Brstjjy

Chief of Staff of the Air Force
Seal of the Chief of Staff
Flag of the Chief of Staff
Incumbent General David L. Goldfein since 1 July 2016
Department of the Air Force The Air Staff
Abbreviation	CSAF or CC/AF
Member of	Joint Chiefs of Staff
Reports to	Secretary of Defense Secretary of the Air Force
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	4 years Renewable
Constituting instrument	10 U.S.C. § 8033
Precursor	Commanding General, United States Army Air Forces
Formation	18 September 1947
First holder	Carl A. Spaatz
Deputy	Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force
Website	Official Website

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is a statutory office (10 U.S.C. § 8033) held by a four-star general in the United States Air Force, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Air Force; and is in a separate capacity a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and thereby a military adviser to the National Security Council, the Secretary of Defense, and the President. The Chief of Staff is typically the highest-ranking officer on active duty in the Air Force unless the Chairman and/or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are Air Force officers.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is an administrative position based in the Pentagon, and while the Chief of Staff does not have operational command authority over Air Force forces (that is within the purview of the Combatant Commanders who report to the Secretary of Defense), the Chief of Staff does exercise supervision of Air Force units and organizations as the designee of the Secretary of the Air Force.

The current Chief of Staff of the Air Force is General David L. Goldfein.

Responsibilities

Department of the Air Force

Under the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff presides over the Air Staff, acts as the Secretary's executive agent in carrying out approved plans, and exercises supervision, consistent with authority assigned to Commanders of the Combatant Commands, over organizations and members of the Air Force as determined by the Secretary. The Chief of Staff may also perform other duties as assigned by either the President, the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Air Force.^[1]

The Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, also a four-star general, is the Chief of Staff's principal deputy.^[2]

Member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as prescribed by 10 U.S.C. § 151. When performing his JCS duties the Chief of Staff is responsible directly to the Secretary of Defense. Like the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CSAF is an administrative position, with no operational command authority over the United States Air Force.

Appointment and rank

The CSAF is nominated for appointment by the President and must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate.^[1] By statute, the CSAF is appointed as a four-star general.^[1]

Special uniform cap

The Chief of Staff is also authorized to wear a special service cap with clouds and lightning bolts around the band of the hat. This cap is different from those worn by other general officers of the Air Force and it is for use by the Chief of Staff and Air Force officers serving as Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

List of Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Air Force (1947–present)

Prior to the creation of this position, General Henry H. Arnold was designated first Chief of the Army Air Forces and Commanding General of the Army Air Forces during World War II.

