Air Force names new C4ISR head

Brig. Gen. James Whitmore will be the Air Force’s new director for operations and support integration in the Office of Warfighting Integration, the Air Force announced today. Whitmore will be one of two primary deputies to Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, the service’s chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer.

Whitmore will be responsible for advocating command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems as a force multiplier and integrator of air and space combat power, according to the Air Force.

He will lead the service’s C4ISR horizontal integration, provide policy and guidance for innovation activities, and be responsible for modeling and simulations policy. Whitmore will also be responsible for the Air Force’s Operational Support Modernization efforts.

Since July 2004, Whitmore has been commander of the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. He is responsible for the technical and health care training of more than 40,000 students from all the military services at Sheppard and 50,000 other students worldwide.

Previously, he was commander of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing and director of the Air Component Coordination Element for Joint Task Force 180 in Afghanistan. From June 2001 to April 2003, Whitmore served as executive secretary for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Whitmore was promoted to brigadier general in August 2004.

He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Memphis State University and a master’s degree in business management from Troy State University in Alabama. He entered the Air Force as a distinguished member of the Memphis State Reserve Officers' Training Corps in 1976.

Whitmore will be replacing Maj. Gen. Gregory Power, who is retiring Sept. 1.