Brig. Gen. Brian Kelly, director of military force management policy, has been selected for promotion to major general, the Pentagon said in a release Tuesday.
Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said Kelly will remain in his current assignment for now, although a reassignment could come later.
For the last two years, Kelly has been one of the Air Force's most visible officials as the service enacted major personnel changes. Alongside current personnel chief Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso and former personnel chief Lt. Gen. Samuel Cox and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody, Kelly helped enact sweeping reforms to how enlisted airmen are evaluated and promoted.
Kelly also oversaw the Air Force's steep drawdown cuts of 2014, which cut more than 19,000 airmen. And over the last year, Kelly has been trying to rebuild the force to beef up undermanned career fields, such as maintenance, cyber operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and nuclear missile fields. To do this, the Air Force is increasing recruitment, bringing back separated airmen in some career fields, and offering bonuses and high-year tenure extensions to hold on to experienced airmen.
In addition to Kelly, the list of Air Force brigadier generals getting promoted to major general includes:
- Brig. Gen. Steven Basham, deputy director for requirements for the J-8 force structure, resource and assignment directorate at the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
- Brig. Gen. Carl Buhler, director of logistics, engineering, and force protection at Air Combat Command headquarters at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
- Brig. Gen. James Dawkins Jr., director of strategic capabilities policy at the National Security Council.
- Brig. Gen. Dawn Dunlop, commander of NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control Force Command.
- Brig. Gen. Albert Elton, deputy commanding general for Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
- Brig. Gen. Michael Fantini, principal director for Middle East policy at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
- Brig. Gen. Cedric George, deputy director for resource integration for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection at Air Force headquarters.
- Brig. Gen. Patrick Higby, director of cyberspace strategy and policy for the Air Force's Office of Information Dominance and Chief Information Officer.
- Brig. Gen. Mark Johnson, commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Air Force Materiel Command, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
- Brig. Gen. Brian Killough, deputy chief, Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
- Brig. Gen. Scott Kindsvater, assistant deputy commander for U.S. Air Forces Central Command and assistant vice commander of the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force at Air Combat Command, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
- Brig. Gen. Donald Kirkland, director of logistics, civil engineering and force protection for Air Force Materiel Command headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
- Brig. Gen. Robert LaBrutta, commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing and Joint Base San Antonio, Air Education and Training Command in Texas.
- Brig. Gen. Russell Mack, inspector general for ACC headquarters at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
- Brig. Gen. Charles Moore Jr., deputy director for global operations, J-39, Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
- Brig. Gen. Paul Nelson, director of intelligence at Headquarters U.S. European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany.
- Brig. Gen. Mary O’Brien to be director of intelligence, J-2, Headquarters U.S. Cyber Command, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
- Brig. Gen. John Quintas, deputy director for politico-military affairs for Asia, J-5, Joint Staff.
- Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, Air Force program executive officer for tankers for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
- Brig. Gen. Robert Skinner deputy commander, Joint Force Headquarters, Department of Defense Information Networks, Defense Information Systems Agency, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
- Brig. Gen. Bradley Spacy, director of expeditionary support for Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.
- Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Stoss, director of strategic plans, programs, requirements, and assessments for Air Force Global Strike Command headquarters, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
- Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Taliaferro, director of plans, programs, and requirements at ACC headquarters.
- Brig. Gen. Christopher Weggeman director of plans and policy, J-5, Headquarters U.S. Cyber Command, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
- Brig. Gen. Stephen Whiting director of integrated air, space, cyberspace and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, Air Force Space Command headquarters, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
- Brig. Gen. John Wood deputy director for politico-military affairs (Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia), J-5, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, District of Columbia.
Two colonels will also receive their first star, the Air Force said:
- Col. Michael Guetlein,senior materiel leader, Remote Sensing Systems Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
- Col. Brook Leonard, senior military assistant to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
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.
