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Correcting Underrepresentation Will Require Trade-Offs

• Airmen are underrepresented in senior joint positions critical to shaping U.S. national security strategy and warfighting capability.
• If the Air Force decides to embrace meaningful reform, it will need to (1) openly examine and acknowledge its values and priorities in regard to senior leader development and (2) use those values and priorities as a basis to make conscious decisions about where to invest time and resources in joint senior leader development while acknowledging the corresponding trade-offs.

Pursuing Reforms Related to Joint Senior Leader Development Has Potential Drawbacks

• To some extent, the senior joint jobs that are most important for the nation change over time as the strategic environment evolves.
• A wide variety of external factors beyond the Air Force's control impinge on the decisionmaking process that surrounds senior joint leadership selection.
• To the extent that the Air Force can influence its competitiveness for the most-critical senior joint billets, there is a broader question that the Air Force needs to consider about whether it is willing to take on some risk in the development of its officers for senior Air Force positions in order to support enhanced joint senior leader development.