	4 November 2005	98
21		Michael Wynne	4 November 2005	20 June 2008[13]	959	Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates
Acting		Michael B. Donley	21 June 2008[13]	2 October 2008	103	Robert Gates Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel	Barack Obama
22			2 October 2008	21 June 2013	1723
Acting		Eric Fanning	21 June 2013	20 December 2013	182	Chuck Hagel Ash Carter
23		Deborah Lee James	20 December 2013	20 January 2017	1127
Acting		Lisa Disbrow	20 January 2017	16 May 2017	116	Jim Mattis	Donald Trump
24		Heather Wilson	16 May 2017	Incumbent	483

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.

Notes

External links

• Leaders Through the Years, 2012 USAF Almanac


• 
  US Air Force Senior Leadership at Archive.is (archived 12 December 2012)