Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall presents the keynote address

Air Force[1] Secretary Frank Kendall has less than a week left on the job and, on Monday, he took the opportunity to offer his vision for that service and the Space Force[2] over the coming decades.

The outgoing secretary called for a bigger Space Force and for major upgrades to training and technology to ready airmen and Guardians to potentially face China in a future conflict. Kendall's recommendations were part of a report titled "The Department of the Air Force in 2050," which he publicly unveiled during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

"China is doing everything it can to exploit the opportunities that emerging technologies are providing to field forces designed to defeat the United States in the Western Pacific, especially in space and in the air," Kendall wrote in the report. "By 2050, if not well before, the Air Force and Space Force will not be competitive unless we make substantial improvements in how these forces are equipped, trained and operated."

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The Air Force secretary, a Biden administration appointee, is scheduled to leave his post Sunday after leading the service department since June 2021. He unveiled his report just hours before his farewell address Monday afternoon, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to be sworn in next week.

In his outgoing report, which was first submitted to Congress last month, Kendall wrote that "space will be recognized as the decisive domain for almost all military operations" and pointed to China and Russia's military and technological focus on space as a major warning sign.

"We're going to need a much bigger, much more capable, much more powerful Space Force," Kendall, who as secretary also oversees that service, told the crowd Monday at CSIS.

Kendall also argued that evolving times "demand changes to how we recruit and maintain airmen and Guardians." Under Kendall's tenure, the service missed its 2023 active-duty enlisted recruiting[4] goals for the first time since 1999, but rebounded from the shortfall in 2024.

The Department of the Air Force "recognizes the changing nature of warfare requires a different kind of very technical, high-skill talent pool that makes recruiting the right airmen, Guardians and civilians that much more challenging," Kendall wrote.

During his tenure, he took on ambitious reorganization efforts, including bringing back warrant officers[5], renaming commands[6] and creating new headquarters-level offices and roles. While some of that is underway, many experts have previously told Military.com that the changes are likely to be rolled back under Trump's incoming administration.

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow who specializes in research on defense budgeting for the American Enterprise Institute, another D.C. think tank, told Military.com that Kendall's vision for the Air Force and Space Force in 25 years seemed to be more pessimistic than optimistic, in his opinion, especially when it comes to acquiring new defense technology and weapons to take on China and Russia.

"His report on the vision for 2050 is a bit curious because nearly everything he mentions are things that the Air Force and Space Force should be fielding now or within the next five years," Harrison told Military.com. "The fact that he views these capabilities as being 25 years into the future indicates just how slow he thinks the department is moving -- and if the past four years is any indication, he may be right."

Later in the day, during a farewell ceremony at the Pentagon, Kendall's colleagues praised the outgoing Air Force secretary for working to innovate.

Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's top uniformed leader, highlighted the outgoing Air Force secretary's past as an Army[7] officer during the Cold War and said reorganizing the Department of the Air Force to keep China at the forefront of its mission defined his time in the office.

"When I think about what leaders do, that is really the heart of it: the vision, the sense of urgency and the structure to do the work that needs to be done," Saltzman said. "I think, in a nutshell, that's really what this says you're able to accomplish."

Trump has not yet named Kendall's replacement. In a tearful speech Monday afternoon, Kendall said that making sure airmen and Guardians had everything they needed in their fight against adversaries was a motivating factor in his career.

"Everything I have done for a lifetime of public service has been for our men and women in uniform," Kendall said. "Every trip I ever took, every exercise I ever saw, every briefing I ever received, every story from the field I ever read, every conversation with an airman or Guardian or [Department of the Air Force] civil servant and any of their family members reinforce my belief in you and the importance of doing all that I could do to demonstrate to any opponent that taking on the U.S. Air Force and Space Force would be a major mistake, and to work tirelessly to make that fear more than justified."

Related: The Air Force Unveiled an Ambitious Reorganization Plan. Can It Survive a Presidential Election?[8]

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Senate confirmation hearings are slated to begin on Jan. 14, 2025, for Pete Hegseth, whom President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to serve as the next secretary of defense. It’s a massive job, broadly affecting Americans’ security at home and abroad and overseeing huge numbers of people and immense amounts of money.

The Conversation U.S. asked Evelyn Farkas[1], a longtime Defense Department leader who is now executive director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University[2], to explain what the secretary of defense’s job entails and what makes a person effective at that job. During the Obama administration, Farkas was a deputy assistant secretary of defense with a focus on Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. Prior to that, she was a civilian adviser to the top military officer in NATO, and earlier still she was a senior staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees the military. She also served as a professor at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

What does the secretary of defense do?

They’re responsible for about 3.4 million people[3], including 1.2 million active duty service members and 1.3 million reservists, as well as about 900,000 civilian employees. The secretary is responsible for making sure those people are able to do their jobs – which, collectively, is to defend the United States, the American people and U.S. interests.

They’re responsible for defense policy, spending and operations, which includes the people, property and equipment at about 500 military bases across all 50 states[4] and another 750 or so bases in 80 countries[5] around the world. They’re responsible for budgeting and spending almost US$2 trillion a year[6] in federal funds, which is about 16% of the overall federal budget.

What is the secretary’s role in commanding the nation’s military forces?

The president is the commander in chief and decides when and how to use the military. But the president’s decision to use force relies on advice and recommendations from the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The president orders the secretary to carry out military operations, and the orders pass down from the secretary to the relevant commanders from there.

