General Chance Saltzman
Space Force Chief of Space Operations
Bradley Chance Saltzman was born in June 1969 in Davies County, Kentucky. He earned an undergraduate degree from Boston University on an Air Force scholarship. He later completed a Master of Public Administration at the University of Montana, a Master of Strategic Management from the George Washington University School of Business, and has completed a number of other educational programs offered him through the military, including attendance at the University of North Carolina and Harvard Kennedy School.
He received missile training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He graduated as a space weapons officer from the USAF Weapons School. When with the Air Force Intern Program, he was assigned to the Air Force office of the Director of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance and the Air Staff History Office. He was later assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office.
He served in the strategy division as the chief of operational assessment for the Air Force during Operation Iraqi Freedom, after which he was assigned as the first chief of combat plans for the Joint Space Operations Center, later becoming chief of combat operations. He has held commands for two space operations squadrons.
Saltzman was deputy director of plans and programs at the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. At the establishment of the United States Space Force, Saltzman became acting director of staff for that new service branch.
He was nominated by President Biden to be Chief of Space Operations for the Space Force in July 2022. He was confirmed by a voice vote of the Senate in September 2022.
Saltzman is married to Jennifer, and they have two children.
In the News…
The U.S. Space Force Guardians have announced their updated mission statement after a period of time of having one which was cumbersome. The new mission statement is: “To secure our nation’s interest in, from, and into space.”
General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, said, “We did not hire a corporate marketing team to develop a catchphrase. Nor did generals sit around a table in the Pentagon debating what the statement should be. Our mission statement was sourced from a Guardian-driven process.”
“Our mission statement is a call to action that concisely encapsulates our purpose and identity as Guardians and members of the profession of arms,” General Saltzman stated.
