Deborah Lee James, 23rd SECAF was here 4/17/19 to discuss her upcoming book release & answer questions.

Thanks Don--hope you are able to join in

There has been talk about using space assets to rapidly deliver people and cargo at some point in the future. As you know, nothing like this exists today nor is there a requirement per se. The way something like this might actually get started is through the research budget and through rapid acquisition and prototying authorities to test out the concept on a small scale. I have read articles about the concept but don't believe action has been initiated on it. With that said, space funding is growing significantly so perhaps one day in the not too distant future it will begin

This is a tough but important question. To state the obvious, there are no easy answers and there are tradeoffs. Number one thing is you cannot do everything yourself. You need quality child care and backup plans (like neighbors, family members etc) to help when work requires more of you. By the same token, you should not allow the work to overwhelm you. So its a balancing act. Don't be afraid to speak to your supervisor about your parenting needs. Within reason, there should be accommodations for men and women alike when not deployed. Have you looked into additional education opportunities to advance your career? Another idea is to find another airman who is senior and willing to provide mentorship and advice. Good luck!

There is tremendous dysfunction in our government today--it existed when I served as SecAF (form Dec 2013 to Jan 2017) and it continues to this day. What I mean by this is that our political authorities who lead us, pass laws, fund the government etc. have lost the ability to compromise in most cases. Civility in politics is not something we see much of these days. Consequently the wheels of government are not turning well. We lurch back and forth toward government shutdowns; we've lived with Continuing resolutions for years--its no way to run a government. But we are where we are. The causes relate to everything from gerrymandering Congressional districts, money in politics, the 24 hour news cycle, social media and the elimination of earmarks in Congress. Also, people tend to gravitate to news sources these days that support what they already believe--so people in general are more polarized these days then, say, 30 years ago. None of these phenomena are going to change, but somehow we need to recapture more of a bipartisan spirit in Washington. Budget uncertainties affect military personnel, training dollars, and procurement investments for the future. My advice to the next SECAF is stay above the fray, keep your cool before Congress and aggressively tell the Air Force story. We need the ongoing support of the American people to support strong budgets for defense.

Thanks so much! Hope you check in tomorrow.

Thanks joseph. Our men and women love the guys on the ground too!

Think of the Service secretary as the CEO of the Air Force--responsible for people, training, equipping, technology, budgets. The Chief (as a member of the JCS) brings the warfighting knowledge and advises on these aspects. The Secretary (the senior political authority) stays away from warfighting; the chief frequently gets involved with all the things the Secretary does but in a role technically subordinate to the Secretary. This is due to the principle of civilian control of the military. With all that said, there is overlap as you can see so I always tried to have a close relationship with both Chiefs who served during my tenure. It was a partnership. My goal was to never take them by surprise and they knew for sure knew that I hated surprises as well. This worked most of the time.

Awesome Deborah James thank you! That is pretty illuminating. I was worried I’d posted to broad of a question!

A lot of people are confused about it. We are one of the few militaries that has civilian secretaries of the services

Believe me, when I was the Secretary I asked this over and over again. Both Chiefs I served with were against it as was the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. They did not see a warrant officer program as responsive to the issues at hand and believed that the bureaucracy and program set up needed to establish a corps of warrant officers was simply not worth it. More than anything else, I perceive this to be an issue of culture. So for this to move forward, a future Chief of Staff would need to lead the way.

You are doing it already!!Like you, I have always been a civilian in support of the military and its missions across the globe. Keep doing what you are doing. Only one percent of America serves in uniform these days--so all of us "99 percenters" need to do the best we can to support, appreciate and spread the word to our political authorities that we need to keep defense spending strong and support our troops.