General Jay Raymond, CSO of the USAF and Commander of U.S. Space Command

On April 7, 2020, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted a video interview with General Jay Raymond, CSO of the USAF and Commander of US Space Command.

Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond is Commander, U.S. Space Command and Commander, Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

U.S. Space Command is one of 11 Unified Commands under the Department of Defense and is responsible for deterring conflict, defending U.S. and Allied freedom of action in the space area of operations, delivering combat-relevant space capability to the joint/combined force, and developing joint warfighters to advance U.S. and Allied interests in, through and from the space domain. As the Space Combatant Commander, General Raymond directs assigned and attached joint space forces providing tailored, responsive, theater and global space effects in support of national objectives.

Air Force Space Command comprises approximately 26,000 space professionals worldwide and is responsible for providing resilient, defendable and affordable space capabilities for the Air Force, Joint Force and the Nation. As Commander, AFSPC, General Raymond leads the organizing, training, equipping and maintaining of mission-ready space forces and capabilities for North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Space Command and other combatant commands around the world.

General Raymond was commissioned through the ROTC program at Clemson University in 1984. He has commanded the 5th Space Surveillance Squadron at RAF Feltwell, England, the 30th Operations Group at Vandenberg AFB, California, the 21st Space Wing at Peterson AFB, Colorado, the 14th Air Force, and Joint Force Space Component Command. He deployed to Southwest Asia as Director of Space Forces in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The general’s staff assignments include Headquarters AFSPC, USSTRATCOM, the Air Staff and the Office of Secretary of Defense.