Sustaining the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise through Officer Workforce Planning

This study examines how the United States Air Force (USAF) can sustain sufficient nuclear skills and experience within the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise. The research specifically examines the overall officer nuclear workforce's accumulated nuclear experience and determines where skill gaps exist based on the competencies required for nuclear-related jobs. Nuclear personnel without sufficient nuclear skill are less likely to adequately perform their nuclear-oriented jobs and their decreased job performance likely impairs or at least creates inefficient operations for the USAF's nuclear deterrence capability. Assuming that human capital development is one relevant factor that helps produce effective nuclear operations, this dissertation investigates how nuclear workforce policies might properly develop and sustain useful and effective human capital that consequently provides the USAF with safe, secure, and credible nuclear operations. These workforce policies will examine ways to improve the development and utilization of officer personnel within the new Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) and identify viable policy alternatives that allow Nuclear Enterprise policymakers to shape the career fields in preferred ways.