Norton A. Schwartz

Norton Allan Schwartz (born 14 December 1951) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 19th Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 12 August 2008, until his retirement in 2012. He previously served as commander, United States Transportation Command from September 2005 to August 2008. He is currently the president and CEO of the Institute for Defense Analyses, serving since 2 January 2020. He graduated from Toms River High School (now South) in 1969 and played as an end on the school's football team during its 1968 9-0 undefeated season.

Military career After high school, Schwartz attended the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in 1973. While a cadet, he sang in the Academy's Jewish choir. He is an alumnus of the National War College, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a 1994 Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Seminar XXI.

Schwartz is a USAF Command Pilot with more than 4,400 flying hours in a variety of aircraft. He has flown C-130 Hercules and MC-130 Combat Talon I and Combat Talon II aircraft and MH-53 Pave Low III and Pave Low IV, and MH-60 Black Hawk and Pave Hawk special ops helicopters. His operational background goes back to the final days of the Vietnam War; at the time, he was a crew member taking part in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon. In 1991 he served as chief of staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In 1997, he led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia. On January 12, 2000, Schwartz was promoted to lieutenant general and received his third-star upon assuming the command of Alaskan Command and Eleventh Air Force. At that time (during the 9/11 attacks), all US Air Force fighter aircraft which had been scrambled and were patrolling US airspace were given an order to shoot down any hijacked aircraft. Schwartz knew that a distress signal ('squawking' [a transponder code of] "7500", which is a code meaning "hijacked") had been sent by the Flight 85 pilot.

Commander of the United States Transportation Command

Schwartz was appointed to be the commander of the United States Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) in 2005. Schwartz also received his fourth-star and was promoted into four-star General. General Schwartz is the first Air Force Chief of Staff with a background as an airlift and special operations aircraft pilot. It is speculated that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates selected him because he did not have a background as a fighter or bomber pilot.

During his tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff, General Schwartz reaffirmed the importance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which he believed could be the future of the Air Force. At that time dozens of UAVs were being used in the war on terror, especially in Afghanistan. The Air-Sea Battle Doctrine was developed to deal with the unique challenges of the Western-Pacific arena. thumb

One of the primary goals of Air-Sea Battle Doctrine was interoperability of air and naval forces that could execute networked and integrated in-depth attacks in order to disrupt, destroy and ultimately cripple or defeat the enemy's anti-access/area denial capabilities to sustain and protect the operations area within the Indo-Pacific Region.

The concept to create a joint Air Force and Navy battle strategy began in the 1990s, when both the Air Force and Navy had institutionalized a joint air operations which eventually led the two services to began exchanging air crews, tacticians and intelligence officers in a joint service partnership following the Gulf War.

In 2013, Schwartz became a member of the board of trustees of the Institute for Defense Analyses. In July 2019, Schwartz was selected to become IDA's president and CEO, effective 2 January 2020.

Personal life Schwartz and his wife Suzie reside in McLean, Virginia.

In 2004, Schwartz was awarded the Jewish Community Center's Military Leadership Award. In accepting the award, Schwartz said he was "proud to be identified as Jewish as well as an American military leader."

Education 1973 Bachelor of Science degree in political science and international affairs, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado 1977 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama 1983 Master of Business Administration degree, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 1984 Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia 1989 National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. 1994 Fellow, Seminar XXI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Assignments

August 1973 – September 1974, student, undergraduate pilot training, Laughlin AFB, Texas October 1974 – January 1975, student, C-130 initial qualification training, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas February 1975 – October 1977, C-130E aircraft commander, 776th and 21st Tactical Airlift Squadrons, Clark Air Base, Philippines October 1977 – December 1977, student, Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama December 1977 – October 1979, C-130E/H flight examiner, 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas October 1979 – November 1980, intern, Air Staff Training Program, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Operations and Readiness, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. November 1980 – July 1983, MC-130E flight examiner, 8th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida July 1983 – January 1984, student, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia January 1984 – April 1986, action officer, Directorate of Plans, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. May 1986 – June 1988, commander, 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron, McChord AFB, Washington August 1988 – June 1989, student, National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. July 1989 – July 1991, director of plans and policy, Special Operations Command Europe, Patch Barracks, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany August 1991 – May 1993, deputy commander for operations and commander, 1st Special Operations Group, Hurlburt Field, Florida May 1993 – May 1995, deputy director of operations, later, deputy director of forces, office of the deputy chief of staff for plans and operations, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. June 1995 – May 1997, commander, 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Florida June 1997 – October 1998, commander, Special Operations Command, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii October 1998 – January 2000, director of strategic planning, deputy chief of staff for plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. January 2000 – September 2000, deputy commander in chief, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida September 2000 – October 2002, commander, Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and 11th Air Force, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. October 2002 – October 2004, director for operations, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C. October 2004 – August 2005, Director, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D. C. September 2005 – August 2008, commander, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Illinois August 2008 – August 2012, chief of staff, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

Flight information Rating: command pilot. Flight hours: more than 4,400.

Awards and decorations

Personal decorationsDefense Distinguished Service Medal with three bronze oak leaf clustersAir Force Distinguished Service Medal with bronze oak leaf clusterDefense Superior Service Medal with bronze oak leaf clusterLegion of Merit with two bronze oak leaf clustersDefense Meritorious Service MedalMeritorious Service Medal with two bronze oak leaf clustersAir Force Commendation Medal with bronze oak leaf clusterArmy Commendation MedalAir Force Achievement MedalUnit awardsJoint Meritorious Unit Award with silver and three bronze oak leaf clustersAir Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor device and three bronze oak leaf clustersAir Force Outstanding Unit Award (Fifth award requires second ribbon due to accoutrement spacing)Air Force Organizational Excellence AwardService awardsCombat Readiness Medal with two bronze oak leaf clustersCampaign and service medalsNational Defense Service Medal with two service starsSouthwest Asia Service Medal with two service starsGlobal War on Terrorism Service MedalHumanitarian Service Medal with three service starsService, training, and marksmanship awardsAir Force Overseas Short Tour Service RibbonAir Force Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon with bronze oak leaf clusterAir Force Longevity Service Award with silver and three bronze oak leaf clustersSmall Arms Expert Marksmanship RibbonAir Force Training RibbonForeign awardsCommander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

Effective dates of promotion

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