Norton A. Schwartz

Schwartz grew up in Toms River, New Jersey,[6] the son of a typewriter salesman.[7] The first Jewish Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Schwartz was a member of the U.S. Air Force Academy Jewish choir before his 1973 graduation.[8] 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."

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz flies a Lockheed-Martin C-130 Hercules.

Schwartz graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1973. 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. He has served as Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific, as well as Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and the 11th Air Force.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley at The Pentagon in 2012.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz speaks at a ceremony in The Pentagon March 25, 2011.

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.[9] By 1991 he was chief of staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq during the first Gulf War. He participated as a crew member in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon, and in 1991 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.

Schwartz is the first Air Force Chief of Staff with a background as an Air Force transport and special operations airplane and helicopter pilot and not with a background as a fighter or bomber pilot. It is speculated that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates picked him for that reason.[9]

Official Air Force portrait painting of General Norton Schwartz painted by Michele Rushworth

After his retirement from the Air Force, he wrote a memoir entitled Journey: Memoirs of an Air Force Chief of Staff with Susie Schwartz and Ronald Levinson.[10][11]

In 2013, Schwartz became a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Defense Analyses.[12] In July 2019, Schwartz was selected to become IDA's president and CEO, effective January 2, 2020.[5]

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

1. August 1973 – September 1974, student, undergraduate pilot training, Laughlin AFB, Texas
2. October 1974 – January 1975, student, C-130 initial qualification training, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
3. February 1975 – October 1977, C-130E aircraft commander, 776th and 21st Tactical Airlift Squadrons, Clark Air Base, Philippines
4. October 1977 – December 1977, student, Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
5. December 1977 – October 1979, C-130E/H flight examiner, 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
6. 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.
7. November 1980 – July 1983, MC-130E flight examiner, 8th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida
8. July 1983 – January 1984, student, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia
9. 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.
10. May 1986 – June 1988, Commander, 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron, McChord AFB, Washington
11. August 1988 – June 1989, student, National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
12. July 1989 – July 1991, Director of Plans and Policy, Special Operations Command Europe, Patch Barracks, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany
13. August 1991 – May 1993, Deputy Commander for Operations and Commander, 1st Special Operations Group, Hurlburt Field, Florida
14. 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.
15. June 1995 – May 1997, Commander, 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Florida
16. June 1997 – October 1998, Commander, Special Operations Command, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii
17. October 1998 – January 2000, Director of Strategic Planning, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
18. January 2000 – September 2000, Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida
19. September 2000 – October 2002, Commander, Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and 11th Air Force, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
20. October 2002 – October 2004, Director for Operations, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
21. October 2004 – August 2005, Director, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D. C.
22. September 2005 – September 2008, Commander, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Illinois
23. August 2008 – August 2012, Chief of Staff, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

Rating: command pilot.

Flight hours: more than 4,400.[13]

Aircraft flown: C-130E/H, MC-130E/H/P, HC-130, AC-130H/U, YMC-130, MH-53 and MH-60.

• 
  General Norton Schwartz upon landing at Hurlburt Field, Florida following his fini-flight during his last month tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff.
• 
  General Schwartz with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen at The Pentagon March 25, 2011.
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  General Schwartz gives his keynote speech during a ceremony at The New Jersey Aviation Hall.
• 
  Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta presents Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz with the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

• Media related to Norton A. Schwartz at Wikimedia Commons
• Official USAF Biography