Special Events
Lieutenant General William T. Lord – Revolutions in Warfare—The Air Force’s Way Ahead
In today’s conflicted cyber frontier, the Department of Defense and the Air Force struggle with the ways to leverage cyber for military advantage. Traditionally relegated to an Information Technology support role, cyberspace has recently emerged as a stand-alone domain, similar to land, air, sea, and space. Cyber can be viewed as an integrating domain, bringing synergy across the domains and multiplying effects in ways never before seen. Our nation’s enemies are already taking advantage of these benefits, as our nation seeks to find new ways to recruit the best and brightest to counter their actions. Amidst this backdrop, the Air Force–in partnership with other DoD and National Agencies–is forging a way forward to capitalize on these characteristics, enhancing enterprise network security and posturing capabilities to launch us into the coming decades.
Bio:
Lieutenant General William T. Lord is Commander, Air Force Cyberspace Command (Provisional), Barksdale Air Force Base, La. He is responsible for establishing cyberspace as a domain in and through which the Air Force flies and fights. In his current duty, he is responsible for establishing a new numbered Air Force under Air Force Space Command which will be responsible for the organization, training and equipping of combat forces to operate in cyberspace.
General Lord is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biological and life sciences, and master’s degrees in business administration and national resource strategy. General Lord held various duties with tours in Europe, U.S. Central Command and the White House. He has had multiple staff assignments, including two major air commands as Director of Communications and Information Systems. General Lord has commanded at the detachment, squadron, group, wing and joint levels.
Prior to his current position, General Lord was Director, Cyberspace Transformation and Strategy, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.