Posted on Apr 10, 2019
Deborah Lee James, 23rd SECAF was here 4/17/19 to discuss her upcoming book release & answer questions.
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Deborah Lee James, 23rd Secretary of the Air Force here to discuss my upcoming book release https://rly.pt/AimHigh and answer questions concerning how to navigate your career?
Deborah Lee James has a three-decade track record of leading, transforming and driving lasting change in the US government and in private industry. As only the second woman in history to lead a branch of the male dominated US military, Deborah faced high stakes challenges as Secretary of the Air Force, the CEO equivalent of a 660,000, $140 billion enterprise. For three years during a period of unprecedented political dysfunction, she led the effort to recruit, train and equip the premier air, space and cyber force on the planet, sending forces forward to combat ISIS in the Middle East, reassure European allies against a resurgent Russia and preparing forces for possible combat operations on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier in her career, Deborah was a senior executive at defense giant, SAIC, where she led a $2 billion enterprise during a time of enormous change within the company. Along the way, Deborah raised two children as a single mother.
Through personal stories from her days as a young professional, as a business leader at SAIC and from the halls of the Pentagon, Deborah reveals her approach to surviving, thriving and leading through change and dysfunction at the intersection of politics, business, and family.
Deborah Lee James has a three-decade track record of leading, transforming and driving lasting change in the US government and in private industry. As only the second woman in history to lead a branch of the male dominated US military, Deborah faced high stakes challenges as Secretary of the Air Force, the CEO equivalent of a 660,000, $140 billion enterprise. For three years during a period of unprecedented political dysfunction, she led the effort to recruit, train and equip the premier air, space and cyber force on the planet, sending forces forward to combat ISIS in the Middle East, reassure European allies against a resurgent Russia and preparing forces for possible combat operations on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier in her career, Deborah was a senior executive at defense giant, SAIC, where she led a $2 billion enterprise during a time of enormous change within the company. Along the way, Deborah raised two children as a single mother.
Through personal stories from her days as a young professional, as a business leader at SAIC and from the halls of the Pentagon, Deborah reveals her approach to surviving, thriving and leading through change and dysfunction at the intersection of politics, business, and family.
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Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 28
Deborah James
Thanks Gene! Hope you check out the session tomorrow
PO1 H Gene Lawrence
Deborah James - I’ll try, but my day is rather right tomorrow. What time is it.
LTC Stephen C.
PO1 H Gene Lawrence, Secretary James will be available at 4:00 PM Eastern on 17APR19. You may also leave a question for her now if you wish.
PO1 H Gene Lawrence
LTC Stephen C. - thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to interact with us Deborah James.
Background. The USAF was birthed from the U.S. Army Air Corps at time when the U.S. Navy had a history of employing aircraft in combat for at as long as the Army did.
Pilots, crews, maintenance and in fact all sustainment of aircraft have generally bifurcated along the Service lines of USAF and US Navy/USMC.
The Joint Strike Fighter program is the latest effort to provide a common weapons system platform for the Military services.
Military Aircraft tend to get more expensive in the acquisition and sustainment processes as well as pilot and maintainer training. Spiral design processes tend to be required IMHO.
1. How should the USAF keep acquisition, sustainment, training costs to be considered affordable and necessary in the budget negotiations?
2. How should the USAF attract pilots, aircrews and maintainers and support personnel to join the Air Force and stay in the USAF in sufficient numbers over time?
Background. The USAF was birthed from the U.S. Army Air Corps at time when the U.S. Navy had a history of employing aircraft in combat for at as long as the Army did.
Pilots, crews, maintenance and in fact all sustainment of aircraft have generally bifurcated along the Service lines of USAF and US Navy/USMC.
The Joint Strike Fighter program is the latest effort to provide a common weapons system platform for the Military services.
Military Aircraft tend to get more expensive in the acquisition and sustainment processes as well as pilot and maintainer training. Spiral design processes tend to be required IMHO.
1. How should the USAF keep acquisition, sustainment, training costs to be considered affordable and necessary in the budget negotiations?
2. How should the USAF attract pilots, aircrews and maintainers and support personnel to join the Air Force and stay in the USAF in sufficient numbers over time?
Deborah James
1.Historically,the military services don't consider life cycle costs when they do acquisitions, nor do they consider sufficiently how training will occur. This is changing--getting better and better--but still not perfect. I have high hopes for the new TX trainer--which considered training and sustainment as part of the solicitation. Its brand new--contract winner was just announced earlier this year--but the acquisition approach was put together while I was in office. The TX uses Open mission system approach so that when some element of technology changes, the plane can be upgraded without having to redo everything or being locked into a proprietary system. So this is an example of progress. When it comes to budgeting, I'm afraid we may be stuck with what we have because Congress dictates the different colors of money (O&M, R&D, procurement, personnel) and they have steadfastly refused to allow more flex between accounts without reprogramming actions.
2. Attracting and retaining the right people involves offering a competitive package of pay and benefits (especially education benefits--these are traditionally very attractive to young people thinking about joining; medical care, child care and housing allowances--attractive to those already in); a focus on the mission and training opportunities; reducing red tape and doing the best possible to focus on quality of life issues and not have constant deployments (family separations are a top cause why great military members leave)
2. Attracting and retaining the right people involves offering a competitive package of pay and benefits (especially education benefits--these are traditionally very attractive to young people thinking about joining; medical care, child care and housing allowances--attractive to those already in); a focus on the mission and training opportunities; reducing red tape and doing the best possible to focus on quality of life issues and not have constant deployments (family separations are a top cause why great military members leave)
LTC Stephen F.
Thank you very much for taking the time to review the questions and respond to our questions with candor Deborah James.
Thanks for joining us Deborah James ! I would love to hear your thoughts on two things.
1) What is the biggest challenge you see impact active duty Airman?
2) What ideas do you have to help active duty Airmen/women have a smoother transition to civilian life when that time comes?
1) What is the biggest challenge you see impact active duty Airman?
2) What ideas do you have to help active duty Airmen/women have a smoother transition to civilian life when that time comes?
LTC James McElreath
There is no smoother service to adapt to than the AF, The mngt is considerate to any level of airman, They have their stuff together and care about the health and welfare of their personnel.
Deborah James
I think the biggest challenge for our airmen is the pace of operations. Our people have more deployments, family separations and still too many "additional duties" weighing them down that suck time and energy away from the mission. So time is a precious commodity and there is not enough of it.
When getting ready to transition from the Air Force to civilian life, there is the TAP program (I always hear mixed reviews on this but they have tons of information to share) and a many non profits stand ready to assist transitioning service members in different ways. If you google, many of these resources will pop up. The best news is that the American people are very supportive of veterans these days--they value the skills, leadership qualities and "get it done spirit" you displayed on active duty.
When getting ready to transition from the Air Force to civilian life, there is the TAP program (I always hear mixed reviews on this but they have tons of information to share) and a many non profits stand ready to assist transitioning service members in different ways. If you google, many of these resources will pop up. The best news is that the American people are very supportive of veterans these days--they value the skills, leadership qualities and "get it done spirit" you displayed on active duty.
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