WThe secretary of the Air Force is the head of the Department of the Air Force, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. The secretary of the Air Force is a civilian appointed 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.
WEdward "Pete" Cleveland Aldridge Jr. is an aerospace engineer and former government official in the U.S. Defense Department. He was also selected as a payload specialist for the Space Shuttle mission STS-62-A, scheduled to launch in July 1986. The mission was canceled after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986 and Aldridge never flew.
WBarbara McConnell Barrett is an American businesswoman, attorney and diplomat serving as the current United States secretary of the Air Force. She is also an instrument-rated pilot, and cattle and bison rancher.
WHarold Brown was an American nuclear physicist who served as United States Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981, under President Jimmy Carter. Previously, in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations, he held the posts of Director of Defense Research and Engineering (1961–1965) and United States Secretary of the Air Force (1965–1969).
WLisa Stephens Disbrow is the former United States Under Secretary of the Air Force. From January 20 to May 16, 2017, she served as the Acting United States Secretary of the Air Force until Heather Wilson assumed the office. Previously, Disbrow served as Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force from January 2015 until she was confirmed by the Senate as the Under Secretary in January 2016. She was also confirmed by the Senate and served as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller from 2014 to 2016.
WMichael Luis Dominguez retired as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness within the United States Department of Defense. He has held that position since his confirmation by the United States Senate on July 11, 2006.
WMichael Bruce Donley is a former senior United States government official, who served as the 22nd Secretary of the United States Air Force, amongst other positions. Donley has 30 years of experience in the national security community, including service on the staff of the United States Senate, White House and The Pentagon. Donley previously served as the Director of Administration and Management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
WJames Henderson Douglas Jr. was a lawyer and senior-level official in the United States Government. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, serving under both President Herbert Hoover and President Franklin Roosevelt. During the Eisenhower Administration, he served in the United States Department of Defense as Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
WEric Kenneth Fanning is an American public servant who is the current President and CEO of Aerospace Industries Association and served as the 22nd United States Secretary of the Army, holding office from May 18, 2016 to January 20, 2017. Prior to his appointment as Secretary of the Army, Fanning was the 24th United States Under Secretary of the Air Force. He was the first openly gay head of any service in the U.S. military.
WThomas Knight Finletter, was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman.
WPreston Murdoch Geren, III, known as Pete Geren is an American politician who served as the 20th United States Secretary of the Army from July 16, 2007 to September 16, 2009. He is a Democratic former member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas's 12th congressional district. He is currently president of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas and later chaired of the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia.
WDeborah Roche Lee James served as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force. She is the second woman, after Sheila Widnall (1993–1997), to ever hold this position.
WHans Michael Mark is a former Secretary of the Air Force and a former Deputy Administrator of NASA. He is an expert and consultant in aerospace design and national defense policy. Mark retired from the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering in July 2014.
WJohn Luther McLucas was United States Secretary of the Air Force from 1973 to 1975, becoming Secretary of the Air Force on July 19, 1973. He had been Acting Secretary of the Air Force since May 15, 1973, and Under Secretary of the Air Force since March 1969. Prior to his appointment as Under Secretary, he was president and chief executive officer of MITRE Corporation, of Bedford, Massachusetts, and McLean, Virginia.
WMerrill Anthony "Tony" McPeak is a retired 4-star general in the United States Air Force whose final assignment before retirement was as the 14th Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 1990 to 1994.
WVerne Orr, born George Vernon Orr, Jr., was the 14th Secretary of the Air Force, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. From California, he was a businessman and educator who served in both state and national government positions.
WFrederick Whitten Peters is a District of Columbia lawyer and senior level public official. His law practice specializes in civil and criminal litigation including contract fraud, antitrust, tax and security cases. He has served in several key positions within the U.S. federal government, including as Secretary of the Air Force.
WDonald Aubrey Quarles was a communications engineer, senior level executive with Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric, and a top official in the United States Department of Defense during the Eisenhower Administration. He served as both Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of Defense.
WThomas Care Reed was the 11th Secretary of the Air Force from January 2, 1976 – April 6, 1977 under Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Previously he was a senior aide to Governor Ronald Reagan in California.
WDonald Blessing Rice is a California businessman and senior government official. He has been president and chief executive officer of several large companies including RAND Corporation, and has sat on numerous boards of directors, including Wells Fargo & Company. Rice also served as the seventeenth Secretary of the Air Force, 1989–93.
WJames Gerard Roche is an American politician. He served as the 20th Secretary of the Air Force, serving from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2005. Prior to serving as secretary, Roche served in the United States Navy for 23 years, and as an executive with Northrop Grumman.
WRussell A. Rourke was an American lawyer and public official. He served in key staff positions on Capital Hill and in senior executive positions within the Federal Government. President Ronald Reagan appointed him to serve as the fifteenth Secretary of the Air Force.
WDudley Crawford Sharp was Secretary of the Air Force from December 11, 1959 until January 20, 1961, under president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
WJohn Charles Stetson was a U.S. administrator. He served as the Secretary of the Air Force between 1977 and 1979.
WWilliam Stuart Symington III was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.
WHarold Elstner Talbott, Jr. was the third United States Secretary of the Air Force.
WSheila Marie Evans Widnall is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as United States Secretary of the Air Force between 1993 and 1997, making her the first female Secretary of the Air Force and the first woman to lead an entire branch of the US military in the Department of Defense. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003.
WHeather Ann Wilson is the President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019. Wilson was the president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City from 2013 to 2017, and she was the first female military veteran elected to a full term in Congress. She was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 1998 to 2009.
WMichael Walter Wynne is an American politician and business executive and was the 21st United States Secretary of the Air Force. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asked for and received his resignation on June 5, 2008, in the wake of the 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident and the mistaken shipment of Minuteman III parts to Taiwan in 2006, followed by an investigation by and a critical report from Admiral Kirkland H. Donald regarding the Minuteman incident.
WEugene Martin Zuckert was the seventh United States Secretary of the Air Force from January 23, 1961 to September 30, 1965. During his service as secretary, he witnessed the shifting of decision-making powers from the military departments to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a process that continued throughout the 1960s. He observed that the Air Force ought to investigate technologies that would have some bearing on future aerospace military operations, leading to "Project Forecast," a study initiated in March 1963.