STRATCOM command changes hands at Offutt AFB ceremony

BELLEVUE, Neb. (WOWT) - STRATCOM installed a new commander at Offutt Air Force Base on Friday morning.

The last time there was a change of command at the strategic center was 2019, when Admiral Charles A. Richard took command. Friday, that responsibility shifted to Gen. Anthony J. Cotton.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III was among those attending the ceremony at the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt AFB in Bellevue. The center is one of 11 such unified combatant command and control facilities in the country.

The shift puts Gen. Cotton at the helm of USSTRATCOM, which is responsible for the global command and control of U.S. strategic forces. It also helps provide real-time national security information and options for the Secretary of Defense and ultimately the president.

“The mission of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is to deter strategic attacks and employ forces, as directed, to guarantee the security of our Nation and our Allies,” according to informational documents from the agency.

Gen. Cotton most recently served as deputy commander of Air Forces Strategic-Air STRATCOM at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

He has been in the military since entering the Air Force in 1986 via the ROTC program. He began his service after earning his bachelor’s degree in political science from North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

He has worked served under the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force Executive Action Group, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, the National Reconnaissance Office, and as commander and president of Air University. He has also served as a vice commander and commander at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana; and a commander and director at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.

Watch Friday’s Change of Command ceremony

Copyright 2022 WOWT. All rights reserved.