In a ceremony today at Joint Base Andrews, MD, Gen. Mark Welsh became the next Air Force chief of staff, taking the reins of the service's air, space and cyber platforms.
Welsh pledged to strengthen the Air Force by focusing on readiness, training and shaping the future.
"We have to shape the future and that will require innovative thinking . . . and that will require modernization," he said.
Welsh, formerly the commander of U. S. Air Forces in Europe, is the service's 20th chief of staff, succeeding Gen. Norton Schwartz. Schwartz has been chief of staff for the past four years.
Welsh noted that air, space and cyber were the platforms of the future and that, in order to be successful in crafting that future, the service would need to focus on its joint and coalition operations.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who spoke at the ceremony, said Welsh would help the service maintain "unquestioned dominance of the sky, dominance of space and dominance of cyberspace."
"I know the Air Force will be in good hands as Mark Welsh takes the controls from Norty. Mark is a straight-shooter, much like John Wayne, whose life-size cutout he has kept in his office for more than 25 years," Panetta said. "I'm depending on Mark to call it like he sees it."
Schwartz, whom Panetta credited with helping the service prepare for a future rife with new security challenges amid fiscal constraints, said Welsh was known for his ironclad credibility as an operator and trainer and will provide the leadership the service needs.