Changing of the Guard

The White House this week nominated Lt. Gen. Larry James to succeed retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula as the new chief of the Air Force's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance shop, according to a Sept. 23 Pentagon announcement. James will leave his current post as the commander of 14th Air Force at Air Force Space Command to assume the new A2 position. As the 14th Air Force chief, James was also dual-hatted as the commander of U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command - Space.

Maj. Gen. Susan Helms is slated to receive her third star and replace James as the head of the 14th and the JFCC-S. Prior to her nomination, Helms was the director of STRATCOM's policy and programs directorate (J5) at Offutt Air Force Base, NE.

The administration's announcement come on the heels of a major restructuring of the air service's senior leadership. As first reported by Inside the Air Force, those moves culminated in the nomination of Lt. Gen. Phillip Breedlove to become the Air Force's new vice chief of staff and Gen. Robert Kehler's selection to replace Gen. Kevin Chilton as the head of U.S. Strategic Command.

Deptula officially resigned his post as the A2 chief in August.