What is an average day or week for the secretary of defense?

The secretary sets the vision and tone for the Department of Defense and helps the president develop his or her defense strategy, and then implements that strategy. The secretary also designs and implements policies to advance the strategy and the overall national security objectives of the president.

The Defense Department’s responsibility is focused on the use of the military, whether it’s to deter attacks or defend American interests. The secretary must make sure the military is equipped and trained – ready – to fight and win the nation’s wars and to conduct any other operations, such as humanitarian, counterterrorism or peace operations.

The secretary sets priorities, which are reflected in the department’s budget. The budget has to be negotiated with Congress, of course. Day to day, the secretary is holding meetings with people who are charged with managing different aspects of the department’s activity. This happens regularly in the Pentagon or when the secretary visits military units and installations in the U.S. or around the world.

There are undersecretaries for policy and the budget and other functions such as personnel and readiness. Then there are service secretaries, who look at all of those issues but only for one specific service – the Army, the Navy, which includes the Marine Corps, and the Air Force, which includes the Space Force.

The Pentagon is seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington, March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Does the president talk to the secretary of defense regularly?

It depends on the president. Most presidents have regular meetings with their top officials as a Cabinet, as a group, and then, of course, individually. Some presidents will have a standing lunch with their Cabinet members, or just a formal meeting.

Generally speaking, most presidents would seek to have a meeting at least once a week that involves their secretary of defense. There’s a lot going on in the world, and most of the events or crises involve some decision about the use of military force or some effect on defense capabilities.

How does the secretary of defense affect regular Americans’ lives?

The secretary’s involvement in a decision to use nuclear weapons would certainly affect almost every American. So that’s one way, and any decisions involving war could potentially affect any given American.

Short of that, the economic ripple effects of decisions the secretary makes could be national. The defense budget is large, but not enough to affect everyone all at the same time. But for example, if the secretary of defense decides to close a base, that would have impact on most people in that community, if not all of them, at least indirectly. Businesses would have to adjust or close, and the military personnel and their families would have to move. And the political leadership of the community would be empowered to make decisions about the civilian use of properties previously owned by the Department of Defense.

Almost every kind of company[7] does business with the Department of Defense, either directly or indirectly[8]. The commissaries stock food and medicine and all sorts of regular items that the military buys, in addition to equipment for fighting.

And then there’s research and development. Historically, the Defense Department has put a lot of money into those efforts[9], which has had a lot of effect on consumers’ lives. It’s not just the internet[10], although that’s one example of something that was invented for military purposes and then translated into civilian use. A lot of smaller developments happen, too, because when a lot of money is being poured into innovation, they discover things along the way that can be commercialized.

Nowadays the civilian sector has outpaced the Defense Department in terms of research and development and innovation, but the defense dollars still make a big difference.

What personal or professional attributes make for an effective defense secretary?

I worked for four of them, three directly. Robert Gates had a high sense of empathy and lots of prior government experience. Leon Panetta had an acute sense of humor and a direct but funny way of interacting. He also had the advantage of having held multiple high-level jobs in other parts of the government. Chuck Hagel had a direct line to the Senate, and Ashton Carter was a hard-driven expert.

The most useful attributes include honesty, empathy, a sense of humor, a sharp intellect, the ability to learn quickly and the skill to determine what is important quickly. Of course, prior government experience working with the department is invaluable. It’s helpful to have an understanding of how the Defense Department works, with all its components, and its strengths and weaknesses, before you get into the job. The department has a military and civilian bureaucracy, and it takes some savvy work to get it to move quickly to implement the president’s strategy.

During the confirmation process, like all nominees, the secretary is required to attest in writing and sometimes verbally that they will provide truthful answers to Congress and that they will be responsive when Congress has questions.

Different secretaries do a better job at that than others. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld often would annoy members of Congress because he knew there was a time limit on his ability to speak and on each senator’s ability to speak. So he would just speak until the clock ran out, and that made them mad. He wouldn’t always answer questions directly and sometimes came off as arrogant.

The interactions with Congress are this delicate dance, because a secretary wants to protect the prerogatives of the president and the executive branch. But Congress pays the bills, provides any new authorities the secretary might be seeking and can curtail both the authority and the budget. A secretary wants to defend the policies, the budget and the actions of the Department of Defense. But they also want to be respectful of Congress’ role and responsibilities and the individual members of Congress.

Sometimes that balance is hard to strike. They’re in a really demanding job, and they get called to testify in front of Congress, usually with the TV cameras on. Members of Congress aren’t always polite, so it takes a lot of patience and self control on the part of the secretary of defense to successfully maintain good relations, public and private, with members of Congress.

What do the American people deserve from a defense secretary?

The secretary should be someone who will stand up for the military and civilians in the department and demand from the president and Congress the resources needed to execute their mission and to provide for the well-being of the personnel, who are, after all, Americans.

I would also say a secretary should interact with the media in a way that strikes the right balance between informing the American public about what the department and the military are doing in the name of the American people and protecting national security secrets. At the end of the day, the secretary of defense is working for the American people in their interest and that of the nation.

This story is part of a series of profiles[11] of Cabinet and high-level administration positions.

Evelyn Farkas[12] is Executive Director, McCain Institute, Arizona State University.

This article is republished from The Conversation[13] under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article[14].

© Copyright 2025 The Conversation. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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