An email from Air Combat Command leadership sets specific race and gender criteria for an upcoming officer promotion board.
The specifics are contained in a Nov. 24 email, posted online by blogger Tony Carr. In the email, ACC informs leadership that it needs five pinned-on colonels to sit on a March 2016 board for choosing colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors next year.
The email also specifies one must be a black male pilot, and one must be a female colonel in the Biomedical Sciences Corps, which can include physical therapists, clinical psychologists and physicians assistants.
The other three colonels on the board must be a male navigator, a male air battle manager and a male logistics officer, the email said. ACC spokeswoman Maj. Genieve David confirmed the email's legitimacy to Air Force Times, but declined to comment further.
The request for board members is for the CY16B board for BSC colonels, lieutenant colonels and majors, and for lieutenant colonels in the Line of the Air Force and Medical Services Corps.
In a statement Tuesday evening, the Air Force said Air Force policy has for years required the demographic makeup of promotion boards to closely mirror the population of promotion-eligible airmen, in terms of gender, race, functional career area, aeronautical rating and major command.
"This policy is fully transparent to airmen and has been clearly articulated in [Air Force Instruction] 36-2501, Officer Promotions and Selective Continuation, for many years," the Air Force said.
That AFI says that "Central Selection Board membership will reflect the eligible population in terms of minority and women officers and MAJCOM of assignment when practical."
The email said ACC is setting these requirements in order to meet statutory guidance and to "comply with [Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James'] guidance to mirror the demographics of the members meeting the board."
But the Air Force said in its statement that the policy "is not tied to nor was it generated or adjusted based on any of the new SecAF-announced initiatives associated with diversity and inclusion."
In a March 4 speech in Washington, D.C., James outlined her plans for improving the diversity of the Air Force. She sent a memorandum of instruction to promotion boards, instructing members "to find officers who have demonstrated they will nurture and lead in a diverse and inclusive Air Force culture," she said.
James also lamented in that address the lack of diversity in the upper ranks of officersin that address. The representation of women and minorities declines in the higher officer ranks, she said, and women leave the service at twice the rate of men during the middle of their careers.
She singled out problems with minority underrepresentation in the Air Force's pilot ranks. Black airmen make up 6 percent of the officer corps, for example, but just 2.3 percent of pilots, James said. And women make up 6.7 percent of pilots, while accounting for 20 percent of officers.
The email said that board membership "IS EXTREMELY SENSITIVE, CLOSE HOLD INFORMATION, and is not to be released to anyone."
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.
