Gen. C. Robert "Bob" Kehler is Commander, Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. He is responsible for the development, acquisition and operation of the Air Force's space and missile systems. He leads more than 39,700 space professionals who provide combat forces and capabilities to North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Strategic Command. General Kehler entered the Air Force in 1975 as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC program. He has commanded at the squadron, group and wing levels, and has a broad range of operational and command tours in ICBM operations, space launch, space operations, missile warning and space control. . As Director of the National Security Space Office, he integrated the activities of a number of space organizations on behalf of the Under Secretary of the Air Force and Director, National Reconnaissance Office. Most recently, as Deputy Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, he helped provide the President and Secretary of Defense with a broad range of strategic capabilities and options for the joint warfighter through several diverse mission areas, including space operations, integrated missile defense, computer network operations and global strike.

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Lieutenant General David A. Deptula
Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula is Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He is responsible to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force for policy formulation, planning, evaluation, oversight, and leadership of Air Force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. As the Air Force's Senior Official of the Intelligence Community he is directly responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. General Deptula completed ROTC at the University of Virginia as a distinguished graduate, and remained to complete a master's degree. He has flown more than 3,000 hours (400 in combat) to include multiple operational fighter command assignments. Prior to assuming his current position, he served as Commander of the General George C. Kenney Warfighting Headquarters, and Vice Commander, Pacific Air Forces. General Deptula has significant experience in combat and leadership in several major joint contingency operations. He was the principal attack planner for the Desert Storm coalition air campaign and he has twice been a Joint Task Force Commander for Operation Northern Watch. In 2001, the General served as Director of the Combined Air Operations Center for Operation Enduring Freedom, where he orchestrated air operations over Afghanistan during the period of decisive combat. In 2005, he was the Joint Force Air Component Commander for Operation Unified Assistance, the South Asia tsunami relief effort, and in 2006 he was the standing Joint Force Air Component Commander for Pacific Command.

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Lieutenant General Robert J. Elder
Commander, 8th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic)

Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder is Commander, 8th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic), Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and Joint Functional Component Commander for Global Strike and Integration, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He also commands USSTRATCOM's nuclear bomber and reconnaissance Task Force 204. The "Mighty Eighth" serves as the air component headquarters to USSTRATCOM for strategic deterrence, global strike, strategic reconnaissance, and cyberspace operations, and is also responsible for the security and defense of the Air Force's global computer enterprise network. The Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike and Integration plans and executes strategic deterrence and global strike operations for USSTRATCOM. General Elder's staff experience includes senior leadership positions with the Joint Staff, Air Staff, Air Combat Command and NATO. He has commanded at all levels, led unit deployments to Southwest Asia, Europe and the Pacific, and held senior command positions in operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Prior to his current assignment, he was Commandant of the Air War College. General Elder is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours, including 83 combat hours. He holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Detroit.

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Lieutentant General John T. Sheridan
Commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command

Lt. Gen. John T. "Tom" Sheridan is the Commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command. He is responsible for managing the research, design, development, acquisition, and sustainment of space and missile systems, launch, command and control, and operational satellite systems. General Sheridan is the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space and is responsible for the Air Force Satellite Control Network; space launch and range programs; the Space-Based Infrared System Program; military satellite communication programs; the Global Positioning System; intercontinental ballistic missile programs; Defense Meteorological Satellite Program; the space superiority system programs and other emerging transformational space programs. General Sheridan graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He completed the university's Air Force ROTC program as a distinguished graduate. Following an educational delay to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from Bryant College in Rhode Island, he entered active duty in August 1975. General Sheridan's experience includes acquisition leadership of aircraft, simulator and classified space programs; requirements development across all Air Force space programs; and operational leadership in four different national space programs. He has served as military assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space, Commandant of Air Command and Staff College, Director of Requirements at Headquarters Air Force Space Command, and most recently as the Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

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Lieutentant General Chip Utterback
Commander, 13th Air Force, Air Forces Pacific

Lt. Gen. Loyd S. "Chip" Utterback is Commander, 13th Air Force, Hickam Air Force Base. General Utterback is responsible for the command, control and execution of air, space and information operations capabilities across the full range of military operations in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility, excluding the Korea theater of operations. In this capacity, General Utterback serves as the Joint Forces Air Component Commander and, when designated, as the Commander, Air Force Forces, during operations or contingency. He also serves as the standing Joint Task Force - Support Forces Antarctica Commander for Operation Deep Freeze. Headquarters 13th Air Force provides oversight and direction to two Air Force wings, the 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam AFB and the 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam. The 13th Air Force provides the commanders of U.S. Pacific Air Forces and U.S. Pacific Command continuous combat capability and a standing organization tasked to immediately execute operations in support of theater and national objectives. General Utterback was commissioned into the Air Force in 1975 as a distinguished military graduate of Texas A&M University. He has served on joint and NATO staffs, and commanded a fighter squadron, an operations group, two fighter wings, an air expeditionary wing and numbered air force. Prior to his current assignment, the general was Deputy Commander, Pacific Air Forces. During Operation Desert Storm, General Utterback led his squadron in the first daylight attack in Iraq and subsequently flew 36 combat missions in the F-16 against fixed and mobile targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

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Dr Rebecca Grant
Director of the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies for the Air Force Association

Dr. Rebecca Grant is one of the nation’s foremost airpower analysts, with nearly 20 years of experience in Washington, D.C. In the early 1990s, Dr. Grant worked in the operations group of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, for the Secretary of the Air Force, and for RAND Corp. In 1995, she founded IRIS Independent Research and served as its president, in which capacity she authored The First 600 Days, (2004) The B-2 Goes to War (2001), and The Radar Game (1999), among other titles. Dr. Grant since 1996 has written extensively for AIR FORCE Magazine and in 2002 was named a contributing editor. She is a Senior Fellow of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. Dr. Grant is the first Director of the new Gen. Billy Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies, the public policy and research arm of the Air Force Association. Her current research interests include cyberspace, airpower in joint operations, and future defense planning

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Lieutenant General Ed Smith (Ret.)
Director of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies

LTG (Ret) Ed Smith, United States Army, is the Director of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), which is a Department of Defense executive education, conference, and research center in Honolulu. The Center supports the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) in its in-residence and outreach activities designed to help security practitioners expand their knowledge, improve their skills and expand their professional networks of colleagues committed to enhancing effective security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. LTG (Ret) Smith retired from active duty in the U. S. Army after 35 years of service, half of which was overseas. His last assignment while on active duty was as Commanding General of the U. S. Army Pacific. Serving as an Infantry officer in airborne, air assault and mechanized formations, he served repeatedly as a commander, as well as a line-unit staff officer, mostly in the operations and planning areas. He taught at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and at the US Army Infantry Center and served as a special assistant to the USMA Superintendent for policy and planning. He also served as the Executive Officer to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe at Mons, Belgium and as Assistant Division Commander for Operations in the 82d Airborne Division. His primary areas of expertise include leader development; joint/interagency/coalition education/training and operations; U. S. Army transformation initiatives; and homeland security coordination and operations.

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