President Donald Trump has nominated two generals to serve as the second in command for the Air Force and Space Force after firing and moving around the previous office holders in pursuit of his defense agenda.
Nominations were put in front of the Senate Tuesday for Space Force Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton and Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere to serve as the vice chief of space operations and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, respectively.
Bratton, a three-star general, currently serves as the deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements. Bussiere is the head of Air Force Global Strike Command and has been in that role since 2022.
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Both roles became open due to major personnel shifts during Trump's second term. The current vice chief of space operations, Gen. Michael Guetlein, was named and picked by the president to oversee the development of Golden Dome -- the concept of an expensive space-based missile defense system for the U.S. The nomination makes it clear that he won't be serving both roles at the same time.
Gen. James Slife, previously the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, was fired by the Trump administration in February as part of a notable purge of top officers and top judge advocates general, Military.com reported.
Prior to his current role, Bratton was the first commander of Space Training and Readiness Command, which educates and develops Guardians for their mission. He was commissioned into the service from the Academy of Military Science in Knoxville, Tennessee.
But prior to becoming an officer, Bratton was an enlisted member of the 107th Air Control Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard. The recent nomination by the president marks a meteoric rise in his career.
"I think this makes the first Space Force vice chief that's prior enlisted," Todd Harrison, a defense policy and Space Force expert with the American Enterprise Institute think tank, told Military.com.
Bussiere is a 1985 graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Norwich University. He served as a command pilot with more than 3,400 hours in the T-38 Talon, F-15C Eagle, B-2A Spirit, B-1B Lancer and F-22 Raptor, according to his service biography.
Prior to his role as the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, Bussiere was the deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
His experience in the nuclear community comes as the service grapples with modernizing two major parts of the nuclear triad, including the production of the B-21 Raider bomber and the development of the LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile -- which has been plagued by significant cost increases.
Bussiere has also been a major voice in the ongoing health study into cancer concerns among current and former service members who worked with America's intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Military.com reported on those fears among the missile community in a series supported by the Pulitzer Center in which the newsroom revealed that small studies in the 2000s did not significantly probe concerns that the Cold War-era facilities were filled with carcinogenes and toxic dangers.
As diagnoses of certain cancers grew and became public, the Air Force commissioned a study. Bussiere has regularly hosted town halls to inform airmen, veterans and the public about the progress of the service-run studies. An independent analysis earlier this year of those diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana found service members were diagnosed at younger ages compared to the wider population, Military.com previously reported.
"We're not done, but we continue to move forward deliberately in this process," Bussiere said earlier this year during a town hall meeting of current and former missileers.
Bussiere’s and Bratton's nominations must be confirmed by the Senate.
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