No.	Image	Name	Term of Office			Primary Background	Secretaries served under:
			Began	Ended	Days of Service		Air Force	Defense
1		Carl A. Spaatz	26 September 1947	29 April 1948	216	Fighters	Stuart Symington	James Forrestal
2		Hoyt S. Vandenberg	30 April 1948	29 June 1953	1887	Attack and Fighters	Stuart Symington Thomas K. Finletter Harold E. Talbott	James Forrestal Louis A. Johnson George C. Marshall Robert A. Lovett Charles E. Wilson
3		Nathan F. Twining*	30 June 1953	30 June 1957	1461	Fighters and Bombers	Harold E. Talbott Donald A. Quarles James H. Douglas, Jr.	Charles E. Wilson
4		Thomas D. White	1 July 1957	30 June 1961	1460	Observation aircraft and Staff	James H. Douglas, Jr. Dudley C. Sharp Eugene M. Zuckert	Charles E. Wilson Neil H. McElroy Thomas S. Gates Robert S. McNamara
5		Curtis E. LeMay	30 June 1961	31 January 1965	1311	Bombers	Eugene M. Zuckert	Robert S. McNamara
6		John P. McConnell	1 February 1965	31 July 1969	1641	Fighters	Eugene M. Zuckert Harold Brown Robert C. Seamans, Jr.	Robert S. McNamara Clark M. Clifford Melvin R. Laird
7		John D. Ryan	1 August 1969	31 July 1973	1460	Bombers	Robert C. Seamans, Jr. John L. McLucas	Melvin R. Laird Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger
8		George S. Brown*	1 August 1973	30 June 1974	333	Bombers	John L. McLucas	James R. Schlesinger
9		David C. Jones*	1 July 1974	20 June 1978	1450	Bombers	John L. McLucas Thomas C. Reed John C. Stetson	James R. Schlesinger Donald H. Rumsfeld Harold Brown
10		Lew Allen Jr.	1 July 1978	30 June 1982	1460	Bombers	John C. Stetson Hans Mark Verne Orr	Harold Brown Caspar Weinberger
11		Charles A. Gabriel	1 July 1982	30 June 1986	1460	Fighters	Verne Orr Russell A. Rourke Edward C. Aldridge Jr.	Caspar Weinberger
12		Larry D. Welch	1 July 1986	30 June 1990	1460	Fighters	Edward C. Aldridge Jr. Donald B. Rice	Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci Dick Cheney
13		Michael J. Dugan	1 July 1990	17 September 1990	78	Fighters	Donald B. Rice	Dick Cheney
(Acting)		John M. Loh	18 September 1990	29 October 1990	41	Fighters
14		Merrill A. McPeak	30 October 1990	25 October 1994	1456	Fighters	Donald B. Rice Sheila E. Widnall	Dick Cheney Les Aspin William J. Perry
15		Ronald R. Fogleman	26 October 1994	1 September 1997	1041	Fighters	Sheila E. Widnall	William J. Perry William S. Cohen
(Acting)		Ralph E. Eberhart	2 September 1997	5 October 1997[3]	33	Fighters		William S. Cohen
16		Michael E. Ryan	6 October 1997	5 September 2001	1430	Fighters	Sheila E. Widnall F. Whitten Peters James G. Roche	William S. Cohen Donald H. Rumsfeld
17		John P. Jumper	6 September 2001	2 September 2005	1457	Fighters	James G. Roche	Donald H. Rumsfeld
18		T. Michael Moseley	2 September 2005	12 July 2008[4][5]	1044	Fighters	Michael Wynne	Donald H. Rumsfeld Robert M. Gates
(Acting)		Duncan J. McNabb	12 July 2008	12 August 2008[5]	31	Airlift	Michael B. Donley	Robert M. Gates
19		Norton A. Schwartz	12 August 2008	10 August 2012	1459	Airlift and Special Operations aircraft	Michael B. Donley	Robert M. Gates Leon Panetta
20		Mark A. Welsh III	10 August 2012	24 June 2016	1414	Attack and Fighters	Michael B. Donley Deborah Lee James	Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel Ashton Carter
21		David L. Goldfein	1 July 2016	Incumbent	968	Fighters	Deborah Lee James Heather Wilson	Ashton Carter James Mattis

*Three former chiefs of staff would later serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

• Twining served as the Chairman from August 1957 to September 1960.


• Brown served as the Chairman from July 1974 to June 1978.


• Jones served as the Chairman from June 1978 to June 1982.


• The fourth Air Force officer to have served as the Chairman, General Richard B. Myers, did not serve as Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

McPeak is the only Chief of Staff of the Air Force to date who has served as Acting Secretary of the Air Force (from 14 July 1993 to 5 August 1993 before Sheila Widnall took office as Secretary), thus being the only uniformed Air Force officer to have truly been the "head of the Air Force".

See also

• Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force


• Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force

References

• 
  Department of Defense Key Officials 1947–2015 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, Historical Office. 2015..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
  


• 
  HAF MISSION DIRECTIVE 1-4 - CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE AIR FORCE (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Secretary of the Air Force. 7 March 2012.
  


• 
  Headquarters United States Air Force Key Personnel (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Air Force Historical Studies Office. January 2013.
  

Notes

External links

• Air Force History Support Office: Air Force Chiefs of Staff