General Kevin P. Chilton is a distinguished fellow with the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Chilton completed his nearly thirty-five-year Air Force career with a last assignment as commander of US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) from 2007 to 2011, during which he was responsible for the plans and operations for all US forces conducting strategic nuclear deterrence and the Department of Defense’s space and cyberspace operations. Prior to this assignment, Chilton commanded US Air Force Space Command, 8th Air Force, USSTRATCOM Space and Global Strike Command, Air Force Cyber Command, and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. His Pentagon staff assignments included deputy director for political-military affairs for Asia, Pacific, and the Middle East; deputy director for Air Force programs; and assistant vice chief of staff of the Air Force. He also served eleven years as an astronaut at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he flew as the commander of STS-76, his third space shuttle mission, and served as the deputy program manager for operations for the International Space Station program.

Chilton is currently president of Chilton & Associates, LLC, and serves as a director of the boards of Lumen, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions. He is a trustee for the US Air Force Academy Falcon Foundation and the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Foundation, a member of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories board of governors, and a member of the Sandia National Laboratory board of managers.

Chilton is a former board director of the Aerospace Corporation, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the US Air Force Academy Association of Graduates, the Los Alamos National Laboratory board of governors, Level 3 Communications, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Orbital ATK, HDT Global, and the Schafer Corporation.

Chilton is a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Academy, with a bachelor of sciences degree in engineering sciences, a Columbia University Guggenheim fellow with a master of sciences degree in mechanical engineering, and a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training and Test Pilot schools. Chilton was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Creighton University in 2010.