The White House has nominated Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, to be the service’s next vice chief of staff.
The Pentagon announced Bussiere’s nomination Friday, and said Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis — now the Air Force’s inspector general — has been nominated to receive his fourth star and succeed Bussiere as head of Global Strike.
The White House has also nominated the Space Force’s Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton to be vice chief of space operations. Bratton is now deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements.
If confirmed by the Senate, Bratton would succeed Gen. Michael Guetlein as vice chief of space operations. The Senate on Thursday evening confirmed Guetlein to head the Pentagon’s massive Golden Dome missile defense project.
Bussiere would succeed former Air Force Vice Chief Gen. Jim Slife. President Donald Trump fired Slife without explanation in February, alongside former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and other senior military leaders.
Lt. Gen. Scott Pleus, the Air Force’s director of staff, has been serving as a temporary vice chief since Slife’s firing. The Pentagon also said Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara — now deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration — has been nominated to be the Air Force’s next director of staff.
Bussiere is an experienced command pilot with more than 3,400 flight hours, including combat missions during multiple campaigns. He is also one of the Air Force’s top general officers, with years of experience managing bomber and nuclear forces and overseeing strategic operations.
He has led Global Strike since December 2022, managing the Air Force’s bomber fleet of B-1 Lancers, B-2 Spirits and B-52H Stratofortresses, as well as the nation’s arsenal of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. Under Bussiere’s leadership, Global Strike is preparing to bring on the newest stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, and upgrade the B-52’s engines and other major components to extend the bomber’s life for decades more.
He flew F-15C Eagle fighters to help enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq during Operation Southern Watch, and as part of Operation Vigilant Warrior. During that 1994 operation, the United States rapidly deployed airpower to the Middle East in response to then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s movement of 20,000 mechanized Republican Guard troops near the Kuwaiti border.
He also flew combat missions in the B-2 Spirit bomber as part of Operation Allied Force, the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia to stop ethnic cleansing against Serbs during the Kosovo War, as well as during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Bussiere has also flown the B-1 Lancer and F-22 Raptor, among other aircraft.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
